CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


j* 


THE  RIGHT  HON.  JOHN  BRIGHT,  M.P. 


LIFE    AND    TIMES 


OF   THE    RIGHT    HON. 


JOHN    BEIGHT 


BY 

WILLIAM      ROBERTSON 

AUTHOR  OF  "  OLD  AND  NEW  HOCHDALE." 


OASSELL    <fe     COMPAN.Y,     LIMITED 

NEW  YORK,  LONDON,  PARIS  &  MELBOURNE 


COPYRIGHT, 

im, 

BT  O.  M.   DUNHAM. 


All  rights  reserved. 


Press  c*  V».   i_.  Me'shoft  &  Co., 
ftahwky,  N  .  J. 


CONTENTS. 


JHAPTEB  PAGB 

I.— ROCHDALE  AND  THE  BRIGIIT  FAMILY  .......  1 

II. — ME.  BEIGHT'S  FATHEE  AND  MOTHEB 10 

III.— BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH 31 

IV.— POPULAE  AGITATIONS 40 

V.— EAELY  PUBLIC  SPEECHES 51 

VI. — INCREASING  INTEEEST  IN  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  MATTBES       .       .  68 

VII.— THE  COEN  LAWS  . .       .69 

VIII.— THE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  THE  COEN  LAWS  BEGINS    ....  78 

IX.— OPPOSITION  TO  CHURCH  KATES 86 

X. — As  A  LlTEEAEY  CHARACTER 98 

XI.— ACTION  OF  THE  ANTI-COKN-LAW  LEAGUE 104 

XII. — THE  PEOGEESS  OP  THE  ANTI-COEN-LAW  LEAGUE'S  AGITATION       .  118 

Xin. — CONTINUED  RAID  AGAINST  THE  COEN  LAWS 129 

XIV. — THE  LEAGUE  AND  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 136 

XV.— FIRST  ELECTION  CONTEST  IN  DURHAM 142 

XVI.— SECOND  ELECTION  CONTEST  IN  DURHAM     ......  160 

XVII.— His  EABLY  PAELIAMENTAEY  CAEEER. 160 

XVIII.— AWAKENING  THE  COUNTBY 174 

XIX. — THE  STRUGGLE  AGAINST  THE  CORN  LAWS  CONTINUED     .       .       .  182 

XX. — THE  LABOUR  OF  THE  LEAGUE  CONTINUED         .....  193 

XXI. — OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GAME  AND  COEN  LAWS 198 

XXII.— INIQUITY  OF  THE  GAME  LAWS  EXPOSED    ......  206 

XXIII. — THE  END  OF  THE  COEN  LAWS  APPROACHES 211 

XXIV. — OVERTHROW  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS       .       .       .       .       •    i  •       •  212 

XXV.— CELEBRATING  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  LEAGUE 233 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXVI.— THE  MONOPOLISTS'  EETALIATION 241 

XXVII.— MB.  BBIQHT'S  PRIVATE  LIFE 254 

XXVIII.— STATE  OF  IEELAND 265 

XXIX.— LAND  TAXATION,  ETC 272 

XXX.— HOME  LEGISLATION 282 

XXXI.— PEACE  AND  WAB ' 292 

XXXII.— THE  CRIMEAN  WAB 332 

XXXITT.— BRIGHT  AND  COBDEN  UNSEATED 327 

.XXXIV. — MEMBER  FOR  BIRMINGHAM 340 

XXXV.— RETURN  TO  ACTIVE  LIFE 350 

XXXVI.— THE  COMMERCIAL  TREATY  WITH  FRANCE     .....  370 

XXXVII.— THE  CIVIL  WAR  IN  AMERICA 393 

XXXVIII.— MB.  COBDEN'S  CLOSING  DAYS 405 

XXXIX. — PARLIAMENTARY  REFORM 424 

XL. — THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  QUESTION  OF  PARLIAMENTARY  REFORM  442 

XLI. — MB.  BRIGHT  A  CABINET  MIXISTEB 459 

XLII. — THE  CONSERVATIVE  POLICY 474 

XLIII. — THE  POLICY  OF  THE  CONSERVATIVE  GOVERNMENT  CONDEMNED  .  491 

XLIV.— THE  LIBERALS  AGAIN  IN  POWER 503 

XLV. — WITHDRAWS  FROM  THE  CABINET 528 

XLVI. — A  NOBLE  TRIBUTE  TO  BRIGHT 644 

XLVTL— MR.  BRIGHT'B  ORATORY,  ETC .       .  557 

XL  VIII. — MB.  BRIGHT'S  COURSE  UPON  IRISH  LEGISLATION         .        .        .581 

XLIX. — HOME  RULE 586 


LIFE    AND    TIMES 

OF   THE 

RIGHT  HON.  JOHN   BRIGHT. 

CHAPTER    I. 

KOCHDALE   AND   THE    BRIGHT   FAMILY. 

Bright's  Residence — Schools  in  Rochdale — Its  Public  Library — Its  Politics — Its 
Industries — Its  Surroundings — Lord  Byron  and  Rochdale — Origin  of  the  Name 
"  One  Ash  " — Derivation  of  the  name  Bright— Mr.  Bright's  Ancestors — Men 
of  Genius  and  their  Parentage. 

ROCHDALE,  one  of  the  most  prosaic  towns  in  the  north  of 
England,  has  a  spot  which,  like  Mecca  and  the  Lourdes  shrine, 
attracts  hundreds  of  pilgrims  annually.  That  centre  of  attrac- 
tion is  the  now  classic  "  One  Ash/'  the  residence  of  the  Right 
Hon.  John  Bright,  M.P.  To  the  bleak  and  unpromising  region 
of  Cronkeyshaw  Common  flock  visitors  from  far-off  lands,  at 
all  times  and  all  seasons,  anxious  to  see,  if  not  the  person  of 
England's  great  patriot,  at  least  the  home  of  his  boyhood,  and 
the  topographical  surroundings  of  his  domestic  life. 

For  many  years  there  has  been  a  continual  stream  of 
emigration  going  on  from  Germany  to  America  through  a 
system  of  conscription  being  enforced  in  "  Vaterland/'  and 
many  of  these  exiles,  in  the  route  from  Hull  to  Liverpool,  pass 
through  the  Rochdale  station.  When  they  hear  the  word  Rochdale 
pronounced,  it  has  been  noted  that  some  exclaim  in  their  native 
language,  "Oh,  this  is  the  birthplace  of  John  Bright/'  Their 
wistful  glances  show  that  they  are  anxious  to  obtain  at  least  a 
rapid  and  superficial  survey  of  the  town  and  its  suburbs.  This 
absorbing  interest  in  Rochdale  is  manifested  not  only  by 
strangers  from  all  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom,  but  by 
natives  from  remote  countries.  Indeed,  it  is  not  uncommon 
to  hear  of  Americans,  Frenchmen,  and  English  colonists 
visiting  Rochdale,  solely  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  their 
B 


2  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  BRIGHT. 

curiosity,  and  seeing  the  lowly  roof  which  shelters  the  foremost 
of  England's  orators,  that  they  might  carry  its  picture  home, 
"  to  feed  their  fancy  when  far  away."  The  place  in  which  such 
an  intellect  resides,  with  its  surroundings,  has  a  thousand 
pleasant  associations. 

A  view  of  Rochdale  from  the  railway  would  not  give 
a  favourable  impression,  nor  would  a  stroll  through  its  streets 
predispose  strangers  to  consider  it  as  a  pleasant  town  to  dwell 
in.  They  might,  however,  discover  that  with  its  15,000  houses 
lying  in  a  valley  on  each  side  of  the  river  Roach,  and  with 
its  clean  and  efficiently-sewered  streets,  it  was  propitious  to 
health.  The  Registrar-General's  reports  prove  it  to  be  one  of 
the  healthiest  towns  in  Lancashire.  Its  Town  Hall,  a  fine 
Gothic  structure,  has  been  pronounced  second  in  point  of 
artistic  elegance  in  the  kingdom.  Its  churches  number  nine, 
Catholic  chapels  two,  and  Nonconformist  chapels  twenty-five ; 
and  the  majority  might  be  described  as  handsome  structures. 
With  each  of  these  places  of  worship  is  connected  a  Sabbath 
school,  in  which  children  are  trained  for  the  religious  services 
which  succeed  it. 

The  town  is  remarkable  for  its  provisions  for  secular  in- 
struction. The  elementary  and  endowed  schools  number 
fifty-four,  and  out  of  a  population  of  69,750  about  13,000 
children  are  under  instruction.  A  prominent  building,  which 
would  not  escape  observation  on  account  of  its  elevated  position 
and  fine  frontage,  is  the  Equitable  Pioneers'  Central  Stores  in 
Toad  Lane,  a  fitting  monument  of  the  birthplace  and  progress 
of  this  modern  institution,  which  has  been  so  beneficial  to  the 
welfare  of  the  working  class,  intellectually  as  well  as  com- 
mercially. It  has  a  library  of  15,035  volumes,  and  nineteen 
news-rooms.  The  inhabitants  also  possess  a  Public  Library, 
which  contains  31,000  volumes.  These  educational  advantages 
have  doubtless  aided  in  the  intellectual  development  of  the 
residents. 

A  network  of  political  clubs,  both  Liberal  and  Conser- 
vative, extends  over  the  borough,  and  they  have  no  small  share 
of  influence  in  forming  the  views  of  those  within  their 
sphere.  But  Rochdale  is  an  ultra-Liberal  town;  for  the  last 
fifty  years  it  has  been  represented  in  the  House  of  Commons 
by  five  Liberals,  and  for  a  short  time  by  two  Conservatives. 
Seventy  years  ago  it  was  a  decided  Tory  town,  there  being 
at  that  time  only  three  Dissenting  chapels,  namely,  a  Wesleyan, 
a  Baptist,  and  a  Presbyterian.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  inhabit- 
ants were  thus  church-people,  their  places  of  worship  being 


ROCHDALE   AND   THE   BRIGHT  FAMILY.  3 

St.  Chad's  and  St.  Mary's  churches.  Since  that  period,  however, 
so  Liberal  have  they  grown  in  politics,  that  they  never  have 
had  a  Conservative  mayor,  and  at  the  present  time  there  are  only 
six  Conservatives  in  the  Town  Council,  while  the  Liberals  num- 
ber thirty-three ;  moreover,  while  there  are  ten  Conservative 
members  of  the  Board  pf  Guardians,  the  Liberals  have  fourteen, 
notwithstanding  that  outside  the  borough  the  Conservative  elect- 
ors are  more  numerous  than  within  the  limits  of  the  town.  Even 
the  Conservatives  of  Rochdale  are  in  advance  in  their  political 
creed,  and  their  prominent  leaders  advocate  free  trade.  The 
Liberals  stand  in  the  foremost  ranks  of  political  enlightenment, 
for  they  have  had  the  benefit  of  the  teachings  of  their 
distinguished  townsman ;  and  their  members,  Richard  Cobden, 
W.  Sharman  Crawford,  Edward  Miall,  John  Fenton,  and  T.  B. 
Potter,  who  have  often,  in  their  annual  addresses,  pointed  out 
a  safe  course  for  the  general  good. 

The  artisans  do  not  depend  upon  one  branch  of  industry 
for  a  livelihood.  Although  the  staple  trade  is  the  manufac- 
ture of  flannel,  which  has  always  stood  in  high  repute,  yet 
calico  is  largely  made,  as  well  as  silk,  machinery  of  various 
descriptions,  carpets,  paper,  and  manure  from  the  town  "excreta ; 
for  the  Corporation  has,  under  the  skilful  direction  of  Mr.  Alder- 
man Taylor,  a  local  chemist,  taken  a  leading  part  in  solving  the 
difficulty  of  making  it  into  a  useful  fertiliser.  It  is  now  also 
moderately  remunerative  to  the  Corporation,  for  in  1882,  .£3,344 
were  realised  from  the  sale.  The  fame  of  the  system  has  spread 
so  widely,  that  deputations  have  visited  the  works,  not  only 
from  all  parts  of  Great  Britain  and  Ii-eland,  but  from  Paris, 
Vienna,  Berlin,  Austria,  South  Africa,  Natal,  Demerara,  and 
Washington.  As  the  sources  of  trade  in  Rochdale  are  so  varied., 
a  depression  in  one  particular  branch  generally  affects  only  a 
portion  of  the  inhabitants;  but  all  the  principal  trades  since 
1*78  have  been  seriously  paralysed,  and 

"Many  rich 

Sank  down,  as  in  a  dream,  amongst  the  poor ; 
And  of  the  poor  did  many  cease  to  be. " 

The  return  of  prosperous  trade  has  been  slower  than  has  ever 
been  experienced  before.  This  may  be  accounted  for  by  the 
temporary  adoption  of  wash-leather  arid  other  material  instead 
of  flannel.  There  are  within  the  borough  about  300  manu- 
factories and  machine  works,  and  the  forest  of  tall  chimneys  is 
indicative  of  busy  industry. 

The  town  is  encircled  by  mountain  and  moorland  scenery, 


4  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

and  there  are  many  dells,  ravines,  and  glens  of  tempting  sylvan 
beauty, "  fit  for  poet's  dream,  or  painter's  pencil,  or  for  preacher's 
theme."  In  fact,  there  are  very  few  towns  which  have  such 
picturesque  surroundings. 

As  to  the  rank  and  importance  of  Rochdale,  John  Bright 
has  done  much  to  familiarise  its  name  all  over  the  world. 
It  is  a  place  of  great  antiquity,  and  of  Saxon  origin ;  but 
sixty  or  seventy  years  ago  it  was  small  and  unimportant. 
When  Lord  John  Russell  introduced  his  Reform  Bill  in  1832, 
so  obscure  was  the  town,  that  he  excluded  it  from  the  list 
of  places  worthy  of  being  enfranchised.  A  deputation  of  the 
inhabitants  waited  upon  his  Lordship  to  call  his  attention 
to  its  importance,  and  to  the  fact  that  it  ought  to  be  included 
in  the  list  of  representation.  Lord  John  Russell  actually 
admitted  that  he  had  never  before  heard  the  name  of  the 
town,  but  stated  that  he  had  often  read  of  Castleton,  which 
was  the  name  of  one  of  the  townships  merely.  The  honour 
of  being  represented  in  the  House  of  Commons  was  conferred, 
and  soon  after  John  Bright  began  to  rise  as  a  popular  orator, 
and  the  town  grew  out  of  obscurity  with  his  fame.  He  was 
the  first  native  to  rise  to  a  position  of  such  distinguished  emi- 
nence. Lord  Byron,  the  poet,  it  is  true,  was  in  his  early 
life  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Rochdale,  but  he  was  not  a  native 
nor  a  resident;  moreover  he  visited  Rochdale  only  once,  and  that 
was  on  business  with  respect  to  some  coal  mines  he  possessed 
on  his  estate.  As  the  poet  at  the  time  was  in  pecuniary 
difficulties,  he  sold  the  manor  of  Rochdale,  and  thus  his  slight 
connection  with  the  town  ceased. 

The  town  of  Rochdale  with  its  most  illustrious  native 
might  be  compared  with  the  commercial  city  of  Tarsus  and  its 
apostolic  orator,  for  there  are  many  points  of  similarity 
between  the  citizens  of  each  :  such  as  their  religious  parentage, 
mental  vigour,  ardent  zeal  of  character,  fearless  independence, 
thorough  sincerity,  tenderness  of  feeling,  indefatigable  jour- 
neyings,  and  generous  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  poor. 

There  is  in  the  name  of  Mr.  John  Bright' s  residence 
("  One  Ash")  a  distinct  savour  of  the  religious  body  to 
which  the  majority,  if  not  the  whole,  of  his  family  belong. 
It  is  a  fact  that  at  the  time  he  chose  the  site  of  his  house, 
a  solitary  ash-tree  grew  thereon,  and,  as  we  may  briefly 
show,  this  distinctive  feature  was  seized  upon  to  keep  alive 
the  memory  of  a  famous  relative.  Just  as  "One  Ash"  is  the 
residence  of  Mr.  John  Bright,  so  was  "Monyash,"  or 
"  Manyash,"  in  Derbyshire,  the  house  of  John  Gratton,  a 


EOCHDALB    AND   THE   BRIGHT   FAMILY.  6 

conspicuous  leader  of  the  sect  founded  by  George  Fox. 
Gratton,  who  died  in  January,  1712,  was  an  untiring-  Quaker 
preacher.  He  travelled  all  the  country  through,  his  fervid 
oratory  in  the  neighbouring  counties  of  Cheshire  and  Derby- 
shire having  all  the  effect  of  modern  revival,  and  bringing 
the  duties  of  religion  home  to  the  hearts  of  many.  Scotland 
and  Ireland  were  also  visited  by  him,  the  persecutions  of 
the  time  bating  nothing  of  his  zeal.  He  was  arrested 
several  times,  and  subjected  to  the  statutory  fine  of  £20  for 
nonconformity  of  doctrine ;  yet  he  persevered  in  the  cause  and 
continued  to  preach.  In  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II. 
he  was  thrown  into  prison  for  refusing  to  desist  from 
public  exhortations,  and  we  must  go  back  to  the  days  of 
the  early  Christians  to  find  anything  so  touching  as  the 
heroic  tranquillity,  the  unflinching  firmness,  the  unresisting 
meekness  with  which  he  bore  his  cruel  wrongs  and  sufferings. 
He  lingered  in  Derby  gaol  from  June,  1680,  until  the  death 
of  Charles  in  1685.  These  five  years  of  imprisonment  were 
dreary  and  monotonous,  varied  only  by  the  welcome  sunshine 
that  flecked  the  prison  floor  with  the  shade  of  the  bars, 
while  from  the  street  came  "careless  laugh  and  idle  words, 
and  tread  of  passing  feet." 

"  I  thought  of  Paul  and  Silas,  within  Philippi's  cell, 
And  how  from  Peter's  sleeping  limbs  the  prison  shackles  fell, 
Till  I  seemed  to  hear  the  trailing  of  an  angel's  robe  of  white, 
And  to  feel  a  blessed  presence  invisible  to  sight." 

John  Gratton's  spirit,  however,  was  not  broken,  for  he 
harangued  the  populace  from  behind  the  gratings  of  his 
cell.  His  fervour  and  manner  favourably  impressed  them, 
and  his  power  extended  farther  and  wider  than  his  prison 
walls.  At  first  the  people  wondered  how  that  meek  old  man 
could  suffer  with  such  unrepining  calmness ;  but  at  last  when 
some  of  them  learnt  the  faith  for  which  he  suffered,  they  won- 
dered no  more.  In  his  own  words,  "  Many  of  the  people 
were  loving  and  friendly  to  me,  and  some  young  men  were 
convinced,  among  whom  the  gaoler's  son  was  one/'  When 
King  James  II.  came  to  the  throne  in  1685,  John  Gratton 
was  released  with  1,400  others  who  had  been  imprisoned  for 
conscience'  sake.  The  influence  of  such  a  man  was  wide-spread  ; 
his  name,  his  birthplace,  and  his  memory  were  amongst  the 
traditions  of  the  zealous  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 
Such  were  the  progenitors  of  Mr.  John  Bright,  and,  upon 
no  far-fetched  hypothesis,  to  the  "  Monyash"  of  John  Gratton 


6  •   LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

may  be  fairly  attributed  the  name,  "  One  Ash,"  the  residence 
of  the  Nestor  of  the  Liberal  party. 

Beorht  was  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon  name  for  Bright, 
and  there  were  many  modifications  of  it,  such  as  Egbert, 
Ethelbert  and  Albert.  The  line  of  ancestry  of  the  Bright 
family  can  be  traced  back  to  a  respectable  farmer  named 
Abraham  Bright  and  Martha  his  wife,  who  resided  at  a 
farm  about  two  miles  from  the  pretty  village  of  Lyneham,  a 
pleasant  dairy  country  in  Wiltshire,  in  the  year  1684.  At 
the  present  time  the  farmhouse  bears  the  name  of  "  Bright's 
Farm."  An  examination  of  the  old  registers  reveals  the  fact 
that  John,  son  of  Abraham  Bright  and  Martha  his  wife,  was 
baptised  at  Lyneham  on  the  26th  of  December,  1689.  Next 
was  born  a  daughter  in  1692,  who  was  named  Mary;  William 
in  1696,  Jacob  in  1699,  Thomas  in  1703,  and  Elizabeth  in  1706. 
On  the  ]6th  of  April,  1711,  Abraham  Bright,  wool-comber,  of 
West  Tockenham,  a  few  miles  from  Lyneham,  was  married  at 
Lyneham,  to  Dinah,  daughter  of  Abraham  Bright,  serge-weaver, 
and  in  January,  1713,  a  son  was  born  who  was  christened  John ; 
next  came  William,  Martha,  Mary,  Jacob,  and  Thomas.  In  the 
year  1714,  Abraham  Bright,  a  relative  of  the  first-named 
Abraham  Bright,  married  a  very  pretty  Jewess,  named  Martha 
Jacobs,  and  resided  for  many  years  in  a  cottage  in  Lyneham, 
which  was  surrounded  by  an  orchard  an  acre  and  a  quarter 
in  area,  but  the  cottage  fell  into  ruins  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  now  scarcely  a  vestige  is  left, 
a  i:l  the  last  group  of  apple-trees  died  about  fifty  years  ago 
irom  old  age,  yet  the  name  survives,  for  the  spot  is  still 
called  "  Bright's  Orchard." 

The  earlier  branches  of  the  Bright  family  belonged  to  the 
Established  Church,  but  ultimately  they  joined  the  Society 
of  Friends,  which  was  a  numerous  body  in  that  neighbour- 
hood, and  it  is  conjectured  that  many  of  the  family  were 
buried  in  the  Friends'  graveyard  at  "  Goat-acre" — probably 
a  corruption  of  the  term  "  God's-acre" — which  is  situated  a 
mile  and  a-half  from  Lyneham,  but  a  few  years  ago  a  Primi- 
tive Methodist  chapel  was  erected  on  the  site,  and  no  tomb- 
stone bearing  the  name  of  Bright  can  now  be  found.  In  the 
churchyard  at  -Lyneham  there  is  no  record  on  the  lom-istones 
of  the  family  to  convey  any  information  respecting  the  day 
of  their  birth  or  of  their  death.  Of  all  the  intervening 
period,  their  hopes  and  their  fears,  their  joys  and  miseries, 
their  verse  and  prose,  very  little  can  be  gleaned;  and  this 
strengthens  the  supposition  that  they  were  buried  at  "Goat- 


EOCHDALE    AND    THE    BRIGHT    FAMILY. 


acre."  Within  living  memory  not  a  single  member  of  the 
Bright  family  has  dwelt  at  Lyneham  or  the  neighbourhood. 
All,  except  those  who  had  previously  lived  and  died  there,  left 
their  native  village  as  the  Spirit  prompted  them,  to  seek  their 
fortune  elsewhere,  or,  in  Milton's  phrase,  in  "  fresh  fields  and 
pastures  new"  to  find  a  "  local  habitation  and  a  name,"  as 
Shakespeare  hath  it,  in  spots  more  noisy  than  their  own,  if 
not  afor  the  great  wave  that  echoes  round  the  world,"  as 
the  poet  laureate  so  musically  words  it. 

The  handsome  Jewess  and  her  husband  removed  to  Coventry, 
and  had  several  children,  among  whom  was  William  Bright, 
who  married  twice.  By  his  first  wife,  Mary  Goole,  he  had 
several  children,  one  of  whom,  Jacob  Bright,  married  Martha 
Lucas,  who  bore  him  eight  children,  the  youngest  of  whom 
was  Jacob  Bright.  He  came  to  Rochdale  in  1802,  and 
was  the  father  of  our  eminent  townsman. 

Many  of  the  biographies  of  famous  men  conceal  the  facts 
connected  with  the  humble  parentage  of  their  heroes,  as  if 
descent  from  wealthy  or  high-born  parents  contributed  to 
genius,  or  that  genius  gained  a  ray  of  lustre  from  these 
advantages.  The  roll  of  immortal  names,  to  which  England 
owes  so  much,  would  'be  seriously  diminished,  if  those  who  were 
neither  born  wealthy,  nor  ranked  in  birth  above  the  middle 
class,  were  expunged  from  it.  For  instance,  George  Stephenson, 
the  originator  of  the  passenger  locomotive,  in  early  life  was 
a  ploughboy ;  Humphry  Davy  was  the  son  of  a  carver; 
Richard  Arkwright  was  a  barber  for  many  years ;  James  Watt, 
the  son  of  a  Greenock  blockmaker;  George  Canning,  the  son 
of  an  author ;  Sir  Robert  Peel,  the  son  of  a  Bury  cotton 
manufacturer;  W.  E.  Gladstone,  the  son  of  a  Liverpool  mer- 
chant ;  Richard  Cobden,  the  son  of  a  farmer ;  William  Wilber- 
force,  the  son  of  a  Hull  merchant;  the  fathers  of  Edmund 
Burke  and  of  Henry  Grattan  were  Dublin  solicitors;  Shake- 
speare, the  son  of  a  Stratford  butcher ;  Milton,  a  schoolmaster ; 
Wordsworth's  father  was  a  solicitor;  Robert  Burns  was  an 
Ayrshire  ploughman ;  Pope,  the  son  of  a  merchant ;  Jonathan 
Swift  was  reared  amidst  circumstances  of  abject  poverty;  Samuel 
Johnson,  a  bookseller ;  Ben  Jonson,  a  bricklayer ;  Bloomfield,  a 
shoemaker ;  Akenside,  the  son  of  a  butcher ;  Robert  Southey, 
the  son  of  a  Bristol  linendraper ;  Oliver  Goldsmith,  a  Dublin 
medical  student ;  Thomas  Chatterton,  the  son  of  a  Bristol 
chanter ;  Thomas  Hood,  an  engraver ;  Thomas  Moore,  the 
son  of  a  Dublin  grocer;  Thomas  Babington  Macaulay,  the 
son  of  a  merchant ;  David  Hume  was  a  law  student ;  Thomas 


8  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

Carlyle,  the  son  of  a  mason;  Charles  Dickens,  a  reporter; 
Douglas  Jerrold,  a  printer ;  Daniel  Defoe,  an  apprentice  to  a 
hosier;  Cobbett,  a  private  soldier;  Hogarth,  an  engraver  of 
pewter  pots ;  Joshua  Reynolds,  the  son  of  a  Plympton  clergy- 
man ;  David  Garrick,  a  Lichfield  law  student ;  Blackstone,  the 
son  of  a  linendraper ;  Isaac  Newton,  the  son  of  a  Lincolnshire 
farmer;  Charles  Darwin,  the  son  of  a  Shrewsbury  doctor;  John 
Ruskin,  the  son  of  a  wine  merchant ;  Goldwin  Smith,  the  son 
of  a  Berkshire  physician  ;  Buchanan,  a  private  soldier ;  Martin 
Luther,  the  son  of  a  miner;  John  Bunyan,  a  Bedford  tinker; 
Columbus,  a  weaver ;  Homer,  a  beggar ,  Virgil,  the  son  of  a 
baker ;  Demosthenes,  the  son  of  a  cutler ;  Haydon,  the  son  of  a 
poor  cartwright ;  William  Herschel,  son  of  a  musician ;  Canova, 
the  son  of  a  stone-cutter;  Raffaelle,  the  son  of  a  peasant;  M. 
Munkacsy  commenced  life  as  a  joiner ;  Henry  W.  Longfellow, 
the  son  of  a  Portland  solicitor ;  and  John  Greenleaf  Whittier, 
the  son  of  a  Massachusetts  farmer. 

"  Nobility  of  birth  does  not  always  ensure  a  corresponding 
nobility  of  mind,"  and  the  pride  of  boasting  of  family  antiquity 
makes  duration  stand  for  merit ;  and  what  we  have  not  ourselves 
achieved  we  can  scarcely  call  our  own.  The  fantastical  claims 
of  high  birth  merely  confers  learned  ignorance  and  the  groping 
in  the  dark  of  Heralds^  College.  If  it  be  glorious  to  trace  our 
family  up  to  Edward  the  First,  it  should  be  still  more  so  to 
ascend  to  Edward  the  Confessor;  yet  pride  seldom  mounts 
higher  than  the  first  illustrious  name,  the  first  titled  or  cele- 
brated progenitor,  whom  it  chooses  to  call  the  founder  of  the 
family.  The  haughtiest  vaunter  of  high  pedigree  and  the 
honours  of  unbroken  descent,  from  the  time  of  William  the 
Conqueror,  would  probably  weep  with  shame  at  being  enabled 
to  follow  his  name  three  hundred  years  farther  back,  through  a 
succession  of  ploughmen,  mechanics,  or  malefactors.  As  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  all  families  are,  in  point  of  fact,  equally 
ancient,  the  distinction  consists  in  possessing  records  to  prove 
a  certain  succession;  and  even  this,  it  appears,  ceases  to  be  a 
boast  beyond  a  certain  point. 

If  it  were  possible  to  trace  back  the  current  of  an  English- 
man's blood  to  its  early  fountains,  what  a  strange  compound 
would  the  mass  present !  What  a  confusion  and  intermingling 
of  subsidiary  streams  from  the  Britons,  Romans,  Danes,  Saxons, 
and  Normans,  amalgamating  with  minor  contributaries  from 
undiscoverable  sources,  mocking  any  power  to  analyse,  and  almost 
bewildering  imagination  to  conceive ! 

The  Shylock   of   rag   fair,  who   might   live  in  worse  than 


BOCHDALE    AND    THE    BEIGHT    FAMILY.  9 

Israelitish  covetousness  and  grovelling1  of  soul,  and  die  in  the 
pestilential  cellar  in  which  he  first  drew  breath,  if  by  some 
well-managed  usury,  he  achieved  enormous  wealth,  becomes  a 
Phoariix  in  the  public  eye,  and  the  very  hem  of  his  garment 
is  regarded  with  veneration,  and  his  descendants  revered  as 
genteel  so  long  as  they  wear  good  clothes  and  feed  well. 
Fantastical  is  the  vanity  which,  while  it  cannot  deny  to  the 
beggar  at  the  gate  the  privilege  of  being  equally  descended  from 
Adam  and  Eve,  rests  its  own  claims  to  superiority  upon  being 
enabled  to  prove  a  fiftieth  part  of  the  same  antiquity,  struts,  like 
the  bird  in  the  fable,  in  others'  finery,  and  piques  itself  upon  the 
actions  of  its  ancestors,  instead  of  its  own.  "  No  matter  what 
his  race,  but  what  he  is,"  is  preferable  to  being  only  the  shadow 
of  a  mighty  name. 


CHAPTER  II. 

MB.    HEIGHT'S    FATHER    AND    MOTHER. 

Boyhood  and  Youth  of  Mr.  Jacob  Bright — Mr.  William  Holme — The  Friends  in 
Rochdale — Miss  Sophia  Holme — Her  Marriage  with  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  and 
Death — Miss  Martha  Wood — Mr.  Bright's  Birth — His  Mother's  Benevolence — 
Her  Personal  Appearance — Her  Death — Mr.  Bright's  Sisters — His  Father  and 
the  Workmen— Church  Rates— Anecdotes  Illustrative  of  Mr.  Jacob  Bright's 
Character — His  Business — Miss  Mary  Metcalf . 

THE  late  Jacob  Bright  was  born  on  the  24th  of  August,  1775, 
at  Coventry,  his  father  and  mother,  Jacob  and  Martha  Bright, 
dying  when  he  was  young  and  in  poor  circumstances.  Being  of 
the  Quaker  persuasion  he  was  placed  by  the  aid  of  the  Society  of 
Friends  at  Ackworth  School,  which  is  pleasantly  situated  in  the 
village  of  that  name  in  Yorkshire.  He  was  afterwards 
apprenticed  to  a  worthy  farmer,  Mr.  Holme,  who  had  three  or 
four  looms  in  his  house,  at  the  village  of  New  Mills,  in  Derby- 
shire, to  learn  hand-loom  weaving.  "  About  the  year  1796," 
so  said  his  eloquent  son,  the  distinguished  member  for 
Birmingham,  in  a  speech  delivered  in  Rochdale,  "when  my 
father  was  free  of  his  apprenticeship,  he  sallied  forth  to  seek 
his  living,  or  as  the  story-books  say,  to  seek  his  fortune, 
along  with  a  fellow-apprentice  (Mr.  William  Tew,  who  for 
many  years  acted  as  manager  and  bookkeeper  for  Mr.  Jacob 
Bright,  and  who  afterwards  set  up  in  business  in  Halifax), 
and  I  have  heard  him  say  that  their  joint  purse  did  not 
amount  to  more  than  about  ten  shillings.  He  found  employ- 
ment at  his  business  as  a  weaver,  and  he  was  able  to  earn 
about  six  shillings  per  week.  At  that  time  the  Government 
of  England  was  engaged  in  a  tremendous  war  with  the  French 
Republic.  The  Government  of  England  was  shedding  the 
blood  of  its  people  as  though  it  were  but  water,  and  squandering 
its  treasure  as  though  it  had  not  been  accumulated  by  the 
painful  labour  and  the  sweat  of  the  population  of  this  king- 
dom, and  trade  was  very  bad,  and  wages  were  very  low,  and 
six  shillings  a  week  was  that  which  a  hand-loom  weaver  at 
that  time  could  earn.  In  the  year  1802  my  father  came  to 
this  town  (Rochdale),  his  old  master 's  sons  came  there, 
and  in  conjunction  with  two  or  three  gentlemen  in  this 
neighbourhood  (Messrs,  John  Taylor,  James  Butterworth, 


MB.    HEIGHT'S    FATHER    AND    MOTHEE.  11 

and  William  Midgley)  they  built  a  mill,  which  you  all  know 
quite  well  as  the  Hanging  Road  Factory.  It  was,  I  believe, 
the  second  factory  in  this  town  and  neighbourhood  which 
was  set  to  work  in  cotton-spinning.  He  remained  there  for 
seven  years,  and  in  1809  he  took  an  old  mill  on  Cronkeyshaw, 
named  Greenbank.  Some  friends  of  his  in  Manchester,  who 
were  in  business  there  as  commission  agents,  seeing  his 
aptitude  for  business,  and  believing  in  his  honourable  character, 
found  the  capital  which  was  necessary  to  begin  business  in 
that  mill,  and  about  the  end  of  the  year  1809  the  old  steam 
engine,  which  was  put  down  there  by  Boulton  and  Watt,  of 
Birmingham,  nobody  knows  hardly  how  long  since,  first  turned 
round  to  spin  cotton  in  that  old  mill.  From  1809  to  1867 
is  at  least  57  years,  and  I  venture  to  say  that,  with  one 
single  exception,  and  thai; 'not  of  long  duration,  there  has 
been  during  that  57  years  an  uninterrupted  harmony  and 
confidence  between  my  family  connected  with  the  business 
and  those  who  have  assisted  us  and  been  employed  in  it." 
It  was  fortunate  then  in  many  respects  that  the  Derbyshire 
weaver 

"  Here  fixed  his  home, 
Or  rather  say,  sat  down  by  very  chance 
Among  these  rugged  hills." 

It  would  be  as  well  here  to  relate  that  Mr.  Jacob  Bright 
acted  in  the  capacity  of  book-keeper  for  Messrs.  John  Holme 
and  William  Holme,  and  during  the  latter  years  he  was  in 
their  service,  he  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  salesman, 
and  was  considered  both  shrewd  and  dexterous  in  this  line  of 
business. 

In  the  year  1808  Mr.  William  Holme  resided  in  a  large 
house  off  Toad  Lane,  which  in  those  days  was  considered  a 
fine  residence,  and  is  situated  in  what  is  now  carlled  St.  Mary's 
Place.  It  was  surrounded  by  a  garden,  which  extended  to 
what  now  bears  the  modern  name  of  Brickcroft,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  St.  Mary's  Gate  on  the  other,  and  ran  parallel 
with  Toad  Lane.  Up  to  this  date  the  Friends  had  no 
Meeting  House  in  Rochdale,  and  on  Thursday  morning  it 
was  customary  to  hold  divine  service  in  the  parlour  of  this 
mansion.  On  Sundays  they  repaired  on  foot '  to  a  Meeting 
House  at  Turf  Lane,  near  Oldham,  a  distance  of  about  six 
miles,  thus  evincing  their  devotion  and  attachment  to  their 
particular  faith..  These  followers  of  George  Fox,  their  founder, 
like  him,  were  worshippers  of  light  .and  silence,  a  light  "  that 
lightoth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world/'  a  silence 


12  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BEIGHT. 

which  they  regarded  as  the  voice  of  God  in  the  soul.  These 
silent  services  give  the  members  a  good  opportunity  for  self- 
examination.  Their  tried  and  sore-fretted  spirits,  harassed 
by  the  noise  and  turmoil  of  the  week,  experience  a  refreshment 
under  the  influence  of  the  holy  calm  and  religious  stillness 
which  pervades  their  house  of  prayer  and  fellow- worshippers 
on  that  sacred  day.  The  members  of  this  sect  have  ever 
been  the  most  amiable  in  their  social  manners,  peaceable,  gentle, 
mild,  compassionate,  beneficent  and  most  praiseworthy  in  their 
public  intercourse,  and  the  poor  in  their  ranks  have  always 

received  timely  aid. 

"Oh,  it  is  a  faith 

Taught  by  no  priest ;  but  by  their  beating  hearts ; 
Faith  to  each  other,  the  fidelity 
Of  fellow-wanderers  in  a  desert  place 
Who  share  the  same  dire  thirst,  and  therefore  share 
The  scanty  water  ...  t 

Nay,  in  the  silent  bodily  presence  feel 
The  mystic  stirrings  of  a  common  life, 
Which  make  the  many  one." 

In  the  autumn  of  1808  a  Meeting  House  was  erected  in  George 
Street,  Rochdale,  destitute  of  architectural  pretension,  but  com- 
modious in  the  interior.  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  was  a  member  of  the 
building  committee,  but  his  selection  for  the  post  of  usefulness 
amused  him,  for  he  remarked  that  he  could  not  understand  why 
they  should  have  selected  him,  unless  it  was  because  he  knew 
less  about  building  than  any  other  man. 

"Love,  ever  busy  with  his  shuttle/'  wove  a  tender  attach- 
ment between  the  industrious  salesman  and  his  employer's  sister, 
Miss  Sophia  Holme,  and  they  were  married,  and  set  up  house- 
keeping at  No.  71,  Toad  Lane,  Rochdale,  a  rather  spacious 
house,  on  the  left-hand  side,  approached  by  a  flight  of  eight 
steps  in  front,  protected  by  iron  railings.  They  were  not 
destined  to  live  long  together,  for  death  dissolved  the  union  of 
these  true  hearts,  and  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight  (on  the 
10th  of  May,  1806),  Mrs.  Bright  was  buried  in  the  Friends' 
graveyard,  Turf  Lane  End,  near  Oldham.  This  unhappy  occur- 
rence caused  Mr.  Bright  to  give  himself  up  to  business  more . 
unreservedly  than  ever,  and  he  became  one  of  the  most  familiar 
figures  in  the  Manchester  market.  He  suffered  much  from  the 
loss  he  had  sustained,  but  there  was  one  above  all  others  whose 
genuine  sympathy  he  appreciated.  a  Pity,"  says  the  proverb, 
"  is  the  parent  of  future  love,'"  and  our  sequel  will  confirm 
this  aphorism. 

In  the  course  of  time  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  was  found  to  return 
home  from  Manchester  market  in  his  gig  through  Bolton,  which 


MR.    HEIGHT'S   FATHER   AND   MOTHER.  13 

was  not  the  shortest  way  to  Rochdale,  and  departure  from  the 
old  beaten  track  became  more  frequent.-  The  fact  was,  the 
sympathy  that  had  been  felt  by  a  handsome  Quakeress  had 
ripened  into  the  first  fluttering^  of  the  silken  wings  of  a 
more  tender  passion;  and  the  finale  was  that  two  were  made 
one,  "  in  will  and  affection ;"  for  Miss  Martha  Wood,  the 
daughter  of  a  respectable  tradesman  of  Bolton-le-Moors,  and 
Mr.  Jacob  Bright  were  married  on  the  21st  of  July,  1809.  At 
the  time  of  their  nuptials  she  was  about  twenty,  her  husband 
being  a  good  deal  older.  She  was,  moreover,  a  woman  of  fine 
features  and  figure,  refined  in  her  tastes,  and  fond  of  books. 
They  commenced  housekeeping  at  No.  28,  High  Street,  near  the 
corner  of  Redcross  Street.  The  following  year,  however,  they 
removed  to  Greenbank,  then  a  neat  country  residence,  situated 
off  Whitworth  Road,  near  Cronkeyshaw  Common.  Here,  on 
the  19th  of  November,  1810,  a  little  stranger  made  his  ap- 
pearance, and  he  was  named  William ;  but  four  years  after 

"  There  fell  upon  the  house  a  sudden  gloom, 

A  shadow  on  those  features  fair  and  thin, 
And  softly,  from  that  hush'd  and^darkened  room, 
Two  angels  issued,  where  hut  one  went  in." 

And  this  boy  was  the  first  of  the  Bright  family  that  found  a 
resting-place  in  the  quiet  and  secluded  graveyard  of  the  Friends' 
Meeting  House  in  Rochdale.  But  before  this  event,  a  second 
little  stranger,  fairer  still,  who  was  destined  to  make  himself 
known  throughout  the  world,  and  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
working-class  by  his  wisdom  and  power  of  speech,  was  born 
at  Greenbank,  on  the  16th  of  November,  1811,  and  he  received, 
not  numerous  and  high-sounding  names,  but  the  simple  and 
single  name  of  "  John/'  Next  were  born  Sophia,  on  the  27th 
of  May,  1813;  Thomas,  on  the  22nd  of  September,  1814; 
Priscilla,  on  the  8th  of  September,  1815;  Benjamin,  on  the 
23rd  of  February,  1817  ;  Margaret,  on  the  14th  of  July,  1818, 
Esther,  on  the  15th  of  May,  1820;  Jacob,  on  the  26th  of  May, 
1821;  Gratton,  on  the  19th  of  September,  1823;  and  Samuel, 
on  the  16th  of  October,  1826.  Mrs.  Bright  was  a  woman  of 
fine  character,  and  exercised  great  influence  over  her  large 
family. 

When  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  commenced  business  at  Greenbank 
mill,  trade  was  in  a  languid  state,  wages  low,  and  the  cottager 
had  barely  sufficient  to  eat,  and  what  he  had  was  poor  in 
quality.  At  this  time  the  mill  system  was  in  its  rude, 
primitive  condition.  The  employed  were  the  slaves  of  the 
employers,  and  their  health  and  social  comforts  were  utterly 


14  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOIIN   BRIGHT. 

ignored  in  the  race  for  wealth.  The  people  were  gloomy  and 
dissatisfied,  and  eagerly  hailed  any  new  project  which  was  likely 
to  improve  their  condition.  Fortunately,  Mr.  Bright' s  business 
rapidly  enlarged,  and  there  was  a  perceptible  improvement  in 
the  condition  of  the  poor  in  the  surrounding  locality.  He  manu- 
factured on  a  large  scale  hand-loom  calicoes,  and  these  were  made 
by  the  poor,  who  were  scattered  for  miles,  even  to  the  base  of 
Blackstone  Edge.  The  clatter  of  the  busy  shuttle,  which 
merrily  flashed  through  the  loom,  gladdened  the  poor  man's 
home ;  the  families  were  better  clothed  and  fed,  and  conse- 
quently more  contented.  Cheerfulness  often  broke  forth  in 
simple  melodies,  which,  it  is  said,  always  sweeten  labour :  for 
the  Scotch  shepherd  makes  his  native  glens  and  grey  moors 
resound  with  his  song ;  the  Swiss,  Tyrolese,  and  Carpathians 
lighten  their  labour  by  music;  the  Spanish  muleteer  cares 
little  for  politics  if  he  can  indulge  in  his  carol.  The  vintager  of 
Sicily  has  his  vesper  hymns,  even  at  the  foot  of  the  burning 
Etna ;  the  boatman  of  Naples  has  his  fishing  song,  to  which 
his  rocking  boat  beats  time,  and  the  Venetian,  in  his  gondola, 
still  delights  in  his  midnight  serenade.  Such  is  the  cheering 
influence  of  innocent  song  on  the  workers  of  all  climes,  not  to 
mention  the  spiritual  and  divine  uses  to  which  music  is 
applied.  But  to  return  to  the  subject,  from  which  this  is  a 
digression.  It  was  a  pleasant  sight  on  Fridays  to  see  weavers 
wending  their  way  by  high  roads  and  bye-paths  to  Greenbank 
mill,  laden  with  a  week's  production  of  the  loom.  They  were 
purposely  paid  on  the  Friday,  so  that  they  might  purchase  their 
humble  necessaries  in  good  time  on  the  Saturday. 

As  Mrs.  Bright  was  strolling  one  day  on  Cronkeyshaw 
Common,  with  the  "flower"  of  her  flock  toddling  by  her  side, 
they  met  a  poor  widow  with  a  ragged  little  boy,  about  the  same 
age  as  John,  in  petticoats.  The  widow,  who  had  a  large  family, 
gave  an  account  of  her  woes  and  privations  to  Mrs.  Bright,  who, 
pitying  her  condition,  returned  to  her .  own  home,  taking  the 
widow  with  her.  The  little  gentleman  was  denuded  of  his  first 
new  suit,  which  was  transferred  to  the  ragged  boy,  who  was 
sent  home  comfortably  and  decently  attired,  his  mother  also 
rejoicing  in  the  happy  prospect  of  employment  and  support  for 
the  rest  of  the  family.  As  the  widow's  children  grew  up  their 
prosperity  increased.  One  of  them  became  manager  of  Messrs. 
Bright's  firm,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office  with  credit 
for  many  years ;  he  has  since,  too,  served  his  native  town  as 
Town  Councillor  and  Guardian.  His  brothers  have  also  led  useful 
and  honourable  lives.  The  "ragged  boy,"  who  is  now  in  the 


MR.    BRIGHT'S   FATHER   AND   MOTHER.  16 

autumnal  years  of  life,  still  lives  on  Cronkeyshaw  Common,  and 
feels  proud  of  the  fact  that  he  wore  the  Right  Hon.  John 
Briglit's  first  new  suit  of  clothes. 

Mrs.  Bright  and  her  daughters  were  in  the  habit  of  visiting 
the  sick  and  the  poor  in  the  neighbourhood  frequently,  and 
from  their  friendly  hands  refreshments  were  distributed.  To 
give  the  reader  an  idea  of  their  charity,  a  single  instance  will 
be  sufficient.  An  old  stone -breaker,  at  that  time  employed 
in  Falinge  Road,  was  bereaved  of  one  of  his  children,  and 
was  so  poor  that  he  could  not  pay  for  a  coffin.  Mrs.  Bright 
and  her  daughters  accidentally  heard  of  the  case,  and  purchasing 
for  the  old  man,  his  wife  and  three  daughters,  new  clothing 
for  the  funeral,  also  presented  them  with  a  sovereign  to 
defray  other  expenses. 

Every  morning  the  poor,  sometimes  in  great  numbers, 
visited  Greenbank,  and  received  tickets  upon  shopkeepers  for 
grocery,  shoes,  and  clothing. 

Twice  a  week,  in  one  of  their  cottages  near  Greenbank, 
occupied  by  a  person  named  Blomley,  Mrs.  Bright  gave 
instruction  to  young  women  in  the  evening,  the  proceedings 
being  opened  by  Mrs.  Bright  reading,  with  beautiful  expression 
and  solemnity,  a  portion  of  Scripture.  Her  favourite  chapter 
was  St.  John  xiv. :  "  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled/7  &c. 
Reading,  sewing,  and  other  branches  of  needlework  were 
also  taught. 

Mrs.  Bright,  besides  superintending  the  domestic  work, 
assisted  her  husband  in  his  book-keeping.  When  seated  or 
strolling  in  the  garden  she  was  often  engaged  knitting 
stockings  for  her  children  and  those  of  her  poor  neighbours, 
and  she  always  made  "  bishops,"  or  aprons,  for  those  girls  in 
the  factory  who  could  not  afford  them.  Her  life  was  one  of 
usefulness,  for  she  not  only  brought  up  her  own  family  in 
the  path  of  rectitude,  but,  although  charged  with  the  cares  of 
a  large  family,  she  found  time  to  instruct  the  children  of  her 
poor  neighbours,  and  to  relieve  their  necessities  in  cases  of 
sickness  and  distress.  Happy  they  with  such  a  mother ! 

This  lady  was  particularly  neat,  and  remarkably  plain 
in  her  dress — in  accordance  with  the  practice  of  the  Friends — 
carrying  out  the  injunction  of  St.  Paul  the  Apostle,  "that 
women  adorn  themselves  in  modest  apparel."  She  was  a 
person  of  medium  stature,  well-built  figure,  comely,  pleasant 
features,  neatly  attired  during  the  morning  in  a  print 
dress,  worn  rather  short  and  displaying  about  one  inch  of 
the  underskirt  all  round.  In  the  afternoon  she  wore  a 


16  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

stuff  dress  and  the  Quaker's  plain  white  cap — all  her  attire 
exhibiting  a  charming  simplicity.  On  Sunday,  when  it  was 
very  wet  under  foot,  she  was  to  be  seen  making  her  way 
to  the  Meeting  House  in  the  ring  pattens  of  the  period. 
She  was  considered  a  fair  equestrian,  and  with  her  husband, 
very  frequently  rode  on  horseback  from  Greenbank  to  Rake- 
wood  Mill,  near  Hollingworth  Lake,  in  which  he  manufactured 
goods. 

Mrs.  Bright  was  not  long  spared  to  devote  her  attention 
to  the  charitable  work  in  which  she  was  engaged  and  to  the 
training  of  her  children,  for  on  the  18th  of  June,  1830,  at 
the  age  of  41,  her  spirit  winged  its  way  to  its  Almighty 
source,  when  her  eldest  son  (John)  was  only  18  years  of 
age;  but  not  before  she  had  instilled  into  the  minds  of  her 
sons  and  daughters  influences  that  in  after-years  proved  that 
her  labours  had  not  been  fruitless. 

"  Sorrow  never  comes  too  late. 
And  happiness  too  swiftly  flies." 

She  was  held  in  the  greatest  reverence  by  her  children.  "  The 
instructions  received  at  a  mother's  knee,  and  the  paternal 
lessons,  together  with  the  pious  and  sweet  souvenirs  of  the  fire- 
side, are  never  effaced  entirely  from  the  soul."  She  sleeps  in 
peace  in  the  calm  earth  of  the  Friends'  graveyard  in  Rochdale. 

The  Misses  Bright  established  a  sewing-class  in  an  office 
belonging  to  the  mill,  where  they  also  taught  the  girls 
reading  and  writing.  A  school  was  afterwards  built  in  connec- 
tion with  the  mill,  and  they  spent  considerable  time  in  promoting 
the  education  of  the  poor  children.  These  ladies  continued  to 
visit  the  haunts  where  hungry  creatures  pined,  and  freely  ad- 
ministered relief  and  consolation  to  the  distressed.  They  cultivated 
their  own  intellectual  faculties,  and  acquired  considerable  skill 
in  domestic  economy  and  management.  One  after  another  at 
last  left  their  happy  home.  Their  lives  had  been  pleasant  and 
useful,  and  they  confidingly  trusted  themselves  to  the  love  and 
affection  of  those  who  had  chosen  them  as  companions  for  life, 
and  who  would  sympathise  with  them  alike  in  adversity  and 
prosperity.  Such  is  the  nature  of  the  purest  type  of  womankind. 

Mr.  Duncan  Maclaren,  M.P.  for  Edinburgh,  married  Miss 
Priscilla  Bright.  Mr.  Vaughan,  a  barrister,  who  is  now  a 
stipendiary  magistrate  at  Bow  Street,  London,  married  Miss 
Esther  Bright,  in  1849.  Mr.  Thomas  Ashworth,  of  Poynton, 
married  the  eldest  daughter,  Miss  Sophia  Bright,  and  Mr.  S. 
Lucas  married  Miss  Margaret  Bright.  Mrs.  Vaughan  died  in 


ME.    BRIGHT'S   FATHER   AND   MOTHER.  17 

1850,  and  was  buried  in  Kensal  Green  Cemetery,  London 
Mrs.  Ashworth,  who  was  remarkably  handsome,  "  like  the 
desert's  lily,  bloomed  to  fade/'  for  she  died  on  the  4th  of  May, 

1844,  at  the    age  of   thirty,  and    was  buried  in    the  Friends' 
graveyard  in  Rochdale.      Mr.  Benjamin  Bright  died  at  Graefen- 
berg,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight,  on  the  16th  of  March, 

1845,  and  was  interred  on  the  10th  of  April,  in  the  Friends' 
burial-ground  at    Rochdale.        Mr.    Gratton    Bright    died    at 
Bologna,  on  the  27th  of  October,  1853,  at  the  age  of  thirty, 
and  was  buried  in  the  Protestant  Cemetery  at  Bologna. 

"  It  matters  not  that  far  away 
From  Albion's  peaceful  shores  thy  Loues  decay," 

for  although  his  earthly  career  was  but  short,  he  left  a  pleasant 
memory  among  his  own  people.  Mr.  Samuel  Bright  died  at 
Geneva  on  the  27th  March,  1873,  and  his  remains  were  brought 
home  to  his  native  town  and  interred  in  the  Cemetery,  where 
his  grave  is  marked  with  a  stone,  with  his  bust  beautifully  carved 
in  marble.  This  sanctuary  of  the  dead  is  a  miniature  of  hill 
and  dale,  redolent  with  flowers  and  planted  with  luxuriant 
shrubs  and  trees,  from  the  midst  of  which  monumental  stone 
columns  and  obelisks  shoot  up  in  profusion.  Mrs.  Lucas  is  now 
a  widow,  and  devotes  much  of  her  time  to  the  advocacy  of  the 
temperance  cause. 

Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  when  conversing  with  his  workpeople,  did 
not  seek  to  conceal  his  humble  position  in  early  life,  nor  how 
he  had  had  to  struggle  to  break  through  the  bond  of  adver- 
sity, and  to  work  his  way  up  to  competence;  on  the  contrary, 
he  encouraged  them  to  copy  his  industrious  career,  and  sought  to 
inculcate  an  elevating  influence  upon  their  minds.  He  stood 
high  in  the  opinion  of  his  workpeople  as  a  kind  and  con- 
siderate employer.  Here,  for  instance,  is  the  statement  made 
by  one  workwoman,  Mrs.  Alice  Brierley,  of  Binn's  Nook : — 
"  My  husband  and  myself  worked  for  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  twenty- 
two  years  in  his  mill.  In  fact,  we  never  worked  for  any  person 
else,  and  we  have  saved  as  much  as  £2  a  week,  and  now  we 
have  got  nineteen  cottages  of  our  own  to  support  us  in  our 
old  age.  He  always  treated  us  and  all  his  workpeople  with 
the  greatest  kindness,  and  studied  our  comforts/' 

Sixty  years  ago  it  was  customary  in  the  majority  of  mills  to 
have  straps  hung  up  in  the  various  rooms  for  the  convenience  of 
overlookers  to  beat  the  children  who  did  not  attend  to  their 
work,  or  misconducted  themselves ;  but  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  would 
not  allow  such  an  instrument  of  punishment  to  be  introduced 


18  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

into  his  mill,  or  the  children  to  be  beaten.  Mr.  Bright  abhorred 
whistling  while  at  work,  and  often  used  to  say  to  an  offender 
"  Thou  had  better  go  on  to  the  Common  and  finish  thy  whist- 
ling/' If  a  workman  entered  the  marriage  state  he  would 
always  increase  the  wages  two  or  three  shillings  a  week,  and 
enjoined  that 

"  If  you  would  have  the  nuptial  union  la&t, 
Let  virtue  be  the  bond  that  ties  it  fast." 

He  kept  an  old  man,  named  Joshua  Haigh,  in  the  warehouse,  to 
instruct  the  children  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  during 
working  hours,  and  the  instruction  thus  imparted  proved  of  groat 
service  in  after-years  to  many,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  their 
success  in  life. 

The  workpeople  thoroughly  understood  the  weak  points  of 
Mr.  Bright's  nature,  for  when  they  wanted  a  special  holiday 
they  would  send  a  deputation  of  the  children  employed  in  the 
mill,  and  the  children  were  never  known  to  fail. 

Every  New  Year's  Day  he  gave  the  men,  women,  and  children 
in  his  employ  a  shilling,  and  he  nearly  always  paid  the  money 
himself.  His  face  beamed  with  pleasure  when  he  saw  the 
recipients'  manifestations  of  gratitude.  In  fact  he  took  almost 
as  much  interest  in  his  workpeople  as  in  his  own  family. 

He  would  never  give  an  old  pair  of  boots  to  a  person  in 
distress,  but  present  him  with  an  order  for  a  new  pair.  A 
reformed  drunkard,  a  woollen  weaver,  who  resided  near  the 
National  School,  Redcross  Street,  once  got  up  a  subscription  for 
the  purpose  of  buying  himself  a  wig — for  the  alcohol  he  had 
consumed,  he  said,  had  destroyed  the  roots  of  his  natural  hair 
and  made  him  bald — and  he  waited  upon  Mr.  Bright  for  a  con- 
tribution. Mr.  Bright,  after  glancing  over  the  names  of  the 
subscribers,  and  finding  that  the  whole  of  them  were  poor 
people,  declined  to  contribute  unless  the  whole  of  the  money  was 
returned  to  the  donors  ;  and  this  being  done,  he  purchased  an 
excellent  wig  for  the  reclaimed  bacchanalian. 

In  acts  of  charity  and  free  contributions  to  religious  institu- 
tions he  stood  amongst  the  foremost — 

"  For  his  bounty, 

There  was  no  winter  in't ;  an  autumn  'twas 
That  grew  the  more  by  reaping." 

Pope  had  a  tolerably  vivid  insight  into  human  nature  when 
he  wrote — 

"  Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast ; 
Man  never  is,  but  always  to  be  ble.st." 


ME.    HEIGHT'S    FATHEE    AND    MOTHEE.  19 

And  so  it  is  in  every-day  life,  for  we  are  always  expecting  n 
change  for  the  better.  A  steam-tenter,  the  father  of  six  chil- 
dren, residing  at  Syke,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mr.  Bright's 
residence,  many  years  ago  employed  at  a  foundry  in  the  heart 
of  the  town  of  Rochdale,  receiving  wages  inadequate  for  the 
suj  port  of  his  family,  had  to  depend  partially  upon  charity.  His 
wife  waited  upon  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  for  the  loan  of  two  shillings, 
promising  to  return  the  money  the  following  week.  The  date 
came  round,  but  instead  of  being  able  to  repay  the  money,  she 
found  it  absolutely  necessary  to  ask  for  another  loan  of  two 
shillings ;  and  this  was  repeated  until  the  loans  accumulated  to 
£1.  The  eldest  boy,  about  eight  years  old,  who  had  been  sent 
for  the  money  and  conveyed  the  promises  of  repayment,  was 
aroused  one  morning  with  the  usual  cry  : — "  John,  thou  must  go 
again  to  Jacob."  "Mother,"  said  the  boy,  "  hast  thou  the  j£l 
ready  ?  "  "  No,  John,"  replied  the  mother.  "  Then  am  I  to  get 
more  money  ?"  said  the  boy.  "  Yes,  John ;  we  cannot  do  without 
it,  and  I  am  not  able  to  pay  yet,"  added  the  mother.  The  boy 
burst  into  tears,  saying  sorrowfully  that  he  was  ashamed  to  go 
again  after  making  so  many  promises  to  pay,  and  obeyed  his 
mother  very  reluctantly.  Before  he  arrived  at  the  counting-house, 
he  met  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  who  inquired  why  he  was  crying.  The 
boy  reminded  him  that  it  was  the  day  for  the  repayment  of  the 
£1,  and  that  his  mother,  still  unable  to  fulfil  her  promise,  wanted 
another  two  shillings.  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  patting  the  boy  on 
the  back,  bade  him  cease  crying,  saying  he  would  rub  out  the 
old  score  and  begin  again.  The  borrowing  and  promising  went 
on,  but  the  day  never  arrived  during  the  life  of  Mr.  Jacob 
Bright  for  the  repayment. 

On  one  occasion  Mr.  Richard  Elliott,  of  Elliott  Street,  with 
a  friend,  called  upon  him  for  a  subscription  in  aid  of  the 
Methodist  New  Connexion  School.  They  were  invited  into  his 
parlour;  and  on  their  acqxiainting  him  with  the  object  of  their 
visit,  he  inquired  what  sum  he  was  in  the  habit  of  giving.  They 
stated  the  amount,  upon  which  he  remarked  that  it  was  very 
little,  and  at  once  doubled  the  subscription,  and  thanked  them 
heartily  for  taking  the  trouble  to  call  upon  him. 

But  although  instances  of  his  benevolence  are  numerous,  still 
on  the  matter  of  Church  Rates  he  manifested  at  all  times  the 
most  thorough  repugnance,  for  he  disagreed  with  the  principle, 
arid  regarded  them  as  unjust.  He  was  staunch  in  his  opposition 
to  these  exactions,  and  never  flinched  from  the  determination 
which  he  had  formed  respecting  them.  From  this  it  must  be 
presumed  that  he  would  never  pay  a  Church  Rate  willingly, 
c  2 


20  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

and  distress  warrants  had  always  to  be  issued  to  enforce  pay- 
ment. 

A  list  of  the  distress  warrants  issued  against  Mr.  Jacob 
Bright,  with  particulars  respecting  them,  gleaned  from  the 
Friends'  record,  entitled  "  Sufferings,"  gives  a  glimpse  of  the 
history  of  former  times,  and  we  will  begin  with  the  year  1811.  At 
that  time  a  demand  was  made  upon  Mr.  Bright  for  15s.  8d.,  for 
a  warden's  rate.  As  he  refused  to  pay  this  sum,  a  warrant  was 
issued  to  levy  the  amount.  In  addition  the  warrant  itself  cost  8s. 
Samuel  Lomax,  warden,  was  the  claimant  on  behalf  of  the  parish 
church ;  and  the  justices  signing  the  warrant  were  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Drake  (vicar)  and  Mr.  William  Horton.  Under  the  war- 
rant, cotton  twist  to  the  value  of  £].  9s.  2d.  was  seized.  This 
occurrence  passed  over,  and  three  years  elapsed  before  the  next 
seizure,  which  took  place  in  1814,  for  a  warden's  rate  of  2s.  5£d. 
The  charges  amounted  to  10s.,  James  Clegg,  warden,  was  the 
claimant,  and  the  magistrate  Mr.  Wm.  Horton.  As  staunch  Mr. 
Bright  would  not  pay  the  amount,  cotton  twist  to  the  value  of 
£1  was  seized.  By  way  of  explanation  we  must  remark  this 
claim  was  in  respect  only  of  premises  in  Spotland.  In  the  same 
year  another  warrant  was  executed  for  j£3  18s.  6d.  for  premises 
in  Wardleworth.  The  costs  did  not  amount  to  more  than  10s. 
The  claimant  was  George  Law,  warden,  and  Mr.  Wm.  Horton 
again  signed  the  warrant.  Cotton  twist  to  the  value  of  £7  l-3s. 
was  carried  off  in  liquidation  of  claim  and  costs.  In  1815  Mr. 
Bright  was  again  pounced  upon  with  another  warrant  for  £3  7s. 
10d.,  and  10s.  costs.  Samuel  Jackson,  warden,  was  the  claimant ; 
and  Mr.  Wm.  Horton  again  appears  as  the  magistrate  who  signed 
the  warrant.  In  execution  of  this  process,  cotton  was  seized  to 
the  value  of  £5  17s.  2d.  The  next  warrant  was  issued  in  1819, 
for  £6  13s.  7£d.,  and  £1  10s.  costs,  for  three  years'  Church 
Rate.  The  claimant  was  John  Clegg,  warden ;  and  Mr.  John 
Entwisle  appears,  for  the  first  time,  as  the  magistrate  signing 
the  warrant.  Cotton  weft  to  the  value  of  £14>  15s.  2d.  was 
carried  off.  Not  much  time  was  allowed  to  elapse  before  the 
next  seizure,  which  took  place  the  following  year,  in  1820. 
This  time  it  had  reference  to  the  building  of  a  Chapel-of- 
Ease  (St.  James's  Church).  The  amount  demanded  was  £1  4s. 
and  11s.  6d.  costs.  Samuel  Jackson  was  the  collector  and 
claimant,  under  an  Act  of  Parliament  specially  obtained;  and 
Mr.  John  Beswick  signed  the  warrant.  It  is  matter  of 
remark  that  under  the  warrants  levied  against  Mr.  Bright, 
cotton  'weft  seems  to  have  been  the  choice  article  to  be 
seized,  and  so  we  find  that  here  again  this  valuable  commodity, 


ME.    HEIGHT'S   FATHER   AND   MOTHEE.  21 

to  the  amount  of  £'Z  12s.  6d.,  was  taken.  The  Chapel-of-Ease 
was  evidently  of  an  uneasy  description,  and  seemed  like  the  horse- 
leech's daughter,  of  which  mention  is  made  in  Scripture ;  for  it 
again  made  a  further  seizure  by  way  of  preying — not  praying, 
as  one  might  have  expected — in  the  following  year,  for  a  sum 
of  £11  9s.  3d.  and  10s.  costs.  Messrs.  John  Entwisle  and  John 
Beswick  were  the  magistrates.  Cotton  weft  to  the  value  of 
£16  16s.  10|d.  was  in  this  instance  removed  for  the  support  of 
this  hungry  infant  of  an  equally  hungry  mother.  Again,  in  the 
same  year  and  for  the  same  purpose,  a  further  claim  of  £4  7s. 
7£d.  and  10s.  costs  was  demanded  on  warrant.  Mr.  John  Bes- 
wick was  the  acting  magistrate.  In  this  instance,  by  way  of 
a  change,  calico  worth  £5  19s.  9d.,  and  weighing  1251bs.,  was 
seized.  In  the  same  year  £1  3s.  was  deducted  from  the  rents  of 
tenants  for  the  Church  Rates  they  had  been  forced  to  pay.  Still, 
again,  in  the  same  year,  the  mother  church,  seeing  that  her 
interesting  progeny  was  thriving  so  successfully,  wanted  a 
little  help  on  her  own  account,  and  asked  for  the  insignificant 
sums,  6s.  6^d.  and  10s.  costs.  Robert  Hardman  was  the  warden, 
and  Mr.  John  Beswick  signed  the  warrant.  Cotton  weft  to 
the  value  of  £1  15s.  was  carried  off.  This  was  the  last  feat 
of  the  Church  in  the  year  1821,  but  the  future  lay  before  it 
for  the  purpose  of  further  exactions.  Accordingly,  to  begin 
with,  the  first  claim  in  ]  822  was  for  £2  18s.  4d.,  demanded  by 
Edmund  Rhodes,  warden;  Messrs.  John  Entwisle  and  John 
Beswick  were  the  magistrates  who  signed  that  interesting  docu- 
ment, the  warrant,  and  104  Ibs.  of  cotton,  valued  at  d£4  6s.  8d., 
were  seized.  In  the  same  year  another  warrant  was  issued  for  a 
Church  Rate  of  £2  18s.  4d.  The  claimant  was  James  Whitworth, 
warden.  For  the  first  time  the  warrant  was  signed  by  Mr.  B.  W. 
Burdett,  and  112  Ibs.  of  cotton,  valued  at  £4  4s.,  were  taken  on 
the  occasion.  The  Chapel-of-Ease  again  called  for  its  share 
the  following  year,  1823,  with  a  distress  warrant  for  £'6  15s. 
and  the  costs  amounting  to  £1  6s.  8d.,  and  Messrs.  John 
Entwisle  and  John  Beswick  were  the  magistrates.  Fourteen 
pieces  of  calico  were  seized,  valued  at  £5  16s.  3d.  A  respite 
of  three  years  followed,  for  the  next  warrant  was  dated  1826, 
for  £1  3s.  4d.  and  10s.  costs.  John  Whittles  was  the  warden, 
and  the  magistrate  Mr.  John  Beswick.  100  Ibs.  of  cotton  of 
the  value  of  £3  3s.,  were  taken,  but  there  was  an  after-charge 
of  8s.  Milnrow  Church  being,  as  we  suppose,  of  a  very  benign 
temper,  had  all  this  time  been  looking  on  with  a  complacent 
smile :  when,  suddenly,  a  change  came  o'er  the  spirit  of  her 
dream,  and  then  arose  the  (of  course)  perfectly  innocent  feeling, 


22  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

that  if  her  kiudred  and  neighbours  were  getting  on  so  well,  and 
in  point  of  fact  living  in  clover,  there  was  no  earthly  reason 
why  she  also  should  not  join  in  for  a  share  ;  so  in  the  same  year 
a  warrant  was  issued  on  her  behalf  for  £1  18s.  lOd.  rate,  and 
10s.  costs.  Robert  Sutcliffe,  warden,  was  the  claimant,  and 
Mr.  John  Beswick,  in  the  performance  of  his  magisterial 
functions,  affixed  his  signature  to  the  warrant.  lUUlbs.  of 
cotton,  of  the  value  of  '£$  3s.,  were  removed,  and  an  after- 
charge  of  8s.  was  found  necessary.  In  the  same  year  the 
Chapel-of-Ease  required  £2  11s.  7^d.,  and  the  costs  amounted 
to  £1.  Mr.  John  Beswick  signed  the  distress  warrant.  Mr. 
Bright  on  this  occasion  was  deprived  of  cotton  shir  tiny,  of  the 
value  of  £4  2s.  9d.  He  was  closely  pursued  in  the  year 
following  (1827),  with  a  warrant  for  £3  7s.  3d.  and  10s., 
claimed  by  George  Holt,  warden,  with  Mr.  John  Beswick  as 
magistrate.  Six  pieces  of  cotton,  containing  312  yards  shirting, 
valued  at  5d.  per  yard,  amounting  in  all  to  £7  3s.,  found  (it  is 
said)  a  somewhat  circuitous  way  into  the  coffers  of  St.  Chad's 
Church,  but  whether  that  ancient  edifice  received  all  the  benefits 
is  more  than  we  should  venture  to  assert.  A  suspension  of 
activities  on  the  part  of  the  church  militant  for  months  was 
here  allowed,  for  the  next  warrant  was  dated  1829.  Thomas 
Sykes  comes  on  the  scene  for  the  first  time  as  warden,  and 
again  Mr.  John  Beswick  acts  as  magistrate.  £2  18s.  4d.  worth 
of  cotton  was  distrained,  and  a  further  charge  of  8s.  was  found 
necessary  to  liquidate  the  account.  Milnrow  about  the  same 
time  (for  she  had  gained  some  experience)  put  in  a  claim  for  £1 
3s.  5d.,  which  was  enforced,  by  means  of  a  distress  warrant  with 
12s.  6d.  costs.  John  Shepherd,  warden,  was  the  claimant  on 
behalf  of  the  parish,  and  Mr.  John  Beswick,  who  was  without 
exception  the  most  indefatigable  of  the  king's  justices,  was 
again  the  gentleman  whose  signature  was  affixed  to  the 
warrant.  £2  18s.  6d.  worth  of  cotton  was  carried  off,  and  the 
additional  charges  continued  amounting  to  8s.  St.  Chad's  here 
allowed  a  short  respite  until  the  year  1832,  and  then  put  in  a 
claim  for  £1  Us.  3d.  and  10s.  costs.  Robert  Whittles  was  the 
claimant,  and  two  magistrates'  names  appeared  on  the  warrant, 
viz.,  those  of  Messrs.  John  Entwisle  and  Clement  Royds. 
£'6  14s.  worth  of  cotton  was  removed,  and  the  law  costs 
amounted  to  8s.  The  next  year,  1833,  Benjamin  Buttervvorth, 
warden,  claimed  £5  18s.  l|d.  and  £1  costs.  Mr.  Clement 
Royds  signed  the  warrant,  and  358  yards  of  calico,  worth  5d.  per 
yard,  valued  at  £7  9s.  2d.,  were  removed.  We  could  continue 
the  list  of  warrants,  which  ranged  over  years,  but  refrain  from 


ME.    BEIGHT'S   FATHER    AND    MOTHER.  23 

doing-  so,  fancying-  that  what  has  been  given  is  sufficient  to 
enlighten  our  readers  as  to  the  persecutions  of  those  times,  and 
the  noble  struggle  for  freedom  of  conscience. 

"  What  stronger  breastplate  than  a  heart  untainted  ? 
Thrice  is  he  arm'd  that  hath  his  quarrel  just ; 
And  he  but  naked,  though  locked  up  in  steel, 
Whose  conscience  with  injustice  is  corrupted." 

Generally,  in  the  history  of  human  life,  the  good  man  does 
not  always  rank  according  to  his  merit;  but  in  the  details  of 
fiction  we  find  worth,  still  more  purified  by  suffering,  elevated 
to  the  post  of  honour,  and  see  splendid  oppression,  although 
successful  for  its  season,  eventually  branded  with  public 
detestation.  As  is  well  known,  Church  Rates  had  been  for 
many  years  an  obnoxious  impost  to  a  very  numerous  section  of  the 
community,  who  regarded  them  as  having  sprung  from  an 
anti-Christian  root ;  and  the  murmurings  of  the  people  became 
louder  and  more  distinct,  until  public  indignation  rose  to  such  a 
height  as  to  command  the  requisite  attention  of  the  powers  that 
be,  and  Church  Rates,  with  all  the  vexations  which  they  brought 
about,  became  things  of  the  past. 

To  return  to  pleasanter  topics,  we  find  Mr.  Bright  exercising 
that  benevolence  for  which  his  family  is  noted.  A  jealous 
neighbour  of  a  poor  farmer  who  kept  a  lean  cow  and  a  donkey, 
hurriedly  waited  upon  Mr.  Bright  to  inform  him  that  Daniel 
Sladen's  donkey,  of  Hazle  Greave  Farm,  near  Syke,  had  got 
through  the  fence  into  his  clover  field,  and  pressed  him  to  send 
the  animal  to  the  pinfold,  remarking  that  the  owner  would  be 
thus  punished  by  getting  into  the  clutches  of  the  law.  To  the 
informant's  disgust,  Mr.  Bright  received  the  alarming  informa- 
tion quite  coolly,  and  not  only  expressed  admiration  at  the  good 
sense  of  poor  "  Jenny/'  in  preferring  rich  and  luscious  clover  to 
the  less  palatable  fare  which  the  common  afforded,  but  actually 
asked  the  evil-disposed  complainant  to  wait  on  the  farmer  and 
tell  him  to  take  his  cow  there  to  feed  in  company  with  its  friend 
the  donkey ;  and  thus  the  jealous  neighbour,  much  against  his 
will,  was  made  the  bearer  of  good  tidings  to  the  man  whom  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  harass  and  persecute.  If  the  sacred 
sward  of  a  parson's  paddock  had  been  thus  trespassed  upon,  great 
would  have  been  the  indignation,  and  the  exclamation  might 

have  been : — 

"  What !  crop  the  close  ?  the  parson's  too  ? 
For  this  can  less  than  death  be  due  ? 
When  thorns  and  thistles  grow  so  plenty 
Could  nothing  but  the  glebe  content  ye  ? 
From  such  a  sin  but  death  can  purge  ye—- 
Death without  benefit  of  clergy." 


24  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BEIGHT. 

Some  few  of  Mr.  Bright's  workwomen,  whose  husband* 
frequently  spent  their  leisure  hours  in  public-houses  of  an 
evening,  occasionally  waited  upon  Mr.  Bright  for  his  advice  to 
bring  about  a  better  state  of  things.  After  quietly  listening, 
he  gave  to  most  of  them  (when  he  thought  it  necessary)  broad 
hints  as  to  the  best  plan  of  reforming  their  husbands.  His 
recommendations  were  given  in  a  forcible  yet  homely  style,  by 
relating  to  his  auditors  a  circumstance  that  had  come  under  his 
own  observation.  He  knew  a  friend,  he  would  say,  who  was 
commonly  addicted  to  visiting  a  neighbouring  public-house  of 
an  evening,  and  the  man's  wife  sought  counsel  from  a  friend  as 
to  how  he  could  be  cured.  The  recommendation  was  simple, 
and  was  merely  to  keep  her  house  tidy, 

"  Th'  har'stone  as  white  as  new  snow," — 

have  the  food  nicely  cooked  and  neatly  placed  on  the  table,  and 
011  Saturday  evenings  a  newspaper  lying  temptingly  about,  and 
to  be  good-tempered  and  chatty.  The  first  Saturday  evening 
the  experiment  was  tried  the  husband  could  not  make  out  why 
everything  was  in  order;  why  his  wife  smiled  and  was  so 
agreeable.  After  washing  himself  and  donning  his  best  suit  he 
sat  down  to  tea.  He  noticed  a  newspaper  lying  on  the  table, 
and  began  to  read,  observing  to  her  that  he  had  been  thinking 
of  running  across  the  road  for  a  gill  and  a  look  at  the  paper ; 
however,  as  he  had  already  got  a  newspaper  and  felt  comfortable 
it  was  not  worth  while  going  out. 

"  Aw've  110  gradely  comfort,  my  lass, 
Except  wi'  yon  childer  and  thee." 

Thus  the  wanderer  was  cured  of  seeking  comfort  elsewhere  than 
at  his  own  fireside,  became  rich  and  an  ornament  to  society.  Of 
course,  the  moral  intended  was  that  they  should  do  likewise. 
Some  adopted  the  plan  and  were  profited  thereby ;  others  thought 
it  was  not  worth  the  while,  and  so  lived  the  old  life  of  misery, 
which  a  little  effort  would  most  probably  have  completely 
changed. 

Two  men,  who  have  now  reached  the  stage  of  middle-age, 
relate  that  when  they  were  boys,  in  passing  through  "Flag- 
field,"  which  was  below  Greenbank,  they  were  walking  on  the 
grass,  although  there  was  a  broad  footpath,  and  Mr.  Jacob 
Bright  meeting  them  good-humou redly  remarked,  "  Well,  my 
lads,  do  you  think  that  you  will  often  pass  through  this  field  ? 
for  if  you  do  I'll  get  the  footpath  made  broader  for  your  special 
convenience."  The  hint  was  sufficient,  and  so  deep  was  its 


ME.    HEIGHT'S   FATHEE   AND   MOTHEE.  25 

impression,  that  they  never  wantonly  trespassed  again,  nor  ever 
forgot  the  irony  which  the  admonishment  contained.  Gentleness 
thus  accomplished  what  harshness  would  have  been  ineffective 
in  doing. 

When  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  was  a  journeyman  weaver  he  had  a 
piecer  who  went  by  the  name  of  "  Old  Duke/'  a  mischievous 
boy  and  a  regular  gormandiser.  The  workpeople  who  brought 
their  dinners  to  the  mill  were  often  relieved  of  their  chief  meal, 
especially  if  it  were  composed  of  anything  that  would  tempt  an 
appetite.  The  disappearance  of  the  dinners  for  some  time  was 
unaccountable,  but  suspicion  at  last  fell  upon  the  "  Duke/'  and 
Mr.  Bright  determined  to  fathom  the  mystery.  He  had  all  the 
piecers  ranged  in  a  row,  and  informed  them  of  his  intended 
experiment  of  making  them  all  cast  "  their  accounts  "  by  the  aid 
of  a  chemical  mixture.  The  "Duke"  was  so  alarmed  at  the 
threatened  operation  and  the  re-appearance  of  the  stolen  dinner, 
that  he  confessed  his  guilt,  and  he  was  cured  of  swallowing 
other  people's  dinners. 

Pigs  have  an  inveterate  habit  of  rooting  up  the  earth,  which 
seems  as  natural  to  them  as  grunting,  but  they  are  more  partial 
to  garden  soil  than  to  that  of  a  common,  and  the  porkers  of 
Mrs.  Ann  Jones,  of  Whitworth  Road,  always  preferred  Mr. 
Bright' s  garden  to  Cronkeyshaw  Common.  Samuel  Sheriff,  the 
coachman,  after  continual  annoyance,  got  angry  one  day,  and  in 
chasing  the  pigs  out  of  the  garden  struck  one  of  them  a  terrific 
blow  on  the  back  with  a  stick,  whereby  it  lost  the  use  of  its 
hind  quarters.  Mrs.  Jones's  suspicion  fell  upon  the  irate  Samuel, 
and  she  made  a  complaint  to  Mr.  Bright.  Now  the  coachman 
knew  that  only  another  pair  of  eyes  than  his  own  had  witnessed 
the  incident,  and  knowing  well  the  impartiality  of  Mr.  Bright, 
he  attempted  to  persuade  the  owner  of  those  eyes  to  say  that  at 
the  time  he  had  been  looking  another  way.  James  Tweedale,  the 
witness,  was  not  the  man  to  be  so  persuaded.  Mr.  Bright  sat 
in  judgment,  with  Ann  on  the  right  and  Samuel  on  the  left,  the 
disabled  pig  being  placed  in  the  middle.  James  Tweedale's 
station  was  between  the  complainant  and  defendant.  The 
evidence  was  heard,  the  coachman  "  found  wanting,"  and  judg- 
ment was  thus  delivered : — Ann  Jones  had  done  wrong  in 
allowing  her  pigs  to  trespass  after  continual  warning,  but  the 
coachman  had  no  right  to  strike  the  pig,  and  must  take  the 
consequence.  The  porker  was  ordered  to  be  killed  and  divided 
into  two  parts,  the  defendant  to  take  the  hind  part  and  pay  the 
complainant  for  it  at  the  rate  at  which  pork  was  then  selling. 
Mrs.  Jones  was  gratified,  Samuel  had  something  to  eat  for  iu» 


2b  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIG      . 

money,  and  both  were  mutually  contented  with  Mr.  Bright's 
Solomon-like  decision. 

Edgar  Allan  Poe,  in  his  famous  poem  "  The  Bells,"  beauti- 
fully describes  the  sound  of  "the  mellow  wedding  bells,"  "the 
loud  alarum  bells,"  and  "  the  tolling  of  the  bells "  in  that 
"  muffled  monotone,"  but  has  entirely  ignored  the  more  tender, 
all-softening,  overpowering  tinkling  of  the  dinner-bell,  which 
touches  so  sensitive  a  chord  in  the  systems  of  the  young.  A 
widow's  large  family  of  hungry  boys,  who  worked  at  Greenbank 
Mill,  used  to  watch  with  the  greatest  anxiety  the  first  movement 
of  the  rope  of  the  dinner-bell  of  the  factory,  and  before  the 
"  clapper  "  sounded,  they  were  off  "  helter-skelter  "  for  home, 
although  porridge  was  provided  for  dinner  nearly  every  day,  and 
even  that  in  scanty  proportion.  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  in  crossing 
the  moor  one  day,  met  one  of  the  boys  named  Benjamin  running 
as  hard  as  he  could,  crying.  Mr.  Bright  inquired  what  was  the 
matter.  "  Ben,"  nearly  out  of  breath,  asked  if  "  Sam,"  his 
brother,  had  passed.  Mr.  Bright  replied  that  he  had  seen  him 
running  in  the  direction  of  home  two  minutes  before.  "  Ben  " 
resumed  his  crying  and  began  to  walk  back,  saying  that  he 
might  as  well  return  to  the  mill,  for  he  was  certain  that  before 
he  could  get  home  all  the  porridge  would  have  disappeared. 
Mr.  Bright  took  Ben  to  his  own  kitchen,  ordered  the  cook  to 
give  him  a  good  dinner,  and  told  him  that  he  was  to  repeat  his 
visits  daily  until  further  orders.  "  Ben  "  was  the  most  delicate 
of  his  brothers,  but  the  substantial  fare  told  favourably  on  his 
thin  frame ;  at  last  he  felt  ashamed  of  what  he  regarded  as  taking 
advantage  of  a  good  nature,  and  as  the  "  further  orders  "  never 
came  to  discontinue  his  visits,  he  turned  rebellious  and  resumed 
his  fare  of  porridge,  always  trying  his  best  to  keep  abreast  with 
"  Sam."  In  the  race  of  life  "  Sam"  is  ahead,  enjoying  the  ease 
of  a  competency,  while  "  Ben "  is  still  repressed  by  the  cold 
hand  of  poverty,  and  toiling  for  the/'  bread  which  perisheth." 

Mr.  John  Entwisle,  Captain  Ball,  and  Mr.  James  Butter- 
worth  waited  upon  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  previous  to  the  election  of 
1832,  in  their  canvass  to  solicit  his  vote.  "  Well/'  said  Mr. 
Jacob  Bright,  upon  learning  the  object  of  their  visit,  "  thou  art  a 
very  good  neighbour,  John  Entwisle,  and  they  tell  me  thou  art 
a  good  magistrate  and  kind  to  the  poor,  and  we  cannot  spare 
thee  out  of  Rochdale,  so  I  cannot  conscientiously  give  thee  my 
vote."  This  was  one  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  by  pointing  out 

' '  How  few 
Know  their  own  good  ;  or,  knowing  it,  pursue." 

Mr.  Entwisle  was  pleased  with  what  he  regarded  as  a  compliment 


ME.    BRIGHT'S   FATHER    AND    MOTHER.  27 

paid  to  him,  his  friends  were  tickled  with  the  adroit  fencing  of 
the  "  reformer,"  and  Jacob  chuckled  at  escaping-  without  giving 
offence,  and  they  indulged  in  a  firm  grasp  and  shaking  of  hands 
and  parted  good  friends. 

Hundreds  of  grey-headed  men  and  women  remember  that 
when  they  were  children  they  took  part  on  Whit-Friday  in  the 
Sunday  School  processions  which  paraded  the  streets  of  the 
town,  and  repaired  to  Mr.  Jacob  Bright' s  meadow,  immediately 
below  his  residence  at  Greenbank.  There  was  a  large  hollow  in 
this  field,  forming  a  rural  amphitheatre,  and  a  waggon  was 
placed  at  the  bottom  to  serve  as  a  platform  for  the  ministers  and 
friends  who  assembled  on  the  occasion.  The  children  all  sat 
round  from  top  to  bottom,  and  it  was  an  imposing  sight  to  see 
them  with  lt  countenances  made  beautiful  by  the  soul  shining 
through  them,"  arrayed  in  clean  garments,  and  raising  their 
tuneful  voices  in  hymns  of  praise.  "  Of  all  the  sights  which 
can  soften  and  humanise  the  heart  of  man,"  Southey  truly  said, 
"  there  is  none  that  ought  so  surely  to  reach  it  as  that  of  inno- 
cent children,  enjoying  the  happiness  which  is  their  proper  and 
natural  portion."  The  children  assembled  on  these  occasions 
enjoyed  themselves  in  innocent  games  of  all  sorts  after  they 
had  listened  to  the  addresses  and  sung  hymns.  Happy  were 
those  early  days,  and  no  doubt  many  have  since  longed  to 
travel  back  and  be  children  again  if  it  were  possible. 

"  Ah !  happy  years  !  once  more  who  would  not  be  a  boy  P  " 

For  many  years  Mr.  Bright  strolled  amidst  the  happy  gatherings, 
patting  children  on  the  shoulders  and  saying  kind  and  encour- 
aging words.  "  Kindness  gives  birth  to  kindness/'  and  the 
good  man's  smile  and  pleasant  manners  made  deep  and  lasting 
impressions,  which  have  never  been  forgotten  by  those  who 
received  them.  In  those  days  all  branches  of  Dissenters  marched 
their  children  in  procession  together,  and  the  first  and  many 
successive  gatherings  were  held,  by  the  kind  permission  of  Mr. 
Bright,  in  this  meadow. 

It  was  one  of  Mr.  Bright' s  regulations  that  the  girls  employed 
in  his  mill  should  learn  the  various  processes  of  manufacture  for 
their  own  benefit;  for  instance,  they  would  be  first  employed  on 
throstles,  next  winding  or  reeling,  and  then  warping.  Besides 
this  he  allowed  strangers  to  learn  warping  in  his  mill,  although 
they  intended  to  work  elsewhere,  remarking  to  his  manager  that 
it  was  far  better  to  gain  a  good  name  and  the  respect  of  his 
fellow-townsmen  than  much  riches.  All  his  sons  had  also  to 
learn  the  various  branches  of  the  business. 


28  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT 

Mr.  Bright,  by  the  force  of  his  exertions,  established  and  con- 
ducted a  large  business  in  the  cotton  trade.  In  the  year  1823, 
the  spindles  in  his  mill  numbered  7,000,  but  now  in  the  existing 
mills  they  have  increased  to  40,000,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
carpet  trade,  which  was  originated  by  his  energetic  sons.  Finding 
that  his  business  had  outgrown  his  small  mill  at  Greenbank,  he 
built  a  large  mill  on  the  other  side  of  the  common,  and  on  the 
ground  floor  of  this  mill,  his  son,  John  Bright,  learnt  weaving. 
In  1838  he  erected  another  in  close  proximity,  fifty-seven  yards 
long,  twenty  yards  broad,  and  five  storeys  high,  but  on  Tuesday, 
April  10th,  1838,  it  was  destroyed  by  fire,  with  the  whole  of  the 
machinery,  which  was  new  and  of  the  most  valuable  description. 
The  fire  broke  out  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  from 
friction  of  one  of  the  scutching  machines.  The  loss  amounted  to 
about  c€20,000,  but  the  building  and  machinery  were  insured, 
though  not  to  the  full  amount.  While  it' was  rebuilding  the  old 
mills  were  kept  working  night  and  day  for  about  eighteen  months, 
so  that  the  workpeople  might  be  kept  employed.  The  new  mill 
this  time  was  made  fireproof.  About  the  year  1842,  another  mill, 
larger  than  those  "already  erected,  was  built,  and  another  in  1845, 
and  two  new  engines,  60-horse  power  each,  were  made  to  work 
the  machinery.  This  was  the  success  founded  upon  such  small 
beginnings,  but  patience  and  industry  in  the  long  run  will  do 
wonders.  Mr.  Bright  was  most  assiduous  in  business  and 
visited  the  Manchester  Market  with  great  regularity.  After 
returning  he  would  go  into  his  mill,  instruct  his  overlookers  how 
to  work  out  the  orders  he  had  received,  and  would  not  leave  until 
he  saw  the  work  done  efficiently.  He  thoroughly  understood 
the  whole  machinery,  and  could  trace  out  a  flaw  immediately. 
His  twist  was  noted  in  the  Manchester  market,  and  most  of  his 
customers  transacted  business  with  him  for  many  years.  He 
retired  in  1839,  and  his  sons  carried  on  the  business  under  the 
name  of  "  John  Bright  &  Brothers/'  and  the  mills  are  known 
as  Fieldhouse  Mills. 

For  a  few  years  previous  to  and  during  1832,  great  distress 
prevailed  throxighout  the  greater  part  of  England,  and  most  of 
the  manufacturers  were  compelled  to  run  short  time  on  account 
of  the  general  depression  in  trade.  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  however, 
kept  his  mill  working  full  time,  although  his  warehouses  were 
heavily  stocked.  Some  time  after,  as  on  other  occasions,  he  was 
able  to  dispose  of  his  stock  without  sustaining  serious  loss.  Pre- 
vious to  and  during  the  year  1846,  when  trade  was  in  a  depressed 
state,  most  of  the  mills  in  Rochdale  and  surrounding  towns 
were  closed.  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  was  at  length  compelled  to 


MR.    BRIGHT'S   FATHER   AND   MOTHER.  29 

suspend  production  for  about  eight  weeks,  but  during  that  time 
he  allowed  the  workpeople  to  receive  half  their  usual  weekly 
earnings,  to  be  repaid  at  their  own  leisui-e,  and  to  the  credit  of 
the  operatives  it  ought  to  be  stated  that  almost  the  full  amount 
was  restored. 

Mr.  Jacob  Bright  might  be  described  as  a  man  of  broad, 
liberal,  and  generous  disposition,  in  social  life  as  well  as  in 
business  matters.  His  character  was  that  of  unflinching 
honesty  and  integrity.  Never  experiencing  in  his  own  life  the 
necessity  for  total  abstinence,  he  never  demanded  it  of  or  en- 
forced it  on  others,  but  he  had  a  thorough  disgust  for  drunkenness, 
Jf  a  workman  neglected  his  employment  through  intoxication, 
and  repeated  the  offence  after  a  caution,  he  was  discharged ;  but 
if  any  employe  wished  a  few  days'  or  even  weeks'  absence  for 
pleasure  or  for  the  benefit  of  health,  permission  was  readily 
granted.  Persons  addicted  to  intemperance,  knowing  his  habits 
of  lecturing  them  for  this  weakness,  dreaded  his  approach, 
and  had  recourse  to  the  stratagem  of  escaping  over  a  fence, 
or  disappearing  round  a  corner  into  some  bye-street. 

In  1845  Mr.  Jacob  Bright  married  Miss  Mary  Metcalf,  a 
farmer's  daughter,  a  resident  of  Wensleydale,  Yorkshire,  who 
had  spent  many  years  of  her  life  in  superintending  and 
training  his  family.  She  survived  her  husband.  It  is  pleasant 
to  relate  that  Mr.  John  Bright  and  his  family  paid  great  atten- 
tion to  the  good  old  lady,  treated  her  affectionately,  and  made 
her  long  life  of  ninety-five  years  smile  in  age  by  pleasantry  and 
by  a  happy  home  at  "  Rose  Hill,"  a  comfortable  dwelling  which 
is  situated  close  to  "  One  Ash."  John  Bright  frequently  visited 
her,  and  they  had  pleasant  chats  together  on  "  by-gone  "  topics 
and  incidents  in  connection  with  his  early  life.  She  died  only 
a  few  years  ago. 

Mr.  Jacob  Bright  was  a  man  of  middle  height,  straight,  and 
proportionately  built,  of  ruddy  complexion,  with  well-formed 
features,  a  pleasant  and  genial  expression  of  countenance,  and 
"  truth,  simple  truth,  was  written  in  his  face."  His  presence 
and  manner  diffused  a  venerable  influence  over  his  family  circle, 
and  in  a  slighter  degree  over  his  workpeople.  It  required  but 
little  penetration  even  in  strangers  to  see  the  genuine  chari- 
tableness of  his  disposition,  and  that  he  was  plain  and  upright. 
He  was  neatly  attired  in  soft  brown  clothing ;  a  coat  cut  in  the 
Quaker's  style,  knee  breeches  (with  gaiters  occasionally) ,  and  a 
broad-brimmed  hat.  The  whole  facts  in  his  life  prove  that  he 
was  just,  just  in  his  relations  with  his  workpeople,  and  in  his 
conduct  towards  opponents.  He  was  firm  in  his  religious  testi- 


30  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

monies  against  Church  Rates;  kind  to  the  poor  and  sick,  and 
tender  towards  children.  He  was  of  a  cheerful  disposition, 
had  a  quaint  and  pleasant  humour,  and  he  was  genuine  in 
courtesy,  noble  and  generous,  and  kind  to  all. 

He  died  at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy-six  on  the  7th  of  July, 
1851,  at  Rose  Hill,  and  was  interred  in  the  Friends'  graveyard 
in  Rochdale.  No  ponderous  or  ostentatious  tombstones  mark 
their  resting-places,  nor  posthumous  flattery  carved  on  marble 
appears  there  to  explain  the  perishableness  of  humanity — nor 
names  nor  epitaphs,  for  they  speak  about  the  good  deeds  of 
their  dead  by  their  firesides.  No  yew-trees  spread  their  sable 
shade,  or  with  shadowy  pomp  o'erhang  these  blended  graves; 
but  simple  mounds  in  a  grass  plot,  beautifully  kept  like  a 
garden,  with  a  small  headstone,  show  the  peaceful  spot  where 
father,  mother,  brothers,  and  sisters  slumber  beneath  the  turf 
where  daisies  grow. 

"  Here  flattery  flies  you,  and  ambitious  fame 
Shrinks  into  airy  nothing,  whence  it  came. 
Here,  nor  hypocrisy  nor  mirth  is  seen, 
Nor  pride,  detested  pride,  with  haughty  mien ; 
But  meek  humility,  and  happy  peace, 
Uninterrupted,  dwells  within  this  place ; 
And  calm  content,  with  heavenly  aspect  mild, 
Has  blessed  the  scene,  and  on  the  verdure  smiled." 


CHAPTER   111. 

BOYHOOD    AND    YOUTH. 

Birth — Infant  Education— A  Schoolboy — His  Aunt,  Miss  Margaret  Wood — Ack- 
worth  and  York  Schools — At  Newton  Academy — He  Leaves  School  and  Enters 
his  Father's  Business— Traits. 

"  The  jarring  nations  he  in  peace  shall  hind, 
And  with  paternal  virtues  rule  mankind." 

IN  writing  a  biography  of  "  the  greatest  of  living  orators,"  as 
John  Bright  has  been  described  by  the  highest  authorities,  and 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  statesmen  in  the  annals  of  modern 
England,  much  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  finding  infor- 
mation which  has  never  before  been  published ;  and  this  has 
been  partly  owing  to  the  seclusion  and  modesty  of  Mr.  Bright, 
and  his  dislike  to  being  lionized.  As  a  consequence,  stories  have 
been  promulgated  which  have  misrepresented  the  noblest  dis- 
position and  the  wisest  intellect,  and  covered,  as  with  a  cloud, 
some  of  the  real  individual  worth  of  the  right  hon.  gentleman, 
whose  whole  public  life  has  been  devoted  to  the  amelioration  of 
the  industrial  classes  and  the  poor.  He  sought  their  happiness 
rather  than  glory,  and  his  memory  is  linked  to  most  of  the  great 
national  blessings  of  his  day. 

The  life  of  such  a  patriot  must  always  prove  interesting  and 
instructive,  and  the  passing  incidents  in  the  career  of  such  a 
man  are  memorable.  The  general  wish  is  to  know  more  about 
him — to  possess  his  thoughts,  views,  and  opinions  on  all  the 
absorbing  topics  that  have  arisen  during  his  life,  and  to  hear 
under  what  aspect  he  is  disposed  to  regard  the  present  fertile 
period  of  important  changes.  With  his  policy  are  bound  up  the 
hopes  of  the  peaceful  and  well-affected  part  of  the  community; 
and  the  rising  generation  would  do  well  to  emulate  the  career  of 
this  great  Englishman. 

"  One  anecdote  of  a  man/'  Channing  once  declared,  "  is 
worth  a  volume  of  biography  \"  and  as  we  are  impressed  with 
the  force  of  this  remark,  it  is  our  intention,  besides  resetting 
gems  that  adorn  Mr.  Bright's  speeches,  to  weave  into  the  bio- 
graphy interesting  information  which  is  not  generally  known, 
and  which  has  been  collected  specially  and  solely  for  this  work. 
His  personal  character,  his  habits,  his  little  tastes  and  peculiari- 


LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1811. 

ties  which  survive  in  anecdotes,  are  all  interesting,  and  will  make 
us  more  acquainted  with  him.  This  information  will  illustrate 
the  honourable  consistency  of  his  career,  and  show  whether  the 
whole  course  and  tenor  of  his  private  life  was  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  brilliancy  and  the  success  of  his  public  service,  or 
whether  his  intellect  was  worn  like  a  stage  garment,  to  be  doffed 
when  convenient. 

If  a  man  devotes  his  life  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  humanity 
fancies  they  have  a  right  to  discuss  the  perfections  and  foibles  of 
a  distinguished  genius,  to  sum  up  his  merits  and  defects,  and  to 
deduce  from  them  useful,  literary,  and  moral  lessons,  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  science  of  human  nature.  That  men  of  the 
highest  merit  are  not  exempt  from  human  infirmity  cannot  be 
denied,  and  there  are  few  even  of  the  wisest  and  the  best  who, 
when  closely  examined,  will  not,  like  the  diamond,  exhibit  some 
flaw  to  detract  from  the  purity  of  their  lustre.  Bright  and 
noble  characters  have  been  sprinkled  here  and  there  in  all  ages, 
but  at  no  period  has  a  greater  number  than  at  the  present  time 
been  found  wishful  to  aid  in  some  ennobling  cause  for  the  benefit 
of  their  fellow-men. 

The  curiosity  of  mankind  delights  in  detecting  the  failings  of 
those  whose  talents  or  whose  fortune  have  placed  them  in  a 
distinguished  position.  In  the  inmost  privacy  of  Mr.  Bright' s  life, 
there  is  no  marked  or  unpleasing  distinction  between  the  profes- 
sions and  the  fame  of  the  statesman  and  the  pursuits  and  prin- 
ciples of  the  man.  There  is  nothing  to  palliate,  far  less  to  conceal. 
That  his  character  is  impregnated  with  all  the  severest  principles 
of  honour  and  justice,  is  an  admitted  truth ;  and  for  the  milder 
affections  of  the  heart,  and  for  all  the  qualities  that  exalt  ordinary 
life,  he  is  as  remarkable  as  for  his  genius  or  his  eloquence. 

Frequently,  with  public  men,  many  worthy  acts  and  unselfish 
deeds  pass  unnoticed,  to  be  remembered  only  after  death.  The 
love  of 

"  Our  slippery  people, 
Is  never  linked  to  the  deserVer 
Till  his  deserts  are  passed." 

Strangers,  too,  constantly  recognise  worth  which  those  more 
immediately  benefited  have  failed  to  appreciate.  Services  valued 
too  late  remind  us  of  posies  strewn  over  graves — they  may  be 
gratifying  to  the  living,  they  are  nothing  to  the  dead.  Justice, 
however,  though  it  may  be  slow,  is  sure,  and  posterity  will  arise 
and,  awarding  its  becoming  meed  to  fame,  confer  immortality. 

On  the  night  of  November  16th,  1811,  there  was  ushered  into 
the  world  the  second  sou  of  Martha  and  Jacob  Bright,  at  their 


1&0.]  GREENBACK   COTTAGES.  33 

homely  dwelling1  at  Greenbank,  Rochdale.  The  child  was 
so  delicate  that  many  fears  were  felt  that  he  would  never  sur- 
vive, but  by  unremitting  care  he  gained  strength,  and  became  a 
fine  boy. 

"  Childhood  shows  the  man, 
As  morning  shows  the  day." 

He  was  destined  to  pass  through  life  untainted  by  the  decep- 
tions and  sophistries  of  the  world ;  and  certainly,  as  he  rose  to 
manhood,  he  was  never  led  astray  by  either  personal  interest 
or  by  the  desire  for  popularity. 

His  infant  education  was  confided  to  a  Quakeress  named 
Miss  Harrison,  whose  father  was  the  manager  for  Mr.  Jacob 
Bright.  There  was  a  group  of  cottages  near  to  the  residence 
of  Mr.  Bright,  which  were  named  "  Greenbank  Cottages/'  and 
one  of  the  number  was  fitted  up  as  a  schoolroom,  with  a 
playground  in  front,  which  was  separated  from  the  green  fields 
by  palings.  It  was  in  this  homely  cottage  that  he,  with  some 
of  his  brothers  and  sisters,  received  the  first  rudiments  of  his 
education. 

The  elementary  part  of  his  training  having  been  completed, 
we  next  find  him  trudging  to  Mr.  William  Littlewood's  famous 
school  at  Townhead,  with  "shining  morning  face/'  but  not 
"like  snail  unwillingly  to  school/'  attired  in  corduroy  trowsers, 
and  cloth  jacket  and  vest.  He  showed  no  precocious  talents, 
but  possessed  an  aptitude  for  mental  acquirements,  to  which 
his  excellent  home  training  must  have  given  an  impetus,  as 
well  as  moulding  his  character,  and  brought  out  those  grand 
abilities  which  have  illustrated  his  long  and  unsullied  career. 
John  ^Bright  was  one  of  the  youngest  in  the  school,  and 
was  a  great  favourite  with  the  schoolmaster's  step-mother  (the 
widow  of  the  late  Rev.  Thomas  Littlewood,  Baptist  minister), 
who  was  a  venerable  and  superior  and  well-educated  lady,  and 
who  had  a  great  influence  over  her  step-son.  The  schoolboys 
were  well  aware  of  John  Bright's  popularity,  and  when  they 
wished  for  a  holiday,  he  was  deputed  by  them  to  make  his 
way  into  the  snug  parlour  where  the  good  lady  sat,  and  ask 
her  influence  in  bringing  about  a  holiday.  Her  kindly  inter- 
cession seldom  failed  in  releasing  the  juveniles  from  school 
restraint  for  a  brief  period,  and  the  popularity  of  the  young 
deputy  rose  amongst  his  schoolmates  in  proportion  to  his  use- 
fulness. 

The  instruction  at  Mr.  Littlewood's  school  imparted  a 
sound,  fundamental,  elementary  education,  such  as  the  mental 
capacity  of  children  could  analyse  and  diges*,  for  he  was 


34  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1820 

opposed  to  the  plan  of  learning  by  rote,  as  he  preferred  to 
cultivate  the  understanding.  He  soon  discovered  the  superior 
ability  of  his  pupil,  and  it  has  been  affirmed  by  those  who  were 
present  that  he  took  more  than  usual  interest  in  Bright, 
who  even  at  that  time  manifested  indications  of  tenderness 
of  heart,  combined  with  firmness  of  purpose,  of  steadfast 
attachment  to  those  who  had  gained  his  affections,  and  of 
fancy  easy  to  be  excited. 

"  Broken  seems  almost  every  tie  that  links 
That  day  to  this    and  to  the  child  the  man. 
The  world  is  altered  quite  in  all  its  thoughts, 
In  all  its  works  and  ways,  its  sights  and  sounds; 
The  old  familiar  faces  from  the  streets, 
One  after  one,  have  now  all  disappeared, 
And  sober  sires  are  they  who  then  were  sons." 

He  was  a  good  player  at  football  and  cricket.  In  summer 
he  often  bathed  in  the  river  Roach,  near  Hamer  Bottom's 
Mill,  at  a  place  called  (<  Littlewood's  Meadow/'  or  "  The 
Meetings,"  and  was  an  expert  swimmer ;  the  water,  of  course, 
in  those  days  was  not  polluted.  In  this  meadow  on  the  bank 
of  the  river  in  true  joviality  of  heart,  with  his  companions  he 
leaped,  raced,  and  played,  with  features  rosy-flushed,  which  was  a 
relief  from  the  ci  dry  drudgery  at  the  desk's  dead  wood." 

He  was  remarkably  fond  of  dogs,  but  those  of  his  choice  could 
not  be  described  as  handsome,  their  only  redeeming  features 
being  their  bright  eyes  when  they  scanned  their  master,  and 
their  faithfulness.  In  fact,  they  had  a  resemblance  to  Launce's 
dog  "  Crab/'  without  the  mischievousness.  This  generous  sym- 
pathy with  the  canine  race  has  often  been  manifested  through 
life,  and  is  still  seen  in  the  veteran  of  seventy-two,  for  he  has 
been  observed  to  take  kindly  notice  in  the  streets  of  Uny  old 
acquaintances  of  that  species.  He  appreciates  their  trait  of 
faithfulness ;  and  those  within  his  household  "  are  first  to  wel- 
come "  him,  and  "  foremost  to  defend." 

Most  children  have  a  particular  liking  for  sweetmeats,  and 
Master  Bright  was  no  exception  to  the  general  rule.  He  was 
a  great  favourite  with  Miss  Margaret  Wood,  his  aunt,  who  was 
a  confectioner,  and  resided  at  "  Rose  Hill/'  a  house  not  far  from 
the  site  of  the  present  "  One  Ash."  Miss  Wood  and  her  servant 
were  out  one  day,  when  her  little  nephew  John,  and  a  com- 
panion of  his,  named  Joseph  Bancroft,  who  was  learning  the 
cotton  trade  at  Mr.  Jacob  Bright's  mill,  came  to  the  house,  and 
finding  the  key  in  the  usual  place,  entered.  They  at  once  set 
about  making  toffy  in  a  new  frying-pan  lined  with  tin;  but 
when  they  began  to  test  their  confectionery,  they  found  to  their 


18-21.]  AT  ACKWORTH   SCHOOL.  35 

astonishment  that  it  was  adulterated  with  metal.  Next  day 
Miss  Wood  discovered  that  the  tin  lining  of  her  pan  was  burnt 
off,  and  suspecting-  the  mischief  had  been  done  by  her  most 
frequent  visitor,  John,  upbraided  him  by  saying,  "  John,  what 
were  you  doing  to  spoil  my  new  pan  ?  All  of  the  tin  is  melted 
off /•*  "  Ah,  aunt,"  said  John,  "  we  wondered  how  it  was  there 
were  so  many  pellets  in  our  toffy."  Master  Bancroft  grew  up 
to  be  a  successful  manufacturer,  and  emigrated  to  America. 

The  sorrows  of  boyhood  are  transient  and  soon  forgotten, 
even  by  natures  as  sensitive  as  was  that  of  John  Bright.  He 
was  expert  at  marble  playing,  which  like  most  pleasures  was 
sometimes  followed  by  pain.  During  the  hours  of  recreation  he 
indulged  in  a  game  on  Cronkeyshaw  Common,  with  some  boys 
taller  than  himself,  and  of  rougher  disposition.  He  succeeded  in 
winning  their  marbles,  which  so  exasperated  them  that  they 
knocked  the  marbles  out  of  his  hand,  made  a  scramble,  and  ran 
away  with  most  of  the  treasure.  This  act  of  petty  theft  so  out- 
raged the  boy's  sense  of  justice,  that  it  caused  a  momentary  flow 
of  tears.  His  father  coming  up  at  the  time,  inquired  what  was 
the  matter,  and  receiving  an  explanation,  remarked,  "  Well,  do 
you  like  it,  John?"  "No/'  said  the  injured  boy.  "Then," 
replied  the  father,  "  do  not  play  again  with  such  rough  boys." 
The  love  of  amusement  was  keener  than  resentment,  for  next 
day  he  again  returned  to  his  available  competitors,  to  learn  by 
similar  experience,  which  in  one  way  prepared  him  to  cope  with 
the  crafty  sophistries  and  subtility  of  the  world. 

At  the  age  of  ten,  young  Bright  was  sent  to  Ackworth 
School,  Yorkshire,  for  about  twelve  months,  and  a  schoolmaster, 
who  was  then  usher  at  Ackworth  School,  and  two  schoolfellows, 
have  kindly  furnished  the  author  of  this  work  with  statements 
of  what  they  remember  of  John  Bright's  school  career.  The 
school  superintendent  at  that  time  was  Mr.  Robert  Whitaker. 
The  boys'  school  numbered  about  180  pupils,  and  was  arranged 
into  four  classes,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Brown  was  the  master  of  the 
class  in  which  John  Bright  was  placed.  The  usual  routine  was 
reading,  spelling,  grammar  (Lindley  Murray's),  the  outlines  of 
analysis  of  sentences,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography,  the  ele- 
ments of  English  composition,  algebra,  elements  of  mathematics, 
history,  and  Holy  Scripture.  The  whole  school  curriculum,  if 
not  comprehensive,  was  well  and  thoroughly  taught.  The  most 
noticeable  feature  of  his  character  at  that  period  of  his  life  was 
an  independence  of  action,  with  a  degree  of  the  pugnacity  of  the 
Lancashire  character.  There  appeared  something  sterling  about 
him,  and  an  earnestness  in  what  he  set  himself  to  do.  It  was  a 
D  2 


36  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1822. 

difficult  matter  to  command  his  attention,  but  when  it  was  once 
fixed,  he  was  quick  at  apprehension.  He  was  active  and  rather 
industrious.  From  Ack  worth,  after  a  year's  schooling  there, 
John  Brig-lit  was  sent  to  the  school  at  York  (off  Walmgate  Bar), 
founded  by  the  Friends  for  their  own  members,  which  was 
intended  for  the  children  of  middle-class  people.  Mr.  William 
Simpson  was  then  master  of  that  school,  and  John  Bright  made 
an  impression  upon  his  schoolfellows,  becoming  a  general 
favourite.  If  the  boys  were  kept  beyond  the  proper  hour,  as 
sometimes  happened,  when  tl\p  master  or  principal  usher  was 
out  of  humour  or  unmindful  of  the  lapse  of  time,  Bright  would 
boldly  call  out,  "  Please,  it  is  past  the  hour."  A  good  English 
education  was  given  at  this  school,  and  some  Latin  and  French. 
Bright  was  farther  advanced  in  the  classics  than  any,  with  the 
exception  of  one  boy.  At  this  time  he  was  a  healthy-minded, 
good-natured,  and  orderly-conducted  boy,  but  his  schoolfellows 
in  after-life  did  not  remember  any  striking  feature  in  his  cha- 
racter that  indicated  his  future  brilliant  career.  Mr.  Thomas 
Harvey  (of  Leeds),  who  was  at  school  at  Ackworth  with  John 
Bright,  many  years  after  asked  Mr.  William  Simpson  if  Bright 
gave  evidence  when  under  his  tuition  of  his  great  power,  and  he 
replied : — "  John  Bright  was  a  boy  that  always  maintained  a 
good  position  in  the  class  with  apparent  ease,  but  did  not  other- 
wise distinguish  himself/' 

From  York,  Bright  was  removed  to  a  school  at  Newton, 
situated  about  six  miles  from  Clitheroe.  Those  that  remember 
him  there,  recollect  a  spirited  boy,  the  very  opposite  of  a  coward, 
but  yet  not  quarrelsome.  He  was  popular,  and  had  influence 
with  his  schoolfellows.  The  master  was  a  Mr.  Francis  Wills, 
an  Irishman,  who  was  pretty  well  read  in  the  classics.  He 
is  by  some  of  the  pupils  looked  back  upon  as  a  second- 
rate  teacher,  being  rather  impatient,  irritable,  and  of  opinion 
moreover,  that  fishing  and  foot-ball  were  detrimental  to  the 
more  important  scholastic  exercises;  still  it  was  thought  that 
the  roughness  of  the  district  gave  some  decision  of  character 
and  energy  which  had  its  influence  in  after-life.  No  one  feels  a 
keener  enjoyment  than  Mr.  Bright  in  a  rich  and  beautiful  country 
of  cornfields,  woods,  meadows,  and  gentle  rivers,  where  every 
tree  and  every  blade  of  grass  attain  their  full  luxuriant  growth, 
and  to  wander  among  bleak  and  barren  mountains  is  an  equal 
pleasure  to  him.  With  the  former  he  "is  captivated,  and  filled 
with  wonder ;  with  the  latter  he  is  astonished,  and  led  on  to  con- 
templation, for  they  carry  back  his  imagination  to  a  date  before 
the  creation  of  man.  In  after-years,  when  his  hair  was  silvered 


1826.]  NEWTON   ACADEMY.  37 

with  grey,  in  referring  to  the  Newton  Academy,  he  said : — 
"  The  last  of  the  schools  I  was  at  was  the  one  with  regard  to  which 
I  have  most  pleasant  recollections,  for  it  was  situated  in  a  very 
nice  valley,  and  by  the  side  of  a  very  pleasant  river,  and  the 
studies  were  not  forced  upon  us  with  undue  harshness,  but  we 
spent  a  good  deal  of  time  in  birds-nesting,  and  fishing  in  the  river 
Hodder,  chiefly  for  trout,  and  frequently,  during  the  summer 
months,  in  bathing  and  swimming  in  one  of  the  pools  of  that 
pleasant  stream.  I  did  not  get  much  of  what  is  called  education. 
What  I  got  was  something — I  had  almost  said — far  better :  for  I 
got,  I  believe/  whatever  store  of  good  health  I  have  had  from 
that  time  to  this."  In  conversation  with  his  family  Mr.  Bright 
often  referred  to  those  happy  "  boyhood's  years  far  faded  on  the 
verge  of  memory/'  Trains  of  thoughtless  schoolboys  revived 
the  recollections;  or  the  return  of  spring,  the  sight  of  early 
flowers,  the  glimpse  of  a  nest ;  or  sometimes  a  forgotten  song, 
or  certain  strains  of  music,  have  brought  to  his  mind  the  hallowed 
recollections  of  by-gone  events,  and  the  impressions  made 
by  the  beautiful  and  the  sublime.  The  golden  hopes  of  his 
innocent  schooldays,  and  his  dreams  of  happiness,  the  edifices 
of  unsubstantial  bliss  he  found  melted  away  as  soon  as  erected, 
and  the  schemes  projected  for  the  future  without  a  probability 
of  their  completion,  were  amongst  the  cherished  illusions. 

Young  Bright's  health  having  improved  during  his  stay  at 
Newton,  the  powers  of  his  mind  began  to  develop  themselves. 
He  was  more  thoughtful  than  other  youths  at  that  age,  and  often 
made  quaint,  mature,  and  wise  remarks.  The  general  expression 
of  his  countenance  had  become  very  much  like  his  father's — a 
beautiful,  mild,  and  intelligent  eye,  fringed  with  long  and  dark 
lashes,  an  expansive  and  noble  forehead,  over  which  hung  in 
thick  clusters  his  rich  brown,  naturally  curly,  hair.  He  became 
more  sedate,  and  the  fine  qualities  of  benevolence  and  methodical 
arrangement  which  had  been  inculcated  by  his  mother,  and  a 
brave  and  generous  nature,  became  more  perceptible.  About  the 
age  of  fifteen  he  returned  to  Rochdale.  Late  in  life  Mr.  Bright, 
commenting  on  his  school-days,  remarked  that  he  was  anxious  to 
leave  school,  but  now  he  was  not  sure  he  was  wise  in  doing  so. 
He  thought  it  would  have  been  better  if  he  had  stayed  a  year  or 
two  longer,  but  he  then  thought  that  school  was  irksome,  and 
that  he  would  be  better  at  home.  It  was  not  so  easy  as  some 
people  supposed,  to  carry  on  the  education  which  they  got  at 
school  under  the  different  condition  of  things  into  which  they  were 
introduced  when  they  left.  He  recommended  boys  to  keep  up  to 
«ome  extent,  as  they  have  opportunity,  the  studies  in  which  they 


38  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT,  [1826. 

were  engaged  at  school,  in  the  languages,  if  it  was  in  the 
languages,  or  in  any  other  branch ;  and  always,  if  possible,  to 
keep  up  a  constantly-widening  acquaintance  with  good  books. 
Young  Bright  assisted  his  father  in  the  management  of  his 
cotton  manufactories  as  soon  as  he  left  school,  as  it  was  Mr. 
Jacob  Bright's  wish  that  his  son  should  tread  in  his  footsteps, 
and,  like  himself,  gain  a  high  position  in  the  manufacturing 
world.  The  youth  was  not  very  particular  as  to  the  description 
of  labour  he  should  take  part  in,  for  he  would  wield  the  sledge- 
hammer in  the  smithy  of  the  manufactory,  or  the  pen  in  the 
counting-house.  One  day  he  was  found  by  his  father  in  the 
warehouse  with  his  coat  off  and  his  sleeves  rolled  up,  assisting 
the  workmen  in  lifting  bales  of  cotton.  Mr.  Bright,  knowing 
that  his  son,  although  he  looked  robust,  was  really  delicate, 
discouraged  him  in  this  laborious  part  of  the  business,  but  allowed 
him  to  learn  warping  and  all  the  other  branches  so  as  to  make 
himself  proficient  in  every  department. 

An  incident  occurred  about  this  time  which  is  worth  relating. 
Mr.  John  Bright,  and  an  old  servant  named  Absalom  Mason, 
who  had  charge  of  the  horses,  and  prided  himself  on  his  know- 
ledge of  horseflesh,  visited  Smallbridge  to  buy  a  horse  that  had 
been  offered  for  sale.  The  animal  after  going  through  the 
usual  minute  examination  was  purchased,  and  Mr.  John  Bright 
mounted  to  ride  it  to  its  new  home.  As  the  animal  was  trotting 
along  it  fell  on  its  knees  over  some  stones  on  the  road,  and 
the  youthful  rider  rolled  over  its  head,  but  fortunately  escaped 
injury.  Absalom  was  highly  indignant  about  the  slight 
wounds  on  the  horse's  knees,  and  thought  more  about  the 
horse  than  any  injury  sustained  by  his  young  master.  The 
youth  was  very  attentive  in  his  visits  to  the  stable  to  examine 
and  inquire  how  the  horse  progressed,  but  each  time  Absalom's 
indignation  was  beyond  bounds,  for  he  could  not  forget  the 
damage  done  to  the  horse  from  the  selling  point  of  view;  and 
according  to  his  notion  the  abrased  knees  were  as  serious  as  some 
national  calamity,  and  of  far  greater  importance  than  the  escape 
of  his  young  master. 

He  was  also  in  the  habit  of  frequently  exercising  and  testing 
his  physical  powers  by  wrestling,  and  in  1 882,  when  delivering 
prizes  to  the  boys  at  Trinity  College  School,  at  Stratford-on- 
Avon,  Mr.  Bright  said,  "  I  recollect  very  well  how  my  shins  were 
kicked  when  I  was  a  boy  in  playing  at  foot-ball  by  some  rude 
and  boisterous  lads,  when  I  was  not  competent,  from  sensitiveness 
and  rather  delicate  health,  fairly  to  meet  them." 

During  this  time  Mr.  Bright  was  devoting  his  leisure  hpurs 


1826.]  TRAITS.  39 

to  self-culture,  especially  to  the  study  of  history  and  poetry,  and 
directed  his  attention  to  practical  and  useful  rather  than  abstruse 
subjects,  and  posted  himself  well  up  in  all  the  topics  of  the  day. 
These  studies  gave  a  distinct  and  abiding  direction  to  his  best 
energies.  His  temper  was  genial,  his  sagacity  practical, 
and  his  foresight  clear.  He  divided  his  time  pretty  evenly 
between  business  and  study ;  his  business  no  less  than  his  studies 
assisting  in  the  formation  of  the  breadth  of  mind  and  the  cul- 
tivation of  that  native  eloquence  which,  in  latter  ^years,  have  so 
fully  distinguished  him.  As  is  common  in  Lancashire  with 
persons  in  Mr.  Jacob  Bright's  condition  in  life,  he  undervalued  a 
classical  education,  and  as  soon  as  his  sons  had  attained  a  suitable 
age  they  were  put  to  some  employment  in  his  mill.  Had 
Mr.  John  Bright  enjoyed  an  educational  training,  such  as  the 
English  and  Scotch  Universities  bestow,  he  would  undoubt- 
edly have  found  his  path  much  smoother,  and  attained  the  position 
he  now  holds  at  a  much  earlier  period.  It  must  be  added  that 
what  he  might  have  thus  gained  in  ease  and  distinction  would 
probably  have  been  purchased  at  a  loss  of  strength  and  inde- 
pendence. His  chief  characteristic  was  a  thorough  earnestness — 
a  trait  he  has  maintained  through  life — and  which,  with  his  sim- 
plicity of  diction,  has  animated  his  hearers  on  every  subject  he 
has  touched.  The  grandest  point  in  his  oratorical  skill  was  that 
he  appeared  entirely  possessed  by  the  feelings  he  wished  to 
inspire — 

"  Those  who  would  make  us  feel  must  feel  themselves  " — 

and  this  has  been  the  force  that  has  swept  his  audience  along  in 
his  opinions. 

Another  noticeable  trait  in  his  character  was  shown  at  an  early 
age,  and  that  was  his  exactitude,  a  characteristic  which  he  has 
maintained  through  life.  As  an  instance,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  on  one  occasion  his  brother  undertook  to  calculate  some 
accounts  in  the  mill,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  examining  them  found 
that  they  were  incorrect  by  one,  and  hastened  to  apprise  his 
brother  of  the  fact,  calling  out  that  there  was  an  error  in  the 
total.  The  brother  replied  that  it  could  not  be  far  wrong.  Mr. 
John  Bright  replied  that  it  was  wrong  by  one.  The  brother 
with  a  careless  air  remarked,  "Oh,  what  is  one?''  Mr.  John 
Bright  contended  that  it  was  wrong,  and  although  slightly 
incorrect,  it  was  wrong,  and  ought  to  be  right. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

POPULAR    AGITATIONS. 

Causes  of  Distress  amongst  the  Working  Classes  at  the  beginning  of  the  Century— 
The  "  Reformers"  meet  at  Cronkeyshaw — The  "  Blauketeers  "  of  Manchester 
• — Large  Procession  formed  in  Rochdale — Marches  to  Manchester — Dispersed 
by  the  Military — The  "Peterloo  Massacre" — Mr.  Bright  begins  to  take 
an  Interest  in  the  Struggle — The  Evening  Mail. 

To  explain  the  condition  of  the  working1  class  and  the  influences 
affecting  them,  it  will  be  necessary  to  ad  vert  to  the  time  when  the 
subject  of  our  biography  was  only  six  years  old,  and  to  trace  the 
local  events  which  most  likely  operated  upon  his  mind  from 
that  period,  and  which  in  some  measure  tended  to  develop  the 
decision  of  character  which  he  subsequently  manifested. 

During  the  war  with  France,  which  terminated  with  the 
battle  of  Waterloo,  the  farmers  made  high  profits,  as  they 
had  in  their  hands  an  almost  entire  monopoly  of  the  corn 
trade ;  but  the  landlords  gradually  raised  their  rents  in  propor- 
tion. At  this  period  of  profit  and  prosperity  to  the  landlord  and 
tenant,  the  mass  of  the  people  suffered  from  the  high  prices  of 
food  and  increased  taxation.  The  first  consequences  of  the  recoil 
from  war  to  peace  brought  an  increased  severity,  both  amongst 
the  agricultural  and  commercial  classes.  An  inclement  season 
and  deficient  harvest  pressed  heavily  upon  the  farmers.  The 
landed  interest  made  this  prevailing  distress  a  pretext  for  the 
introduction  of  the  corn  law,  which  soon  spread  its  baneful  in- 
fluence amongst  the  masses  of  the  labouring  •  class,  and  general 
discontent  and  outcries  for  Parliamentary  reform  rang  out 
in  almost  every  part  of  the  country,  and  developed  itself  in 
energetic  movements  amongst  the  artizans  for  the  redress  of 
grievances.  Although  the  Government  made  inquiries  as  to  the 
cause  of  these  risings  they  misunderstood  the  real  object,  and 
passed  four  Acts  for  the  suppression  of  popular  opinion,  giving 
power  to  the  magistrates  and  police  to  interfere  with  any  meet- 
ing for  the  mildest  reforms.  They  also  suspended  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act,  which  enabled  the  magistrates  to  imprison  at 
pleasure  and  without  trial.  The  Government  engaged  secret 
spies,  and  amongst  the  number  the  notorious  Oliver,  who  en- 
couraged the  leaders  of  Reform  to  acts  of  sedition,  so  that  they 


1817.J  THE    BLANKETEEES.  41 

might  become  amenable  to  the  law,  and  thus  the  rewards  of  the 
agents  be  increased.  Fortunately,  many  of  the  reform  leaders 
saw  through  the  stratagems,  and  evaded  them.  Some,  however, 
fell  into  the  snares,  and  were  punished.  Other  party  leaders 
who  promoted  meetings  for  lawful  objects  were  misunderstood, 
and  also  suffered  imprisonment.  The  legislation  was  solely  for 
the  protection  of  property,  and  those  who  made  the  laws  narrowed 
the  signification  of  the  term  into  exclusive  limits.  The  pheasant 
of  the  squire  was  sacred,  the  labour  of  a  working  man  was  a 
fit  subject  for  spoliation ;  a  poacher  was  qualified  for  a  gaol,  and 
a  taxer  of  bread  was  qualified  for  the  Senate.  The  distress  of 
the  working  classes  was  ignored,  or,  if  admitted,  spoken  of  con- 
temptuously, and  treated  with  haughty  disdain.  The  discon- 
tented were  described  as  a  "  ragged  crew,"  a  "  gang  of  deluded, 
beggarly  wretehes ; }}  as  if  their  poverty  was  their  fault,  and 
as  it'  their  ignorance  was  not  the  fault  of  their  richer  fellow-men, 
who  might  have  placed  education  within  their  reach. 

In  March,  1817,  a  meeting  of  "Reformers"  was  held  at 
Cronkeyshaw,  near  Mr.  Jacob  Bright's  residence,  and  Mr. 
Samuel  Bamford,  of  Middleton  (afterwards  the  celebrated  author 
of  "  Passages  in  the  Life  of  a  Radical"),  was  one  of  the  speakers. 
The  town  wore  an  appearance  of  alarm,  and  a  detachment  of 
soldiers  was  under  arms  in  the  main  street.  The  meeting  was 
well  attended,  and  "the  hearts  of  the  people  seemed  to  warm  in 
proportion  to  the  merciless  cold  of  the  wind  and  rain,"  which 
raged  during  the  whole  of  the  proceedings.  The  poor  red-coats 
were  still  under  arms  when  the  meeting  broke  up,  though,  as 
one  of  the  woollen  weavers  remarked,  they  would  be  of  little 
use  should  they  be  wanted,  as  the  water  was  running  into  the 
muzzles  of  their  guns.  "  They  might  squirt  us,"  he  said,  "  but 
could  not  shoot  us." 

About  twenty  of  the  inhabitants  of  Rochdale  after  this  meet- 
ing joined  the  "  Blanketeers"  of  Manchester  on  their  march  to 
London,  on  the  10th  of  March,  1817,  with  a  petition  to  the 
Prince  "Regent,  thinking  that  an  open  exhibition  of  their  numbers 
and  misery  would  create  commiseration  ;  but  upon  the  Riot  Act 
being  read  in  St.  Peter's  Field,  Manchester,  where  they  as- 
sembled, most  of  them  speedily  made  their  way  back  to  Rochdale, 
and  the  scheme  turned  out  a  total  failure.  Many  of  the 
individuals  had  blankets,  rugs,  or  large  coats  rolled  up  and  tied, 
knapsack-like,  on  their  backs,  to  serve  as  night  wrappers  on  the 
road  in  case  of  indoor  accommodation  being  unattainable.  Some 
carried  bundles  under  their  arms,  some  had  papers  (supposed  to 
br  petitions)  rolled  up,  and  others  had  stout  walking-stinks;  but 


42  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1819. 

at  Lancashire  Hill,  near  Stockport,  they  were  overtaken  by  the 
military,  and  several  hundreds  were  captured.  Some  received  sabre 
wounds,  and  a  cottager  who  was  standing  by  as  a  spectator  was  shot 
dead.  Others  escaping  continued  their  journey  to  Macclesfield, 
where  they  arrived  at  nine  o'clock  ^it  night.  Next  morning  the 
greater  portion  made  their  way  home ;  others  were  captured  and 
imprisoned.  About  fifty  went  on  to  Leek  ;  but  the  number 
dwindled  down  to  twenty  by  the  time  that  Ashbourne  was 
reached  ;  and  here  they  were  so  disheartened  that  they  were  glad 
to  retrace  their  steps  homeward.  Mr.  James  Leach,  Spotland 
Bridge,  and  Mr.  Robert  Collinge,  woollen  weaver,  of  the  same 
place,  formed  the  deputation  from  Rochdale;  but  while  at  a  con- 
ference at  Manchester,  a  few  minutes  before  the  meeting  was  held 
in  St.  Peter's  Field,  Oliver,  "  the  spy,"  who  had  quietly  urged  the 
people  to  hold  secret  meetings  and  to  enforce  their  rights  by 
physical  force,  betrayed  them  to  Mr.  Nadin,  the  deputy-chief 
constable  of  Manchester,  and  Mr.  James  Leach  and  others  were 
captured ;  but  Collinge,  as  soon  as  the  police  entered  the  room, 
jumped  through  the  window  and  made  his  escape.  Mr.  Leach  was 
conveyed  to  London  and  imprisoned.  Mr.  Samuel  Bamford,  who 
was  imprisoned  some  time  after,  became  a  fellow-prisoner  of  Mr. 
Leach,  who  was  much  affected,  and  expressed  great  anxiety  as  to 
the  duration  of  his  punishment,  and  whether  it  were  likely  to  end  in 
a  capital  charge,  or  be  merely  detention  as  a  State  prisoner.  On 
the  28th  of  January,  1818,  a  Bill  was  introduced  into  Parliament 
to  restore  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act;  and  on  the  10th  of  March  an 
Indemnity  Bill  passed,  and  the  State  prisoners  were  released, 
Mr.  James  Leach  being  amongst  the  number.  The  Radicals 
made  a  subscription,  and  set  him  up  in  business  and  patronised 
him.  He  made  green  candles,  a  symbol  of  Radicalism;  these 
becoming  very  popular,  he  himself  became  rich. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1819,  a  meeting  was  held  on  Cronkey- 
shaw  Common,  close  to  Mr.  Bright' s  residence,  "for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  a  reform  in  the  corrupt  House  of  Commons,  and  to 
make  a  solemn  appeal  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain."  Mr. 
Fitton  presided,  and  the  other  speakers  were  Messrs.  Knight, 
Harrison  (schoolmaster),  Saxton,  and  Broadhurst.  A  procession 
had  paraded  the  streets  of  the  town,  headed  by  a  band,  and  flags 
were  displayed  with  the  following  words  inscribed  upon  them  : — 
<l  No  Corn  Laws/'  "  Annual  Parliaments/'  &c.  A  cap  of 
liberty  was  exhibited  on  the  platform.  There  were  about  3,000 
persons  present.  The  chairman  regarded  the  recommendation  at 
Manchester  to  form  armed  associations  against  the  Reformers 
as  a  plan  to  set  one  part  of  the  people  against  the  other,  and 


1819.]  A    PROCESSION.  43 

cause  them  to  cut  each  other's  throats.  He  recommended  the 
Reformers  to  arm  themselves,  which  would  enable  them  to  keep 
the  peace  and  to  procure  their  rights.  He  concluded  by  moving 
a  string  of  resolutions,  which  were  carried  unanimously.  Mr. 
Harrison,  in  the  course  of  his  speech,  said  they  did  not  wish  to 
meddle  with  the  Royal  Family  except  to  reduce  their  incomes, 
nor  would  they  make  much  alteration  in  the  House  of  Lords. 
The  people  had  in  vain  petitioned  and  remonstrated  for  their 
rights;  but  they  would  not  wait  much  longer,  and  would  seize 
them  with  their  own  hands.  Votes  of  thanks  were  tendered  to 
Mr.  Henry  Hunt,  Major  Cartwright,  Mr.  Woollen,  Mr.  Sherwin, 
and  Mr.  Cobbett  for  their  labours  in  the  cause  of  reform.  The 
military  and  the  civil  powers  were  in  readiness  in  case  of  a  riot, 
but  all  passed  off  peaceably. 

Early  on  Monday  morning  the  16th  of  August,  1819,  a 
procession  of  about  1,000  persons  formed  in  Rochdale,  with  a 
band  at  its  head,  and  with  flags  flying  marched  to  Manchester, 
for  the  purpose  of  attending  the  great  and  memorable  Reform 
meeting  near  St.  Peter's  Church.  On  the  road  they  joined  the 
Middleton  column,  and  the  whole  numbered  at  least  6,000 
men.  The  procession  was  arranged  thus : — Twelve  of  the  most 
comely  and  decent- looking  youths,  who  were  placed  in  two 
rows  of  six  each,  with  each  a  branch  of  laurel  held  presented 
in  his  hand  as  a  token  of  amity  and  peace ;  then  followed  the 
men  of  several  districts  in  fives,  then  the  band  of  music,  then 
the  colours :  a  blue  one  of  silk,  with  inscription  in  golden 
letters,  "  Unity  and  Strength,  Liberty  and  Fraternity ;  "  a 
green  one  of  silk,  with  golden  letters,  "  Parliaments  Annual/' 
"  Suffrage  Universal ;"  and  betwixt  them,  on  a  staff,  a  hand- 
some cap  of  crimson  velvet  with  a  tuft  of  laurel,  and  the  cap 
tastefully  braided  with  the  word  "Libertas"  in  front.  Next 
were  placed  the  remainder  of  the  men  of  the  districts  in  fives. 
Every  hundred  men  had  a  leader,  who  was  distinguished  by 
a  sprig  of  laurel  in  his  hat;  others,  similarly  distinguished, 
were  appointed  over  these,  and  the  whole  were  to  obey  the 
directions  of  a  principal  conductor,  who  took  his  place  at  the 
head  of  the  column,  with  a  bugleman  to  sound  his  orders. 
Mr.  Samuel  Bamford,  in  addressing  the  assembly,  reminded 
them  that  they  were  going  to  attend  the  most  important 
meeting  that  had  ever  been  held  for  Parliamentary  Reform, 
and  he  hoped  their  conduct  would  be  marked  by  a  steadiness 
and  seriousness  befitting  the  occasion,  and  such  as  would  cast 
shame  upon  their  enemies,  who  had  always  represented  the 
Reformers  as  a  mob-like  rabble,  but  they  would  see  they  were 


44  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OP   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1819 

not  so  that  day.  As  the  column  moved  along  to  Manchester, 
about  two  hundred  handsome  girls,  the  sweethearts  of  some 
of  the  lads  in  the  procession,  danced  to  the  music  or  sang 
snatches  of  popular  songs,  whilst  on  each  side  of  the  line  walked 
some  thousands  of  stragglers. 

The  day  before,  the  borough-reeves  and  constables  of  Man- 
chester and  Salford  issued  a  notice,  in  which  they  "  earnestly 
recommended  the  peaceable  and  well-disposed  inhabitants  of 
this  town,  as  much  as  possible,  to  remain  in  their  own  houses 
during  the  whole  of  the  following  day,  and  to  keep  their 
children  and  servants  within  doors. "  At  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
forenoon  of  the  16th  the  Rev.  W.  R.  Hay,  J.P.  (afterwards 
Vicar  of  Rochdale),  the  Rev.  M.  Ethelstone,  J.P.,  Mr.  Ralph 
Wright,  J.P.,  Mr.  Wm.  Marriott,  J.P.,  Mr.  James  Norris, 
J.P.,  Mr.  Trafford,  J.P.,  the  Rev.  M.  Mallory,  J.P.,  Mr. 
William  Houghton,  J.P.,  Mr.  T.  W.  Tatton,  J.P.,  Mr.  Ralph 
Fletcher,  J.P.,  Mr.  J.  Sylvester,  J.P.,  and  Mr.  Robert 
Fielclen,  J.P.,  assembled  at  a  gentleman's  house  in  Mount 
Street,  which  commanded  an  uninterrupted  view  of  the  whole 
area  of  the  ground  where  the  meeting  was  to  be  held  near 
St.  Peter's  Church.  At  last  the  processions  arrived,  and  as 
they  advanced  towards  the  hustings  they  were  received  with 
great  cheering.  The  large  plot  of  ground  was  densely  crowded 
by  nearly  50,000  men  and  women  in  gay  attire;  bands  of 
music,  flags,  caps  of  liberty,  and  paraphernalia  heightened  the 
effect.  The  vast  assembly  was  orderly  and  attentive.  Mr.  Henry 
Hunt  presided,  and  was  surrounded  by  Messrs.  Joseph  Johnson, 
John  Thacker  Saxton,  John  Knight,  of  Manchester;  James 
Moorhouse,  of  Stockport;  Mr.  Cheetham,  of  High  Street, 
Rochdale ;  —  Carlile,  Robert  Jones,  Robert  Wild,  George 
Swift,  and  Samuel  Bamford.  As  soon  as  the  chairman  in 
his  opening  address  referred  to  the  magistrates,  the  Manchester 
and  Salford  Cavalry,  under  the  command  of  Major  Trafford, 
suddenly  trotted  on  to  the  ground,  and  formed  in  line  before  the 
house  in  which  the  magistrates  were  placed.  The  chairman 
called  upon  the  multitude  to  give  three  cheers  for  the  cavalry, 
taking  off  his  hat  and  waving  it,  and  the  people  responded 
heartily.  The  cavalry  and  the  whole  of  the  peace  officers  replied 
by  cheering,  the  former  at  the  same  time  brandishing  their 
sabres.  A  short  consultation  now  took  place  amongst  the 
justices,  and  they  immediately  issued  warrants  for  the  appre- 
hension of  Henry  Hunt,  Joseph  Johnson,  John  Knight,  and 
James  Moorhouse.  Mr.  Joseph  Nadin,  the  deputy  constable  of 
Manchester,  accompanied  by  a  host  of  special  constables,  was 


1819.]  THE   PETEELOO    MASSACRE.  45 

appointed  to  arrest  the  delinquents,  and  the  Manchester  and 
Salford  Cavalry  dashed  forward  into  the  crowd.  The  Riot  Act 
was  read  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ethelstone  and  by  Mr.  John  Sylvester, 
but  the  people  were  not  aware  of  it  and  no  time  was  allowed 
them  to  disperse.  The  cavalry,  not  respecting-  age  or  sex,  be- 
gan to  cut  down  the  people  that  were  not  able  to  get  out  of  their 
way,  and  a  scene  of  terror  and  confusion  ensued  on  the  attempt 
to  escape.  Some  of  the  people  pelted  the  cavalry  with  stones. 
Men,  youths,  and  women  were  indiscriminately  sabred  or 
trampled  down.  In  ten  minutes  from  the  commencement  of 
the  havoc  the  field  was  an  open  and  almost  deserted  space, 
with  the  exception  of  the  mounds  of  dead  and  wounded. 
Henry  Hunt,  John  Knight,  Elizabeth  Gaunt,  and  Joseph 
Johnson,  brush-maker,  Manchester,  were  dragged  by  -Nadin 
and  his  assistants  to  the  magistrates.  James  Moorhouse,  of 
Stockport,  Thacker  Saxton,  printer  of  the  Manchester  Observer, 
Samuel  Bamford,  of  Middleton,  Dr.  Healey,  of  Lees,  near 
Oldham,  Messrs.  Jones,  Swift,  Wilde,  and  Mrs.  Hargreaves  were 
afterwards  apprehended  and  imprisoned.  The  Prince  Regent 
Cheshire  Cavalry,  under  the  charge  of  Lieut-Col.  Townsend, 
the  15th  Hussars,  and  the  Royal  Artillery  train,  here  made 
their  appearance  on  the  ground.  "  The  sun  looked  down 
through  a  sultry,  and  motionless  air.  The  curtains  and  blinds 
of  the  windows  within  view  were  all  closed.  A  gentleman  or 
two  might  occasionally  be  seen  looking  out  from  a  new  house, 
near  the  door  of  which  a  group  of  persons  (special  constables) 
were  collected,  and  apparently  in  conversation.  Others  were 
assisting  the  wounded  or  carrying  off  the  dead.  The  hustings 
remained,  with  a  few  broken  and  hewed  flag-staves  erect,  and 
a  torn  and  gashed  banner  or  two  drooping,  whilst  over  the  whole 
field  were  strewn  caps,  bonnets,  hats,  shawls,  and  shoes,  and 
other  parts  of  male  and  female  dress,  trampled,  torn,  and 
bloody.  The  yeomanry  had  dismounted — some  were  easing 
their  horses'  girths,  others  adjusting  their  accoutrements,  and 
some  wiping  their  sabres.  Several  mounds  of  human  beings 
still  remained  where  they  had  fallen,  crushed  down  and 
smothered.  Some  of  these  were  still  groaning,  others  with 
staring  eyes  were  gasping  for  breath,  and  others  would  never 
breathe  more.  All  was  silent,  save  those  low  sounds,  and 
the  occasional  snorting  and  pawing  of  steeds.  Persons  might 
sometimes  be  noticed  peeping  from  attics  and  over  the  tall 
ridgings  of  houses,  but  they  quickly  withdrew  as  if  fearful  of 
being  observed,  or  unable  to  sustain  the  full  gaze  of  a  scene 
go  hideous  and  abhorrent." 


46  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1819. 

As  Henry  Hunt  was  dragged  to  the  magistrates  he  received, 
forty  or  fifty  blows  from  the  special  constables,  and  one  en- 
deavoured to  knock  his  brains  out  with  a  stick,  while  the  others 
hooted  him.  The  Rev.  W.  R.  Hay  came  forward  and  said  he 
respected  the  feelings  of  the  good  and  loyal,  but  as  Hunt  was 
now  a  prisoner  and  in  the  hands  of  the  law  he  hoped  that  no 
expression  would  be  given  which  would  endanger  Hunt's  per- 
sonal security,  and  that  they  would  be  satisfied  to  let  him  pass 
to  the  New  Bailey  prison  with  their  silent  contempt.  This 
sentiment  was  applauded  by  the  special  constables  and  their 
friends.  When  the  Reformers  fled  from  the  field,  they  went  in 
all  directions.  Those  who  meant  to  go  north  ran  southward. 
Fear  marked  the  countenances  of  all.  They  knew  not  whither 
they  were  fleeing.  Some  went  two  or  three  miles  on  a 
road  before  they  dared  make  inquiries,  and  then  had  to 
retrace  their  steps.  The  Infirmary  was  crowded  with  the 
injured,  and  one  of  the  surgeons  conducted  himself  very 
improperly.  A  poor  man  had  both  his  shoulders  dislocated  and 
one  arm  broken.  He  had  received  cuts  across  his  hands  and 
forehead.  When  taken  to  the  Infirmary  a  surgeon  was  about  to 
attend  to  his  injuries,  when  another  surgeon  entered  and  accosted 
i>he  patient  with  "  Ha,  ha !  you  have  been  to  the  meeting,  I  see  ? 
I  think  you  will  know  better  than  go  to  any  more  such 
meetings  ?  "  ' '  After  what  I  have  seen  to-day/'  the  poor  man 
replied,  "I'm.  of  opinion  that  Reform  is  more  necessary  than' 
ever/'  f<  Oh  !  you  rascal,  you  are,  are  you  ?  Then  you  shan't 
stay  here."  The  man  was  at  once  pulled  out  of  his  bed,  his 
clothes  forced  upon  him,  and  he  had  to  drag  his  dislocated  limbs 
seven  miles  to  his  home.  Oppression  may  have  prevented  some 
individuals  from  proclaiming  their  opinions,  but  truth  continued 
to  work  in  private,  and  reared  pupils. 

Those  persons  who  had  gone  to  the  meeting  in  procession 
from  Rochdale  made  their  way  back  in  haste  in  small  groups  to 
Middleton.  There  they  formed  into  procession,  their  band 
struck  up  "  See  the  conquering  hero  comes  ! "  and  they  marched 
towards  Rochdale.  Upon  arriving  near  Trubsmithy,  one  of  the 
scouts  brought  the  alarming  news  that  the  road  was  blockaded 
by  some  soldiers  a  short  distance  further  on,  and  the  procession 
breaking  up  rapidly,  the  Rochdalians  scampered  over  the  fields  and 
ditches  to  their  native  town.  A  company  of  soldiers  during  the 
day  arrived  in  Rochdale  to  prevent  the  people  from  congre- 
gating in  large  numbers  and  making  any  disturbance ;  and  they 
stacked  their  guns  in  Broadfield,  but  their  services  were  not 
required.  Only  two  of  the  Rochdale  party  were  wounded, 


1819.]  KILLED   AND    WOUNDED  47 

namely,  Abel  Ash  worth,  of  Church  Stile,  and  Thomas  Kershaw, 
of  Lowerplace.  Eleven  persons  were  killed,  and  420  were 
wounded;  of  this  number  113  were  females — mothers,  sisters, 
and  children — and  fourteen  of  them  had  received  sabre  cuts. 

Many  of  Mr.  Jacob  Bright' s  workpeople  having  accompanied 
the  procession  to  Manchester  had  witnessed  the  massacre  on  the 
occasion,  and  some  on  the  evening  of  that  memorable  day  were 
seen  on  Cronkeyshaw  Common,  with  a  number  of  persons  around 
them,  relating  what  they  had  witnessed.  Mr.  John  Bright,  who 
at  that  time  was  only  eight  years  of  age,  with  thoughtful  face 
and  "  with  wonder-waiting  eyes/'  formed  one  of  the  group  of 
listeners,  and,  like  Peterkin,  suggested  the  words,  "  Now  tell  us 
what  'twas  all  about?"  The  story  was  a  repetition  of  old 
Caspar's : — 

"  But  what  they  fought  each  other  for 
I  could  not  well  make  out." 

The  young  enthusiast  was  not  satisfied  with  the  bare  story  of  the 
procession  and  massacre,  but  wanted  thoroughly  to  understand 
the  whole  dispute  : — 

"  '  But  what  good  came  of  it  at  last  ? ' 
"  '  Why,  that  I  cannot  tell,'  said  he, 
"  '  But  'twas  a  'brutal'  victory.'  " 

The  reports  of  the  discreditable  onslaught  appearing  in  the 
newspapers,  a  feeling  of  indignation  rose  throughout  the  coun- 
try. Lord  Palmerston,  who  at  this  time  was  Secretary  of  War, 
defended  in  the  House  of  Commons  the  massacre,  by  declaring 
that  the  services  of  the  troops  had  been  rendered  necessary  "  by 
the  machinations  of  the  traitors  against  those  liberties  which 
Englishmen  had  derived  from  their  forefathers,  and  which  he 
trusted  they  would  transmit  unimpaired  to  their  children." 
On  the  27th  of  August  Lord  Sidmouth  sent  a  message  of  thanks 
from  the  Prince  Regent  to  the  Manchester  magistrates,  and  Major 
Trafford  and  the  military  serving  under  him,  "for  their  prompt 
decision  and  efficient  measures  for  the  preservation  of  the  public 
peace."  Meetings,  However,  were  held  in  most  of  the  principal 
cities  and  towns,  resolutions  of  condemnation  were  passed  on 
the  magistrates  and  the  military,  and  subscriptions  were  raised 
on  behalf  of  the  injured. 

The  yeomanry  were  charged  with  the  crimes,  but  grand 
juries  threw  out  the  bills.  The  magistrates  refused  warrants 
against  persons  intended  to  be  prosecuted  for  capital  felonies, 
and  the  general  opinion  formed  by  the  public  was  that  the 
magistrates  had  abused  the  power  that  had  been  placed  in  their 


48  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

hands,  as  they  contrasted  the  peaceable  termination  of  all  the 
meetings  that  had  been  held  elsewhere. 

The  Rev.  W.  R.  Hay,  who  had  acted  as  chairman  at  the 
meeting  of  magistrates  at  the  "  Peterloo  massacre,"  subsequently 
received  the  appointment  of  Vicar  of  Rochdale,  at  a  salary  of 
£2,400  a  year,  on  account,  it  was  said,  of  the  part  he  had 
enacted;  and  up  to  his  death  he  was  called  "the  Peterloo 
butcher/'  and  was  frequently  insulted  on  public  occasions  and  in 
the  streets  with  the  unenviable  epithet. 

Two  other  reverend  gentlemen  had  acted  with  him  in  the  dis- 
graceful proceedings  of  the  massacre,  and,  instead  of  carrying  out 
the  injunction  of  our  Redeemer,  whom  they  professed  to  serve, 
they  played  an  unenviable  and  irreligious  part  on  that  memorable 
day.  Clergymen  of  their  description  would  doubtless  puzzle 
our  natural  philosophers,  but  uncertainties  of  the  same  kind  are 
to  be  found  in  all  departments  of  zoology.  The  hen  pheasant 
will  occasionally  assume  the  plumage  of  the  male;  the  maggot, 
from  which  in  ordinary  states  of  the  bee  republic  a  common 
worker  would  proceed,  will  in  seasons  of  difficulty  produce  a 
queen,  and  from  the  chrysalis,  out  of  which  we  expected  to  see  a 
timid  moth  emerge,  will  sometimes  fly  a  fierce  and  cannibal 
chneumon. 

In  May,  1827,  there  was  a  turn-out  of  woollen  weavers  in 
Rochdale,  through  the  reducing  by  some  of  the  manufacturers 
of  the  scale  of  prices  in  a  list  that  they  had  agreed  to  in  the  year 
1824.  The  shuttles  were  gathered  by  the  dissatisfied  weavers, 
and  the  town  was  placed  in  the  utmost  state  of  alarm.  A  list 
was  again  agreed  to,  but  some  manufacturers  did  not  adhere  to  it. 
On  the  2nd  of  May,  1829,  a  serious  riot  occurred,  and  eight 
persons  were  killed.  On  the  17th  of  August,  1880,  a  meeting 
was  held  on  Cronkeyshaw  Common,  close  to  Mr.  Bright' s 
residence,  for  the  purpose  of  more  fully  detailing  the  plan 
of  the  "  National  Association "  for  the  protection  of  labour. 
At  that  meeting  the  speakers  attributed  the  miserable  con- 
dition of  the  working  classes  to  the  general  reduction  of 
wages,  and  it  was  explained  that  this  'association  had  been 
formed  to  prevent  such  a  state  of  things.  In  1831  the  work- 
ing classes  in  Rochdale  were  in  a  most  wretched  condition, 
only  about  one-third  of  the  woollen  weavers  were  in  work, 
and  the  earnings  of  one  of  the  best  hands  did  not  average 
more  than  six  shillings  per  week.  About  one-half  of  the  whole 
number — about  eight  hundred  operatives — with  those  depending 
upon  them,  were  more  or  less  in  actual  want  of  the  necessaries 
of  life,  and  every  person  who  applied  for  relief  bore  in  most  cases 


1832.]  THE    REFORM    BILL.  49 

evident  and  lamentable  testimony  to  the  truth  of  their  heart- 
rending condition.  In  fact,  at  that  time  no  person  living  remem- 
bered greater  distress  in  Rochdale  and  the  surrounding  towns. 
The  sturdy,  bright-eyed  lad  occasionally  mingled  with  the  crowd, 
and  listened  eagerly  to  the  fiery  speeches,  in  which  the  leaders 
of  the  movement  denounced  their  oppressors,  and  laid  bai'e  their 
poverty  and  sufferings. 

The  great  struggle  for  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832  absorbed  the 
attention  of  Mr.  Bright  for  many  years  before  it  became  law. 
Referring  to  those  early  days  in  later  years  he  said,  "  My  first 
knowledge  of  Birmingham  was  of  the  meetings  on  Newhall  Hill. 
I  was  not  there  except  in  spirit.  I  was  young  then,  and,  I  sup- 
pose some  people  would  say,  foolish.  If  so,  I  was  foolish  in 
a  folly  that  has  lasted  now  for  more  than  forty  years.  But  I 
know  that  at  that  time  such  was  the  excitement  in  my  father's 
house  that  we  began  to  take  in  the  Evening  Mail,  I  think  it 
was — that  was  an  issue  of  the  Times  newspaper  three  days  in  the 
week.  We  had  never  dreamt  of  taking  more  than  a  weekly 
paper.  Up  to  that  time  we  took  the  Manchester  Guardian, 
price  7d.,  published  on  Saturdays  only.  Well,  the  Evening  Mail 
at  that  time  had  magnificent  articles,  which,  I  am  told,  some 
people  connected  with  the  Times  have  since  regretted.  I  read 
those  articles  to  my  father  and  family  in  the  evening.  They 
were  very  stormy  articles.  They  gave  much  information ;  and  I 
date  some  portion  of  my  political  activity  to  the  influence  of  that 
paper  in  those  days.  And  I  read  there  of  your  great  meetings, 
and  all  the  country  read  of  them,  and  all  the  country  was  stirred 
to  its  very  heart  by  what  you  did  at  that  time.  And  what  was 
done  was  that  the  greatest  measure  that  the  English  Parliament 
has  ever  known  was  passed/' 

On  May  19th,  1832,  an  open-air  meeting  was  held  in  front  of 
the  Wellington  Hotel,  Drake-street,  Rochdale,  approving  of  the 
course  pursued  by  Earl  Grey  and  his  colleagues  with  regard  to 
the  Reform  Bill,  and  praying  His  Majesty  that,  if  the  Peers 
mutilated  the  bill,  he  would  resume  the  original  compact  between 
the  Crown  and  the  people.  Then  followed  the  Reform  festival 
on  the  22nd  of  August,  1832,  and  the  first  election  of  a  member 
of  Parliament  for  Rochdale  on  the  1 2th  of  December,  1832.  All 
these  incidents,  with  the  repeal  of  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts, 
the  subject  of  Catholic  Emancipation,  the  Revolution  in  France 
in  1830,  when  Charles  X.  sought  our  shores  as  a  refugee  and 
Louis  Philippe  ascended  the  throne  of  France,  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  inquiring  mind  of  Mr.  Bright.  He  was 
often  seen  seeking  information  from  older  and  more  experienced 


50  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

persons — and  indeed  from  boyhood  he  had  received  in  the  family 
the  surname  of  "The  Thinker/'  Besides  all  these  incidents,  from 
the  day  of  his  birth  the  "  dignitaries  "  of  the  Church  had  seized 
goods  from  his  father's  premises,  under  warrants,  for  Church 
Rates.  From  the  year  1811  to  1833  the  warrants  issued 
numbered  twenty-one,  and  the  value  of  the  goods  taken  amounted 
to  £109  16s.  3d.  Lessons  thus  inculcated  were  not  likely  to 
be  soon  forgotten,  and  as  "  a  desire  to  resist  oppression  is  im- 
planted in  the  nature  of  man  "  it  was  not  surprising  to  find 
in  later  years  Mr.  Bright  taking  an  active  part  to  abolish  these 
imposts. 


CHAPTER   V. 

EARLY    PUBLIC    SPEECHES. 

The  Temperance  Cause  in  Rochdale — First  Speech — "Fair  View" — At  Mill 
Bottom — Advice  of  the  Rev.  John  Aldis— In  the  Old  Theatre,  Toad  Lane — 
Mr.  Buckingham's  Prophecy— Charles  Howarth — John  Hill. 

As  Mr.  Bright  arrived  at  manhood  he  carried  himself  erect,  and 
had  apparently  a  robust  frame.  His  general  bearing  was  decided, 
and  he  possessed  a  degree  of  determination  which  enabled  him  to 
carry  out  any  scheme  that  he  undertook.  His  whole  demeanour 
commanded  respect,  and  impressed  the  observer  with  the  idea 
that  his  morals  were  of  the  highest  order.  He  appeared  like  one 
who  had  resolved  to  "  tread  a  righteous  path."  At  this  age  his 
heart  and  mind  leaned  in  the  direction  of  a  public  •  career,  as  if 
he  were  determined  to  devote  himself  to  the  guiding  of  the 
working  class  upward  to  a  better  day.  He  honoured  candour, 
detested  false  pretence,  spurned  the  sordid  and  the  low,  was 
dauntless  in  mingling  with  the  strife  of  minds,  and  his  is 

"  The  steady  arm  that  breaks  the  oppressor's  blow, 
The  heart  that  melts  at  undeserved  distress, 
The  hand  that  hastens  with  its  prompt  redress. " 

The  principles  that  take  the  deepest  root  are  those  implanted 
during  the  seasons  of  childhood  and  youth.  The  pupil  takes 
early  lessons  from  everything  around  him,  and  his  character  and 
habits  are  forming  before  he  has  any  consciousness  of  his 
reasoning  powers. 

When  by  some  favouring  chance  a  man  discovers  the  peculiar 
bent  of  his  genius,  and  when  by  a  happy  fate  he  is  enabled  to 
follow  its  direction,  the  foundation  is  laid  for  future  eminence, 
though  much  subsequent  exertion  and  continued  perseverance 
will  be  requisite  to  raise  the  superstructure.  It  is  not  solely  in 
the  higher  pursuits  of  science  and  literature  that  a  predisposing 
and  decided  genius  is  necessary  to  pnfe-tion.  For  instance, 
Mo/art  might  have  made  an  indifferent  philosopher  ;  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  an  inferior  musician ;  Milton  a  bad  painter,  and 
Raphael  a  second-rate  poet. 

In  1830,  Messrs.  John  Bright,  Oliver  Ormerod,  Thomaa 
Booth,  and  other  gentlemen  introduced  the  Temperance  cause 
K  2 


52  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

into  Rochdale,  and  one  of  the  first  lecturers  they  brought 
forward  in  the  Theatre  in  Toad  Lane  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Crook- 
shank,  who  was  at  that  time  known  as  the  "  Dundee  Carter/' 
Subsequently  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thistlewaite,  Vicar  of  Bolton,  and 
other  gentlemen  spoke  on  the  subject  of  temperance,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  admirers  of  total  abstinence.  These  ardent 
pioneers  of  the  cause,  anxious  to  boldly  advocate  their  principles, 
and  at  the  same  time  test  their  oratorical  powers,  thought  it 
advisable  first  to  practise  on  a  simple  rustic  audience.  Accord- 
ingly they  secured  the  use  of  a  Unitarian  School  in  a  remote 
country  district,  within  five  minutes'  walk  of  the  foot  of  Rooley 
Moor  Road,  which  leads  over  the  moor  into  the  valley  of 
Rossendale,  and  known  as  Catley  Lane  Head,  a  short  distance 
above  Spotland  Fold,  near  Rochdale.  The  room  was  about 
twelve  yards  long  and  six  yards  in  width,  so  that  although  the 
place  was  crowded  the  audience  was  appalling  neither  in  numbers 
nor  in  intelligence.  On  the  way  it  was  arranged  between 
Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Oliver  Ormerod,  that  in  case  of  any  nervous 
hesitancy  there  should  be  a  manifestation  of  applause,  until  the 
speaker  took  heart  and  recovered  himself.  Mr.  Bright,  in 
beginning  his  address  was  very  nervous,  but  gained  confidence 
as  he  proceeded, — "Courage  mounteth  with  occasion/' — de- 
livered his  speech  with  effect,  and  was  warmly  applauded. 

The  building  is  now  becoming  a  place  of  historical  interest, 
though  it  no  longer  exists  as  a  school,  for  it  has  been  converted 
into  two  cottages.  It  still  retains  its  own  original  name, 
"  Fair  View/'  which  doubtless  was  applied  from  the  expanse  of 
pleasant  scenery  stretched  out  before  it,  for  it  overlooks  the 
valley  which  gave  birth  to  the  statesman  who  there  made  his 
maiden  speech. 

Having  gone  successfully  through  the  initiatory  exercise,  the 
young  orator  ventured  to  address  an  audience  near  the  heart 
of  the  town.  The  building  selected  was  the  old  chapel  at 
Lowerplace.  The  news  became  circulated  that  a  number  of 
"unfledged  speakers"  was  going  to  "  spout"  on  temperance. 
The  edifice  was  crowded,  long  before  the  time  of  commencing 
the  meeting,  by  persons  who  came  there  chiefly  out  of  curiosity. 
Amongst  the  aspirants  were  John  Bright  and  Oliver  Ormerod, 
who  both  acquitted  themselves  creditably. 

Thus  began  the  public  career  of  two  benefactors  of  man- 
kind, and  although  both  were  equal  in  point  of  education  and 
energy,  nature  had  gifted  one  with  a  marvellous  voice,  clear 
perception,  and  a  grasp  over  his  subject,  so  that  it  required  only 
the  average  amount  of  application  to  develop  the  accomplished 


1832.]  ATTENDING    MEETINGS.  53 

orator.  The  other,  although  he  had  gone  through  years  of 
exercise  at  speech-making,  could  not  fairly  be  called  an  average 
speaker ;  thus  showing  that  the  real  orator,  like  the  poet  or 
musician,  is  born,  and  not  produced  by  culture.  Oratory,  then, 
was  not  the  line  in  which  Mr.  Ormerod  was  destined  to  benefit 
his  fellow-men ;  yet  his  life  was  one  of  the  most  useful,  for  he 
devoted  a  large  proportion  of  his  time  during  half  a  century  to 
Sunday-school  labours,  and  to  the  visiting  of  the  sick  and  dis- 
tressed, carrying  his  work  out  in  a  quiet  and  unobtrusive 
way.  At  the  close  of  his  earthly  career  the  friend  of  his  early 
days  did  not  forget  to  visit  him.  "  You  have  done  a  great  work, 
sir,  in  yoxir  life/'  said  the  dying  Christian.  To  which  Mr. 
Bright  soothingly  replied : — "  You  have  worked  as  hard.  My 
work  has  been  of  a  public  character,  but  yours  has  been  not  the 
less  useful. " 

During  his  peregrinations  in  the  cause  of  temperance  Mr. 
Bright  visited  Mill  Bottom,  and  the  following  amusing  story 
was  heard  by  one  of  the  Rochdalians  who  was  present.  "  Wot's 
tis  felly  com'n  here  for  ?  "  said  one  of  a  crowd  of  old  women 
collected  together  during  Mr.  Bright's  address.  "  Wot's  he 
com'n  for ;  is  he  for  puttin  these  October  shops  deawn,  'at  he's 
tawkin  o'  that  rate  ?  "  "  Yes,"  replied  a  gentleman  who  sat  in 
a  gig,  "  that's  his  very  errand ;  and  he  intends  as  soon  as  he 
gets  into  Parliament  to  make  a  law  that  you  shall  all  have  rum 
in  your  tea."  "  Eh  !  dus  he  ?"  exclaimed  the  old  woman,  "  why 
then,  that's  th'  chap  for  us  !  " 

Mr.  Bright,  attending  a  meeting  in  a  country  place,  re- 
marked to  a  friend,  as  soon  as  he  arrived,  that  he  had  hurried, 
being  afraid  he  should  be  too  late,  as  country  people  often  kept 
their  clocks  fast;  and  he  added,  "  I  have  always  found  that 
when  they  keep  their  clocks  too  fast  the  people  are  always 
too  slow." 

The  Rev.  John  Aldis,  Baptist  Minister,  of  Plymouth,  relates 
an  incident  that  occurred  when  Mr.  John  Bright  had  entered  on 
his  twenty- first  year.  The  rev.  gentleman,  in  the  year  1832, 
was  stationed  at  Manchester,  and  was  invited  to  Rochdale  to 
speak  at  a  Bible  Society  Meeting  in  the  Friends'  Meeting  House. 
He  spent  the  afternoon  at  a  tradesman's  residence,  at  the  bottom 
of  Yorkshire  Street,  and  shortly  before  the  hour  appointed  for 
the  meeting  his  friend  expressed  his  regret  that  being  unex- 
pectedly busy  he  should  not  be  able  to  attend  the  meeting,  but 
added  that  he  had  invited  a  young  "  Friend,"  who  was  also  to 
speak  at  the  meeting,  to  bear  him  company  there.  We  will  give 
the  remainder  of  the  story  in  the  exact  words  of  the  Rev.  Johi* 


54  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  11832. 

Aldis,  who  has  kindly  communicated  it  for  publication  in  the 
present  work  : — "  Soon  a  slender,  modest,  young  gentleman 
came,  who  soon  surprised  me  by  his  intelligence  and  thoughtful- 
ness.  I  took  his  arm  on  the  way  to  the  meeting,  and  I  thought 
he  seemed  nervous.  I  think  it  was  his  first  public  speech,  at  all 
events  in  such  connection.  It  was  very  eloquent  and  powerful, 
and  carried  away  the  meeting ;  but  it  was  elaborate  and  me- 
moriter.  On  our  way  back,  as  I  congratulated  him,  he  said  that 
such  efforts  cost  him  too  dear,  and  asked  me  how  I  spoke  so 
easily.  I  then  took  the  full  advantage  of  my  seniority  to  set 
fully  my  notions,  which  I  need  not  repeat  here  except  this:  that 
in  his  case,  as  in  most,  I  thought  it  would  be  best  not  to  burden 
the  memory  too  much,  but  having  carefully  prepared  and  com- 
mitted any  portions  when  special  effect  was  desired,  merely  to 
put  down  other  things  in  the  desired  order,  leaving  the  wording 
of  them  to  .the  moment.  Years  rolled  away.  I  had  entirely 
forgotten  the  name  of  the  young  '  Friend/  when  the  Free  Trade 
Bazaar  was  -held  in  London.  One  of  those  engaged  for  it — 
Mr.  Baker,  of  Stockport — calling  on  me,  asked  if  I  had  called 
on  Mr.  Bright.  I  said  I  had  not  been  able  to  attend  the  meet- 
ings, and  did  not  personally  know  him  at  all.  He  replied,  ( You 
must,  for  I  heard  him  say  that  you  gave  him  his  first  lesson  in 
public  speaking/  I  went  to  a  subsequent  meeting,  and  re- 
cognised the  young  '  Friend '  of  ]  832." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Bright  possessed  natural 
powers  of  oratory  that  required  very  little  training,  for  with  the 
greatest  ease,  in  the  course  of  a  short  time,  he  could  keep  assem- 
blies of  men  entranced  by  the  charms  of  eloquence.  His 
arguments  were  practical,  and  made  what  was  merely  a  common- 
place duty  appear  as  a  glorious  and  elevating  work ;  they  touched 
the  hearts  of  his  hearers  as  religion  or  poetry  would  touch 
them,  and  his  flight  of  oratory,  rising  to  a  climax,  would  end 
with  a  choice  sentence,  giving  it  all  the  beauty  of  a  full-blown 
rose. 

Fortitude,  justice,  and  self-devotion  have  found  their  adequate 
expression  in  his  labours.  His  sentiments  uniformly  tended 
to  improve  human  nature  and  to  humble  human  pride ;  no  one 
could  mistake  his  sincerity,  and,  although  fearless,  he  was  as 
gentle  as  a  child.  He  possessed  nearly  all  the  qualifications 
that  Cicero  lays  down  as  absolutely  necessary  for  an 
orator.  "The  orator,"  says  that  incomparable  master  of  the 
art  )ie  teaches,  "  besides  an  elevation  of  the  mind,  solidity 
of  judgment,  an  excursiveness  of  imagination,  and  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  science  and  literature,  must  have  a  clear 


1833.]  SIGNS   OF   GREATNESS.  65 

and  distinct  voice,  an  attractive  countenance,  a  neat  and 
animated  delivery,  a  strength  of  lungs,  and  a  conformation  of 
figure,  which  is  calculated  to  give  authority  to  everything  he 
utters."  Many  of  these  qualities  were  conspicuous  in  the 
hero  of  our  narrative. 

Early  in  life  he  adopted  the  Shakspearian  motto,  "  Be  just 
and  fear  not,"  as  his  guide,  and  we  all  know  how  closely  he  has 
followed  its  teaching.  The  course  of  his  life,  too,  shows  that  he 
also  acted  on  the  further  advice  of  Wolsey,  and  that  all  his 
aims  have  been  the  aims  of  his  country,  his  God,  and  of  the 
truth. 

In  December,  1883,  Mr.  J.  S.  Buckingham,  who  at  that 
time  represented  the  town  of  Sheffield  in  Parliament,  delivered  a 
course  of  lectures  in  the  old  theatre  in  Toad  Lane,  Rochdale, 
on  "  Palestine  and  Egypt."  On  the  evening  of  the  last  lecture, 
when  Mr.  Buckingham  resumed  his  seat,  Mr.  John  Bright, 
finding  that  no  other  gentleman  rose  to  propose  a  vote  of  thanks, 
stood  up  and  delivered  the  following  speech,  in  which  may  be 
traced  the  unfoldings  of  his  future  greatness,  and  which  shadows 
forth  the  intervening  gradations  by  which  he  mounted  to  emi- 
nence. In  the  early  part  of  it  he  showed  signs  of  great  nervous- 
ness, but  as  he  proceeded  he  gained  confidence,  and  astonished 
his  fellow-townsmen  by  his  graphic  and  interesting  survey  of 
the  scenes  traversed  by  the  lecturer. 

"For  the  last  five  or  six  evenings,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "we  have  listened  with 
intense  and  increasing  delight  to  the  eloquent  addresses  of  the  gentleman,  the  sound 
of  whose  voice  still  lingers  in  our  ears,  and  before  this  numerous  assembly  separates 
I  think  there  is  one  thing  which  remains  to  be  done ;  and  though  I  am  convinced  it 
would  have  been  better  had  some  one  older  than  myself  undertaken  to  do  it,  still 
as  there  seemed  no  disposition  on  the  part  of  those  who  surrounded  me  to  mention 
it,  I  have  presumed  to  bring  it  under  your  notice.  Under  the  able  guidance  of 
an  experienced  traveller  we  have  visited  the  classical  land  of  Egypt,  the  wonders 
of  her  splendid-  cities  have  been  investigated,  the  tombs  of  her  Pharaohs  and  of 
their  subjects  have  been  explored.  We  have  even  ascended  the  giant  pyramid,  and 
from  its  summit  have  surveyed  in  imagination  the  splendid  prospect  so  beautifully, 
so  poetically  described  to  us — the  glorious  sun  rising  in  the  east  proclaiming  the 
approach  of  day,  the  silvery  moon  sinking  in  the  pathless  waste  of  sand,  as  if 
unable  or  unwilling  to  compare  with  his  superior  brilliancy.  We  have  traversed  the 
barren  sands  of  Arabia,  and  have,  as  it  were,  feasted  our  eyes  upon  the  beauties  of 
the  oases  of  the  desert.  We  have  admired  the  nobleness  of  soul  which  so  eminently 
characterises  the  wandering  tribes,  and  have  paid  our  tribute  of  respect  to  that 
spirit  of  independence  whose  fire  burns  in  their  breasts  as  brightly  now  as  in  ages 
long  gone  by.  We  have  heard  with  feelings  of  solemnity  and  of  unspeakable 
interest  the  animated  description  of  the  present  condition  of  Palestine  ;  we  have 
viewed  with  astonishment  the  lofty  cedar  of  Lebanon,  the  witness  of  a  thousand 
years,  and  the  unvarying  fertility  of  Mount  Hermou ;  we  have  trod  the  calm  and 
peaceful  retreats  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  have  perambulated  the  streets  of 
Jerusalem,  the  most  renowned  city  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  as  we  gazed  on 
Calvary  the  recollection  of  the  momentous  transactions  with  which  it  will  ever  be 
associated  awakened  in  us  feelings  which  it  would  be  vain  for  me  to  attempt  to 
describe.  From  the  summit  of  a  neighbouring  hill  we  have  beheld  Damascus  in  all 
its  beauty,  its  fertile  plain,  its  broad  streams,  its  glittering  minarets,  its  lofty 


66  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1833. 

domes,  almost  realising  to  the  fancy  the  existence  of  a  paradise  upon  earth.  Again 
we  have  wandered  at  leisure  along  the  banks  of  those  majestic,  those  magnificent 
streams,  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  and  have  felt  sad  at  beholding  the  complete 
desolation  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon.  We  have  journeyed  on  to  Bagdad,  a  city 
whose  very  name  is  synonymous  with  splendour ;  we  have  admired  the  vastness  and 
simplicity  of  its  mosques,  the  variety  of  its  caravansaries,  the  splendour  of  its 
baths,  the  extent  of  its  bazaars,  and  I  doubt  not  we  have  received  impressions  in 
some  degree  favourable  as  to  the  manners  and  customs  of  Eastern  life.  This  evening 
we  have  penetrated  into  that  grand  country  situated  between  the  Indus  and  tho 
Ganges,  that  land  which  our  imagination  has  pictured  as  ever  teeming  with 
wealth, 

Where,  from  fountains  ever  flowing, 

Indian  realms  their  treasures  pour. 

"We  have  seen  how  that  wealth  may  be  rendered  available  to  England,  and  how  the 
blessings  of  civilization  and  Christianity  may  be  spread  abroad  in  that  vast  empire. 
We  have  also  had  a  clear  view  of  that  which  to  this  country  is  most  important  of 
all — the  immense  field  which  there  exists  for  the  extension  of  British  commerce  and 
for  the  consumption  of  British  manufactures.  I  say,  then,  that  for  the  instruction 
and  delight  we  have  received,  our  best  thanks  are  due  to  the  honourable  gentleman, 
and  I  am  sure  that  the  sentiments  will  be  responded  to  by  every  person  now  present, 
and  that  a  forest  of  hands  will  attest  the  unanimity  of  feeling  on  this  subject.  I 
shall  therefore  conclude  by  moving  that  the  warm  thanks  of  this  meeting  be  pre- 
sented to  J.  S.  Buckingham,  Esq.,  for  his  kindness  in  coming  amongst  us,  and  that 
we  tender  him  the  assurance  of  our  best  wishes  for  his  future  prosperity  and 
happiness." 

The  whole  assembly  applauded  enthusiastically,  for  such 
command  of  language  and  descriptive  powers  in  so  young  a 
man  had  taken  them  by  surprise.  Even  Mr.  Buckingham  was 
so  impressed  that  he  said  privately  to  Mr.  James  Ecroyd,  a 
townsman,  who  had  taken  a  leading  part  in  arranging  for  the 
lectures,  "  Mark  my  words,  if  that  young  man  lives,  he  will 
become  one  of  the  greatest  orators  in  England.'"  How  truly 
this  prophecy  has  been  realised  all  the  world  knows. 

At  this  time  he  was  only  twenty-two  years  of  age,  but  most 
men  who  have  become  eminent  have  shown  signs  of  masterly 
intellect  early  in  life,  though  not  often  in  boyhood.  For  instance, 
Hume  wrote  his  Treatise  on  Human  Nature  while  he  was  yet 
quite  a  young  man.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  not  twenty  when 
he  saw  the  apple  fall  to  the  ground.  Harvey  described  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood  at  eighteen.  Berkeley  was  only  six-and- 
twenty  when  he  published  his  Essay  on  Vision.  Hartley's  great 
principle  was  developed  in  an  inaugural  dissertation  at  College. 
Hobbes  put  forth  his  metaphysical  system  very  soon  after  he 
quitted  the  service  of  Lord  Bacon.  Galileo,  Leibnitz,  and  Euler 
commenced  their  career  of  discovery  quite  young. 

Up  to  the  year  1833  Mr.  Bright  was  a  member  of  the  Roch- 
dale Cricket  Club,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  its  matches.  He 
played  twelve  games  during  the  year,  and  was  considered  an 
average  cricketer.  Batting  was  his  special  part.  His  attention 
becoming  absorbed  in  politics  about  that  year,  he  played  cricket 
only  a  few  times  afterwards,  giving  up  the  "willow,"  which 


1833.]  AEGUING.  67 

he  had  handled  with  moderate  skill,  for  the  purpose  of  devoting 
his  attention  and  great  powers  of  mind  to  matters  of  world- 
wide importance  and  utility,  and  not  many  years  after  he 
begtj.ii  to  give  utterance  to  "thoughts  that  breathe  and  words 
that  burn." 

It  is  a  trite  saying  that  practice  makes  perfect,  and  truth  can- 
not he  found  without  some  labour  and  concentration  of  mind. 
Now,  Mr.  Bright,  in  order  to  improve  his  debating  powers,  and 
at  the  same  time  glean  information,  chose  an  old  Radical  named 
Charles  Howarth,  one  of  his  father's  workmen,  who  resided  at 
Great  Howarth,  to  operate  upon,  in  the  office  of  whetstone. 
As  the  machinery  was  clanking  away  these  two  would  argue  vari- 
ous topics.  The  young  man  stated  his  propositions  clearly  and 
coolly,  the  old  man  combated  them  until  he  frequently  worked 
himself  into  a  rage,  and  in  the  end  was  thoroughly  worsted. 
It  was  by  this  practice,  in  conjunction  with  the  intelligent 
veteran  Radical  we  have  named,  that  Mr.  Bright  sharpened 
his  debating  powers. 

Although  on  many  occasions  the  discussion  waxed  warm,  and 
ended  in  defeat  on  the  one  side  and  triumph  on  the  other,  both 
disputants  were  gainers.  The  old  man  was  often  presented  with 
a  welcome  silver  crown  of  the  realm  as  a  salve  for  his  wounded 
feelings  and  discomfiture,  and  that  the  young  orator  certainly 
improved  by  these  exercises  there  can  be  no  reason  to  doubt. 

"  Some  the  swift-gliding  shuttle  throw, 
While  some  of  genius  more  refined 
With  head  and  tongue  assist  mankind." 

If  there  be  any  person  who  can  equal  a  sailor  in  telling  a 
"  yarn  "  it  certainly  is  an  old  soldier,  and  perhaps  with  a  greater 
degree  of  truth  in  the  narration.  An  old  man,  named  John  Hill, 
who  had  been  a  soldier  for  twenty-eight  years,  was  in  his 
autumnal  days  employed  by  Mr.  Jacob  Bright.  He  was  a  man 
who  had  received  a  fair  education,  was  intelligent,  had  undergone 
a  great  deal  of  hardship,  had  taken  part  in  several  battles,  and  his 
life  had  been  somewhat  adventurous.  Mr.  Bright  was  often  to 
be  seen  listening  by  the  hour  to  the  descriptions  of  the  privations 
in  the  life  of  a  soldier,  and  of  heart-rending  scenes  on  the  battle- 
field, which  were  set  forth  with  the  animation  of  an  Othello;  and 
often  the  old  veteran 

"  Wept  o'er  his  wounds  or  tales  of  sorrow  done, 
Shouldered  his  crutch  and  showed  how  fields  were  won." 

This  might  seem  unworthy  of  notice,  but  no  doubt  it  had  its 
effect  on  the  mind  of  the  future  statesman,  who  has  all  through 
his  public  career  been  an  advocate  for  peace. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

INCREASING   INTEREST   IN   SOCIAL   AND   POLITICAL   MATTERS. 

The  Reform  Agitation — First  Scheme  of  Reform  Proposed — It  is  Abandoned- 
Indignation  throughout  the  Country — Ultimate  Triumph  of  the  People — Mr. 
Bright  goes  to  London  for  the  First  Time — His  Sympathy  for  Ireland — The 
Rochdale  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society — Travels. 

TRAINED  in  the  factory  to  intelligent  labour  Mr.  Bright  learnt 
by  steady  application  -not  only  the  processes  of  manufacture,  but 
also  the  art  of  directing  and  governing  the  great  numbers  of 
persons  there  employed,  and  in  the  exercise  of  his  daily  duties  he 
showed  a  high  degree  of  energy,  readiness,  and  versatility.  He 
attended  the  Manchester  market  regularly,  and  was  considered 
a  first-class  salesman.  But  he  took  a  longer  time  to  pay  the 
workpeople  than  any  other  person  who  used  to  attend  to  this 
department.  It  was,  however,  owing  to  his  making  inquiry 
into  what  accommodation  they  had  in  their  houses,  and  gleaning 
other  information  concerning  their  domestic  arrangements.  To 
Mr.  Samuel  Tweedale,  the  manager,  on  one  occasion  he  said 
that  some  of  the  workpeople  had  only  one  bed-room,  and  such 
a  state  of  things  must  be  altered  if  it  was  possible.  Ac- 
cordingly Mr.  Bright  had  a  fine  row  of  cottages  erected,  which 
consisted  of  two  bed-rooms,  with  two  good-sized  rooms  down- 
stairs, and  a  cellar  and  garden.  These  cottages  were  called 
"  Mizzy  Buildings  "  (the  name  of  an  old  farmhouse  that  had 
once  stood  on  the  estate),  and  it  is  easily  inferred  from  these 
facts  that  his  desire  was  to  raise  the  condition  of  the  poor,  "  to 
make  men  happy  and  to  keep  them  so." 

It  has  been  a  habit  of  Mr.  Bright's,  through  life,  to  gain 
knowledge  on  particular  topics  from  reliable  sources,  and  often 
from  men  specially  employed  in  different  occupations,  preferring 
practical  knowledge  to  theoretical,  and  thus  he  has  been 
enabled  to  make  himself  master  of  any  subject  by  personal 
observation,  of  all  matters  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  poorer 
classes. 

When  John  Bright  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty  the 
Reform  Agitation  was  at  its  height,  and  he  watched  it  with  an 
interest  far  beyond  his  years.  The  adjustment  of  the  in- 
equalities of  the  system  of  representation  had  been  delayed 


1832.]  THE   EEFOEM   BILL.  59 

for  many  years,  for  it  had  been  proposed  in  1782  by  Mr.  Pitt, 
but  the  motion  was  lost  by  a  majority  of  twenty,  and  similar 
motions  in  the  years  1783  and  1785  were  lost  by  majorities 
of  forty-four  and  seventy-four.  The  horror  inspired  by* 
the  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution  caused  a  reaction  and 
the  repressio  i  for  a  time  of  all  liberal  tendencies,  and  it  was 
not  until  some  time  after  the  close  of  the  French  war  that 
the  desire  for  reform  again  manifested  itself.  The  distressed 
condition  of  the  working-  class  added  to  the  dissatisfaction,  and 
meetings  were  held  not  only  in  Rochdale  but  all  over  the 
country.  On  the  resignation  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  on 
the  16th  of  November,  1830,  the  Reform  Ministry  of  Earl  Grey 
came  into  office.  On  the  3rd  of  February,  1831,  Parliament 
assembled,  and  on  the  1st  of  March  Lord -John  Russell  proposed 
his  first  scheme  of  Reform.  The  inhabitants  of  Rochdale, 
Tories  as  well  as  Liberals,  when  they  discovered  that  the  Reform 
Bill  did  not  provide  for  the  representation  of  their  town  in  Par- 
liament, formed  a  deputation  which  waited  upon  Lord  John 
Russell,  who  repaired  the  oversight.  The  discussion  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  Reform  Bill  was  lengthy,  and 
on  the  second  reading  it  passed  by  a  majority  of  only  one.  On 
the  motion  for  a  committee,  General  Gascoyne  moved,  as  an 
amendment,  that  the  number  of  representatives  for  England 
and  Wales  should  not  be  diminished,  and  the  amendment  was 
carried  by  a  majority  of  eight. 

The  ministry  abandoned  the  bill,  and  resorted  to  a  dissolu- 
tion. "  The  bill,  the  whole  bill,  and  nothing  but  the  bill/'  was 
the  cry  raised  throughout  the  country ;  and  on  the  14th  of  June 
when  the  next  Parliament  assembled,  it  was  found  that  there 
was  a  large  majority  in  support  of  the  bill,  which  was  again 
introduced  on  the  24th  of  June,  and  passed  the  third  reading  in 
the  House  of  Commons  by  a  majority  of  113.  The  House  of 
Lords,  on  the  second  reading,  threw  it  out  by  a  majority  of 
forty-one,  and  Parliament  was  immediately  prorogued.  The 
inhabitants  of  Rochdale,  like  those  of  other  towns,  were  so 
enraged,  that  a  requisition  was  presented  to  the  high  constable 
(Mr.  Henry  Kelsall)  requesting  him  to  convene  a  meeting,  to 
"  address  his  Majesty  and  ministers  on  the  rejection  of  the 
Reform  Bill  by  the  House  of  Lords,  contrary  to  the  almost 
unanimous  wish  of  the  nation,  and  to  entreat  his  Majesty  to 
retain  his  present  ministry  in  office,  in  whose  integrity  the  people 
have  entire  confidence,  and  further  to  pray  that  his  Majesty  will 
adopt  such  measures  known  to  the  constitution  as  arc  suitable  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  times. "  The  meeting  was  accordingly 


60  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1832. 

held,  on  the  12th  of  October,  1832,  at  the  Wellington  Hotel, 
and  resolutions  were  passed  in  favour  of  the  bill,  and  his  Majesty 
was  counselled  to  assume  the  original  compact  between  his 
Majesty  and  his  subjects.  On  the  6th  of  December  Parliament 
reassembled,  and  on  the  12th  of  that  month  the  third  Reform 
Bill  was  introduced  by  Lord  Russell.  It  did  not,  like  the  for- 
mer bills,  diminish  the  number  of  members,  and  the  opposition 
considered  this  a  concession  and  improvement ;  and  on  the  third 
reading  the  majority  numbered  116,  and  the  bill  was  sent  up  to 
the  House  of  Lords,  where  the  second  reading  was  carried  by  a 
majority  of  nine.  Lord  Lyndhurst,  in  committee,  carried,  by  a 
majority  of  thirty-five,  a  motion  that  the  disenfranchising  clause 
should  be  postponed,  and  the  enfranchising  first  consiclei'ed,  on 
which,  the  king  having  refused  to  accede  to  a  creation  of  peers 
sufficient  to  carry  the  bill,  the  ministry  resigned.  This  caused 
great  agitation  throughout  the  country,  and  at  length  the 
government  were  induced  to  resume  office  on  the  king  granting 
full  powers  to  secure  majorities  by  the  creation  of  peers ;  but  a 
sufficient  number  of  lords  absented  themselves  for  the  purpose 
of  leaving  the  ministers  a  majority  on  the  third  reading,  when 
the  bill  passed  by  a  majority  of  eighty-four. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  1832,  Mr.  John  Bright  left  Market 
Street,  Manchester,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  outside  a 
stage  coach  called  the  "  Peveril  of  the  Peak,"  for  the  pui-pose 
of  visiting  London  for  the  first  time ;  and  travelling  all  night 
and  the  next  day  he  arrived  in  the  metropolis  at  five  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  the  journey  having  taken  altogether  twenty-one 
hours. 

"  It  happened  to  be  the  very  night,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  referring  to  the  event, 
"  when  the  House  of  Lords  were  discussing  the  second  reading  of  the  great  Reform 
Bill  (cheers),  and  during  the  14th  of  April,  I  think  it  was,  as  we  were  travelling 
along  the  road,  some  passengers  observed  something  coming  towards  us,  but  still  in 
the  distance,  and  we  all  looked  with  great  interest.  We  saw  horses  galloping  and 
carriages  coming  at  a  speed  which  would  much  have  left  behind  our  coach  if  they 
had  been  going  in  the  same  way.  By-and-by  we  saw  two  chaises  with  four  horses, 
each  chaise  having  two  or  three  men  inside,  and  they  were  throwing  out  placards 
from  each  window  as  they  went  past,  galloping  as  hard  as  it  was  possible  for  horses 
to  travel.  These  were  express  chaises  coming  from  London,  bringing  the  news  to 
all  the  people  of  the  country — for  there  were  no  telegraphs  then,  and  no  railways — 
of  the  glorious  triumphs  of  popular  principles  even  in  the  House  of  Lords,  for  that 
House  had  sat  all  night — I  do  not  know  how  long  it  sat  the  previous  nights — and 
it  was  not  till  seven  in  the  morning  that  the  House  divided,  and  the  second  reading 
of  that  great  measure  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  nine  votes  (cheers).  Well  I 
recollect  that  occasion,  and  it  has  always  been  to  me  a  pleasure  to  think  of  the 
excitement  this  caused  amougst  us  coach  passengers  when  we  found  what  was  the 
business  and  the  message  of  those  gentlemen  in  the  expresses." 

To  him  it  was  pleasant  and  instructive  to  visit  the  scene, 
enriched  with  classical  recollections,  for  there  is  scarcely  one  of 


1832.]  .  VISITS   LONDON.  61 

our  illustrious  countrymen  who  has  not  either  first  beheld  the 
light  within  its  walls,  pursued  his  avocations  within  its  circuit, 
or  laid  his  bones  to  rest  beneath  its  soil.  Our  statesmen,  our 
most  celebrated  wits  and  scholars,  our  men  of  science,  poets,  and 
philanthropists,  have  almost  all  of  them  left  some  memory  of  their 
existence  within  the  boundaries  of  the  metropolis ;  indeed,  Mr. 
Bright  would  rather  become  a  resident  of  that  city  where  Hamp- 
den  and  Pym  defended  the  cause  of  the  people,  and  where  Russell 
bled,  and  where  Milton  warbled  the  rapturous  soul  of  song  and 
sovereign  ecstasy,  than  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  country  in  which 
Virgil  sang  and  Brutus  struck  for  liberty.  As  he  gazed  from  a 
distance  upon  the  sombre  majesty  of  the  atmosphere  above  the 
proud  metropolis  of  Britain,  through  which  he  saw  dimly, 
rearing  themselves  like  shadowy  giants,  her  thousand  domes  and 
spires,  he  could  not  but  think  how  insignificant  is  man,  lost  amid 
the  stupendous  work  of  his  own  hands.  A  moment's  reflection 
must  have  given  birth  to  the  thought  as  to  what  are  its  riches  or 
its  beauty  compared  to  the  moral  grandeur  reaped  through  many 
an  age  of  strife  and  turmoil  and  revolution.  Her  aspect  was 
new  to  him.  He  was  a  stranger  to  her  walls,  but  names  which 
occurred  to  his  mind  recalled  vividly  the  scenes  of  past  history, 
which  till  then  he  had  contemplated  but  in  the  lifeless  pages  of 
the  historian. 

When  Mr.  Bright  was  a  young  man  and  a  bachelor  he 
manifested  a  warm  sympathy  for  Ireland.  Her  deplorable 
history,  from  savage  barbarism  and  feudal  outrages  into  the 
atmosphere  of  dawning  civilisation,  was  to  him  a  very  attractive 
study.  The  annals  of  Ireland  he  even  then  considered  were  a 
disgrace  not  only  to  its  natives  but  to  human  nature,  for  it  had 
been  cursed  with  savage  chieftains  and  rebellious  slaves,  who  had 
rendered  her  fields  little  less  than  the  transcript  of  their  crimes, 
and  her  history  was  the  story  of  a  people  unable  or  unwilling  to 
sway  their  own  sceptre ;  and  yet  too  f roward  or  too  proud  to 
allow  it  in  the  hands  of  others.  They  were  bad  subjects  and 
worse  rebels,  yet  he  thought  the  amelioration  of  their  condition 
was  possible  by  just  legislation  rather  than  by  coercion.  At 
this  time  amongst  other  Irishmen  working  at  his  father's  mill  was 
one  named  Michael  Cavannagh,  who,  after  many  years'  residence 
in  Rochdale,  wished  to  return  to  his  native  country  to  spend  a 
few  years  with  his  relatives.  During  the  last  week  of  Michael's 
sojourn  in  Rochdale  he  and  one  of  his  fellow-workmen 
quarrelled,  in  the  card-room  of  Greenbank  Mill,  whereupon  he 
took  off  his  clog,  and  when  raising  it  in  a  striking  attitude, 
accidentally  struck  two  panes  of  glass  behind  him,  which  arrested 


62  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [183a 

the  intended  blow.  Two  shillings  were  entered  against  him  to 
be  deducted  from  his  earnings,  bnt  Mr.  John  Bright  was  paying 
the  wages  when  it  came  to  Cavannagh's  turn  to  present  himself, 
and  upon  learning  the  particulars  of  the  affray,  he  pointed  out  to 
the  Irishman  the  impropriety  of  resorting  to  brute  force.  The 
cost  o£  replacing  the  panes  of  glass,  however,  was  not  deducted, 
and  his  week's  earnings  were  supplemented  with  an  addition  to 
assist  him  on  his  journey  homeward.  The  usual  benediction  which 
Celts  seem  unable  to  withhold  when  they  meet  with  some  large- 
hearted  friend,  was  poured  forth ;  but  Michael's  was  somewhat 
original  and  bordering  on  the  prophetic.  "  Sir,  I  wish  you  luck," 
said  Cavannagh;  adding,  "may  you  be  king  when  I  return 
again,  and  may  marrow  remain  long  in  your  shin  bones." 

In  April,  1833,  Mr.  John  Bright  and  a  number  of  his  friends 
formed  a  society,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  "  The  Roch- 
dale Literary  and  Philosophical  Society/'  At  the  first  meeting 
each  member  signed  his  name  in  the  minute  book  ;  that  of  Mr. 
John  Bright  heads  the  list.  The  society  became  very  popular, 
most  of  the  gentlemen  in  the  town  joining  it.  The  rules  for- 
bade, the  introduction  of  any  doctrinal  point  in  religion,  or 
any  local  party  politics  for  discussion  at  the  meetings.  The  first 
meeting  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  John  Bright.  Mr.  John  Hoi- 
gate  was  appointed  secretary,  Mr.  John  Grindrod  treasurer,  and 
"  the  council "  for  the  remainder  of  the  first  year  were  Messrs. 
John  Bright,  William  Mann,  James  Ecroyd,  G.  Craven,  J.  H. 
Sellers,  R.  T.  Heape,  Joseph  Moore,  George  Morris,  William 
Moore,  and  the  Rev.  G.  Heaviside.  For  many  years  the  meetings 
were  held  in  the  Rev.  George  Heaviside's  private  schoolroom, 
which  was  situated  in  Baron  Street,  between  Water  Street  and 
Kenion  Street.  The  building  is  now  occupied  as  a  machinist's 
shop.  The  meeting  on  the  12th  of  September  was  presided 
over  by  Mr.  John  Bright,  when  Mr.  Morris  lectured  "  On 
Optics,"  and  explained  the  properties  of  light,  and  in  the 
presence  of  his  audience  dissected  a  human  eye.  At  the 
meeting  on  the  26th  of  September  Mr.  Morris  was  in  the 
chair,  and  Mr.  John  Holgate  brought  on  for  discussion,  "  Is 
a  legal  provision  of  subjects  for  dissection  expedient  ? "  Mr. 
John  Bright  took  part  in  the  discussion,  and  the  meeting 
decided  (only  one  voting  against  it)  "  That  a  legal  provision 
of  subjects  is  expedient  if  confined  to  the  bodies  bequeathed 
for  dissection,  subject  to  the  relatives'  consent,  and  the  bodies 
of  the -unclaimed  poor  who  do  not  express  a  contrary  wish 
previous  to  their  decease;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  pro- 
vision made  by  Government  was  and  is  expedient."  At  the 


1834.]  ROCHDALE   LITERARY   SOCIETY.  68 

meeting  on  the  10th  of  October,  Mr.  G.  Craven  in  the  chair, 
Mr.  John  Bright  brought  forward  as  a  subject  for  debate, 
"  From  our  study  of  history,  ancient  and  modern,  what  form 
of  government  appears  the  best  suited  to  promote  the  happiness 
of  mankind  ?  "  The  discussion  was  long  and  spirited.  At  last 
Mr.  John  Bright  submitted  the  following  motion  : — "  That  a 
limited  monarchy  is  best  suited  for  this  country  at  the  present 
time/'  The  debate,  however,  was  adjourned  to  the  meeting 
held  on  the  7th  of  November;  the  Rev.  G.  Heaviside  was  in  the 
chair.  After  the  subject  was  further  discussed  Mr.  Bright's 
motion  was  put  to  the  meeting,  when  the  votes  in  its  favour 
numbered  eighteen,  and  against  it  four.  At  the  next  meeting, 
November  21st,  presided  over  by  Mr.  J.  Littlewood,  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Heape  introduced  the  subject,  "  Whether  painting,  poetry, 
or  music  gives  more  enjoyment  to  mankind."  On  a  division 
being  taken,  one  voted  for  painting,  nine  for  poetry,  and  ten 
for  music.  At  the  meeting  on  January  26th,  1834,  Mr.  James 
Ecroyd  in  the  chair,  Mr.  John  Bright  brought  forward  the 
subject,  "  Is  Alfred  or  Alexander  more  entitled  to  the  appel- 
lation of  f  The  Great '  ?  "  He  submitted  as  his  opinion  that 
Alexander  did  not  earn,  and  therefore  was  not  entitled  to,  and 
that  Alfred  did  earn,  and  therefore  had  a  just  claim  to,  the 
appellation  of  Great.  No  one  present  dissented  from  Mr. 
Bright's  opinions,  and  the  meeting  unanimously  decided  in 
favour  of  Alfred,  The  next  meeting,  on  the  13th  of  February, 
1834,  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  O.  Ormerod,  and  a  lengthy  dis- 
cussion took  place  "  On  the  policy  or  impolicy  of  laws  for  the 
restriction  of  the  importation  of  corn.'"  Mr.  James  Ecroyd 
moved  and  Mr.  Norris  seconded,  "  That  laws  for  restricting 
the  importation  of  grain  are  impolitic ; "  and  those  present  at 
the  meeting  were  unanimous  in  the  opinion.  On  March  13th, 
1834,  Mr.  John  Holt  in  the  chair,  Mr.  John  Holgate  intro- 
duced the  question,  "  Is  defensive  war  justifiable  on  Scriptural 
grounds  ? "  Making  in  his  remarks  a  quotation  of  a  doc- 
trinal kind  from  Scripture,  he  thus  violated  a  rule  of  the 
society ;  and  consequently  Mr.  John  Ormerod  submitted  a 
motion,  "  That  the  debate  on  that  subject  be  discontinued/' 
Mr.  Thomas  Bright  seconded  the  motion,  but  it  was  negatived 
by  a  majority  of  fifteen,  and  the  debate  was  resumed.  The 
motion  submitted  by  Mr.  John  Holgate  was,  "  That  it  is  justifi- 
able on  Scriptural  grounds  to  defend  ourselves  against  the  attacks 
of  our  enemies."  Mr.  John  Bright  maintained,  "That  it  is  not 
justifiable."  The  Rev.  G.  Heaviside  seconded  the  amend- 
ment, which  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  six.  Mr.  S.  Heape 


64  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1835. 

was  iu  the  chair  at  the  meeting  on  the  5th  June,  1834,  when  the 
llev.  G.  Heaviside  lectured  "  On  the  universal  education  of  the 
lower  classes/'  and  proposed,  <(  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  tho 
meeting  that  the  universal  education  of  the  people  is  necessary." 
Mr.  John  Holgate  seconded  this  resolution,  which  was  supported 
by  Mr.  John  Bright,  and  unanimously  agreed  to  by  the  members 
present.  On  the  3rd  of  July  the  subject  of  "  The  moral  ten- 
dency of  public  amusements,  such  as  the  theatre,  circus,  &c." 
was  introduced  by  Mr.  John  Bright,  who  submitted  the  follow- 
ing motion : — "  That  the  moral  tendency  of  public  amusements, 
such  as  the  theatre,  circus,  &c.,  is  injurious."  Mr.  James 
Eeroyd  seconded  the  motion,  which  was  passed. 

In  the  summer  months  of  1835,  Mr.  John  Bright  with  Mr. 
King  (manufacturer  of  Rochdale)  went  on  a  tour  to  the  Holy 
Land,  a  country  he  had  long  wished  to  explore,  for  its  mysteries, 
and  sublime  desolate  regions.  They  visited  Gibraltar,  Malta, 
and  Egypt  on  the  way,  and  returning  by  Smyrna,  Constantinople, 
and  Athens,  passed  through  Italy,  France,  and  Belgium  home- 
wards. The  first  meeting  he  attended  on  his  return  was  held  on 
the  14th  April,  1836,  Mr.  Bright  himself  occupying  the  chair. 
Mr.  Davidson  read  a  paper  on  Phrenology,  and,  after  a  discussion, 
concluded  by  moving,  "  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  meeting 
that  the  system  of  Phrenology,  as  promulgated  by  Gall  and 
Spurzheim,  is  the  only  sure  basis  yet  discovered  on  which  to  form 
a  correct  system  of  intellectual  philosophy. "  Mr.  Chadwick 
spoke  against  the  motion,  and  moved  an  amendment  to  the  effect 
that  the  "Science  of  Phrenology  has  not  been  established/'  Mr. 
James  Petrie  strongly  opposed  the  motion,  and  Mr.  Henry 
Armitage  spoke  in  its  favour;  Dr.  Morris  opposed  and  Mr. 
Ormerod  supported  the  motion.  Upon  the  votes  being  taken, 
six  were  for  the  amendment  and  six  for  the  motion,  but  it  was 
not  stated  in  the  minutes  whether  Mr.  John  Bright  gave  a  cast- 
ing vote  one  way  or  the  other.  At  the  meeting  held  on  the  5th 
of  May,  1836,  presided  over  by  Mr.  Ormerod,  Mr.  John  Bright 
introduced  the  subject  "  Of  the  decline  and  fall  of  nations,"  con- 
cluding an  interesting  lecture  by  a  motion — "That  there  are 
causes  to  which  the  decline  of  nations  may  be  attributed  without 
having  recourse  to  the  argument  that  '  nations  are  subject  to  the 
same  laws  as  individuals/  &c."  Messrs.  Scott,  Armitage,  and 
Eeroyd  took  part  in  the  discussion,  and  the  general  opinion  was 
in  favour  of  the  resolution. 

At  the  meeting  on  the  2nd  of  June  Mr.  John  Bright  gave  an 
interesting  account  of  the  countries  he  had  visited,  and  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  a  reporter  was  not  present  to  record  his  description 


lft36.J  TRAVELS.  65 

• 

of  the  towns  ho  passed  through,  his  impressions,  and  the  amusing 
anecdotes  he  related.  A  few  of  the  anecdotes  are  still  fresh  in 
the  remembrance  of  some  of  those  who  were  present,  and  we 
shall  repeat  them.  At  that  time  Mr.  Bright  was  a  great  admirer 
of  the  works  of  Lord  Byron,  and  visited  most  of  the  noted  places 
mentioned  in  that  noble  monument  of  genius,  "  Childe  Harold's 
Pilgrimage/'  Byron's  muse  dwells  amongst  wild  scenery, 
roaming  in  a  region  of  gloomy  grandeur,  amongst  Alpine  pre- 
cipices and  cloud-capped  mountains,  and  Mr.  Bright  loved 
to  penetrate  such  regions  too.  He  had  not  prepared  the 
lecture,  nor  had  he  any  notes  before  him ;  he  gave  the  lecture 
from  memory,  and  often  introduced  beautiful  passages  from 
Byron. 

"  Adieu,  adieu !  my  native  shore 

Fades  o'er  the  waters  blue  ; 
The  night-winds  sigh,  the  breakers  roar, 
And  shrieks  the  wild  sea-mew. 

Ton  sun  that  sets  upon  the  sea 

We  follow  in  his  flight ; 
Farewell  awhile  to  him  and  thee, 

My  native  land — Good  Night !  " 

During  Mr.  Bright's  voyage  in  the  Mediterranean  an  amusing 
incident  occurred,  of  wjiich  he  was  an  eye-witness.  A  lady 
(evidently  a  spinster)  was  one  of  his  fellow-passengers  on  board. 
She  made  a  particular  fuss  and  manifested  a  great  deal  of  anxiety 
about  her  lapdog,  which  was  nursed  with  a  motherly  care,  and 
which  received  from  her  the  most  lavish  affection.  One  day 
while  the  passengers  were  in  the  saloon  at  dinner  it  was  found 
that  the  heat  was  oppressive  and  unbearable  ;  so,  to  admit  a  little 
fresh  air,  a  window  looking  on  the  deck  was  suddenly  opened, 
when  down  fell  the  lapdog,  which  had  been  basking  in  the  sun 
above,  into  the  soup-tureen  on  the  dining-table.  On  this  unex- 
pected downfall  and  addition  to  their  soup,  the  passengers,  not- 
withstanding the  splash  which  accompanied  the  sudden  advent, 
were  unable  to  suppress  their  mirth,  and  hearty  roars  of 
laughter  resounded  throughout  the  saloon,  whilst  the  lady,  the 
darling  of  whose  solicitude  had  thus  suddenly  disappeared,  on 
hearing  of  the  sad  mishap  to  her  little  pet  became  almost 
frantic,  and  poured  out  a  wail  of  lamentation.  Fortunately  for 
her  future  happiness,  it  turned  out  that  her  favourite  was  not 
much  the  worse  for  its  warm  immersion  in  the  tureen. 

Another  anecdote  related  by  Mr.  John  Bright  can  hardly 
fail  to  produce  the  impression  that  our  sailors  are  not  the  best 
authorities  to  initiate  foreigners  into  the  art  of  speaking  the 


66  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  1183d. 

• 

English  language  with  propriety.  When  Mr.  Bright  arrived 
at  Constantinople  a  number  of  boys  approached  the  newly- 
arrived  passengers  with  donkeys,  and  it  would  appear  that  they 
had  learned  a  few  odd  words  of  English  from  the  British  tars 
aforesaid.  One  boy,  addressing  the  eminent  traveller  from 
Rochdale,  said,  "  Now,  you  beggar,  do  you  want  a  donkey  ?  " 
Mr.  Bright  was  somewhat  staggered  at  this  rather  abrupt  and 
insolent  demand,  but  found  that  the  lad  did  not  understand 
the  precise  meaning  of  the  offensive  epithet  he  had  used,  and 
did  not  purposely  intend  to  give  offence,  but  merely  wished 
to  convey  to  the  Englishman  the  fact  that  he  was  willing 
to  transport  his  luggage  on  his  beast  of  burden  to  an  hotel. 
The  boy,  no  doubt,  believed  the  expression  to  be  of  the  politest 
possible  kind,  and  expressive  of  the  greatest  interest  in  the 
traveller's  welfare.  The  perfect  innocence  with  which  the 
question  was  proposed  showed  that  the  owner  of  the  donkey 
was  not  aware  that  the  objectionable  term  was  not  used  in 
decent  society,  and  that  such  language  was  applicable  only  to 
a  mendicant.  At  any  rate  it  may  be  considered  that  the  boy 
thought  the  offensive  word  was  what  Don  Juan  thought  of  a 
certain  other  vulgar  phrase — only  a  "  Salaam,"  or  "  God  be  with 
you  ! "  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  by  this  time  of  day  the  donkey - 
drivers  of  Constantinople  have  been  taught  to  express  themselves 
in  more  courteous  English  than  formerly. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Mr.  John  Bright  had  such  a  longing 
desire  to  visit  the  sacred  city  of  Jerusalem,  for  it  was  there  our 
Saviour  taught;  it  was  there  Christianity  was  first  implanted, 
and  the  shadows  of  the  law  were  superseded  by  the  gospel 
light;  there  David  sang  and  the  prophets  prophesied.  No 
city  in  the  universe  has  had  such  a  chequered  past.  It  was, 
therefore,  not  surprising  that  Mr.  Bright  approached  this  holy 
city  with  awe,  and  gazed  upon  it  with  the  deepest  interest. 
Mr.  Bright  gave  an  interesting  description  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives  and  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  amidst  whose  great 
•  rocks  and  trees  stood  the  tomb  of  Zacharias,  the  last  of 
the  prophets  that  were  slain.  The  hallowed  spots  once 
curtained  within  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  had  disappeared, 
but  he  found  that  the  face  of  nature  still  endures.  The 
rocks,  the  mountains,  lakes,  and  valleys  were  unchanged ; 
save  that  the  loneliness  and  wildness  were  now  broken  only 
by  the  occasional  crumbling  of  some  fragments  from  the 
sacred  hills,  scaring  the  wild  animals  from  their  dens,  and 
the  eagles  from  their  cliffs ;  yet  this  was  once  the  scene  of 
prosperity  and  luxury.  Though  their  glory  had  departed, 


1838.]  AN  EXHIBITION.  67 

a  high  and  mournful  beanty  still  rested  on  many  of  their  silent 
and  romantic  scenes. 

Mr.  Bright  upon  returning  home  received  a  warm  greeting 
from  his  friends,  who  wei-e  as  anxious  to  see  him  as  he  was  to 
see  them,  and  who  were  interested  in  his  conversation  as  to 
his  tour.  He  was  questioned  very  minutely,  and  his  accounts 
of  his  travels  were  instructive  and  entertaining. 

Mr.  Samuel  Greenlees,  who  had  creditably  filled  the  post  of 
secretary  for  many  years,  brought  before  the  meeting  on  the 
13th  of  July,  183(5,  for  discussion,  "Was  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots,  accessory  to  the  death  of  her  husband,  Lord  Darnley  ?  " 
The  discussion  was  spirited  and  protracted,  and  Mr.  Bright 
was  afraid  that  this  unfortunate  queen  was  not  entirely  clear  of 
the  stain,  but  the  meeting  came  to  the  conclusion  "  That  the 
contradictory  nature  of  the  evidence  adduced  by  historians  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  makes  it  impossible  to  convict  or  acquit 
Mary  of  any  accession  to  the  murder." 

Mr.  Bright  next  appears  at  a  meeting  on  the  evening  of  the 
31st  of  May,  1838,  when  he  occupied  the  chair.  The  time  was 
principally  spent  in  experimenting  with  the  electrical  machine. 
He  was  also  present  at  the  meeting  on  the  21st  June,  and  read 
an  essay  on  the  "  Success  of  steam  navigation  between  this 
country  and  America,  and  the  spread  of  civilisation  and  know- 
ledge consequent  thereon/''  At  a  special  meeting  on  the  llth 
of  October,  convened  to  discuss  the  propriety  and  means  of 
forming  an  exhibition  of  philosophical  apparatus,  &c.,  Mr. 
Armitage  in  the  chair,  it  was  decided  to  form  a  committee  to 
make  a  collection  for  an  exhibition.  Mr.  John  Bright  headed 
the  list,  the  other  gentlemen  being  Messrs.  W.  Buffham,  W.  A. 
Scott,  G.  Heaviside,  Henry  Birkby,  Samuel  Worrall,  B.  Heape, 
jun.,  Robert  Schofield,  James  Hamilton,  and  John  Roby.  On 
Monday,  the  24th  of  December,  1838,  the  exhibition  was  opened 
in  the  Commissioners'  Rooms,  Smith  Street.  It  was  very 
attractive,  and  was  successful  from  a  pecuniary  point  of  view. 
It  contained  an  extensive  collection  of  philosophical  apparatus, 
consisting  of  electric,  galvanic,  magnetic,  and  electro-magnetic 
instruments,  air  pump,  telescopes,  microscopes,  &c.,  together 
with  a  large  collection  of  preserved  quadrupeds,  birds,  in- 
sects, shells,  phrenological  casts,  anatomical  preparations,  and  a 
number  of  paintings  by  ancient  and  modern  artists,  numerous 
engravings,  medals,  working  models  of  locomotives  and  other 
steam  engines.  There  were  also  several  specimens  of  Chinese 
carving  in  ivory  and  tortoise-shell.  A  variety  of  antiquities, 
including  coins,  weapons,  and  habiliments  of  war;  a  curious 
p  2 


68  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OP   JOHN   BBIGHT.  [18  H. 

collection  of  figures  in  dress  worn  by  the  various  castes  in  India 
and  China,  with  specimens  of  their  manufactures,  and  a  large 
number  of  minerals,  fossils,  geological  specimens,  &c.  During 
a  period  of  twelve  years  the  society  had  engaged  eminent  men 
to  deliver  lectures  on  various  subjects.  For  instance,  Mr.  Watt 
delivered  a  lecture  on  "  Elocution ; "  Mr.  Roby  a  course  on 
"  Botany,"  and  six  on  "  Tradition  as  connected  with  and  illus- 
trating history,  antiquities,  and  romance;"  Mr.  Greenbank,  of 
Manchester,  on  "  Oratory ; "  Mr.  Heigham,  a  course  of  four  on 
"  Architecture."  Dr.  Cantor  gave  six  lectures  on  "  Human 
Physiology."  Mr.  Elias  Hall,  of  Manchester,  delivered  three 
lectures  on  "  Geology ;  "  Mr.  Murray,  a  course  on  "  Chemistry." 
Mr.  Wardleworth  gave  two  on  "  The  Philosophy  of  Digestion." 
Mr.  F.  B.  Calvert,  Professor  of  Rhetoric,  King's  College, 
Aberdeen,  delivered  four  on  "  Elocution ;  "  Mr.  Rymer  Jones 
entertained  the  members  with  six  on  "  Natural  History ;  "  Mr. 
George  Thompson  followed  with  a  course  on  " British  India;" 
and  Mr.  Charles  Kemble  entertained  the  Society  and  its  friends 
with  an  evening's  "  Reading  from  Shakespeare."  Besides  all 
this  many  of  the  members  gave  lectures  on  various  subjects,  so 
that  this  worthy  and  commendable  design  for  mutual  self-im- 
provement and  gratification  added  not  a  little  to  Mr.  John 
Blight's  knowledge,  and  tended  to  strengthen  his  great  mental 
powers,  whilst  it  afforded  useful  exercise  to  that  natural  gift  of 
speech  to  which  he  is  largely  indebted  for  his  wide-spread 
influence.  However,  after  the  year  1 841,  his  mind  becoming 
more  absorbed  in  his  parliamentary  duties  and  the  Anti-Corn 
Law  agitation,  he  subsequently,  from  the  great  pressure  on  his 
time  and  attention,  attended  very  few  meetings  of  the  Literary 
Society ;  and  as  the  greatest  of  its  luminaries,  or  rather  the  sun 
of  its  system,  had  disappeared,  the  members  dwindled  away,  and 
the  society  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  ceased  to  exist,  and  became 
a  thing  of  the  past. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    COEN    LAWS. 

Mr.  E.  Cobden — Old  Enactments  Prohibiting  the  Importation  of  Grain — Import 
Duties — Prosperity  of  the  Agriculturalists — Poverty  of  the  People — Unsuc- 
cessful Attempts  at  Legislation — Formation  of  the  "  National  Anti-Corn-Law 
League" — Mr.  Cobden  joins  it — Mr.  Cobden's  Grandfather — Mr.  Cobden  as  a 
Speaker — Mr.  Villiers. 

To  connect  the  threads  of  the  narrative  it  will  be  necessary  to 
return  to  the  year  1837,  when  Mr.  Bright  took  great  interest  in 
the  subject  of  popular  education,  and  a  meeting1  was  held  in  the 
schoolroom  of  the  Baptist  Chapel,  West-street,  Rochdale,  to 
promote  education  in  connection  with  the  establishment  of  British 
schools.  It  was  while  engaged  with  this  question  about 
that  time  that  Mr.  Bright  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  R. 
Cobden,  whom  he  visited  at  his  warehouse,  in  Mosley-street, 
Manchester,  to  persuade  him  to  address  the  meeting  at 
Rochdale.  Mr.  Cobden's  countenance  lit  up  with  pleasure, 
to  find  that  others  were  working  in  promoting  this  question, 
and  he  consented.  After  speaking  there  he  spent  the  night 
at  Mr.  Jacob  B  right's  house,  "  and  from  that  time  to  Mr. 
Cobden's  death/'  so  spoke  Mr.  J.  Bright  at  a  public  meet- 
ing, "  there  had  never  been  any  cessation,  no  interruption 
whatever,  of  the  friendship  which  existed  between  us."  Up  to 
that  time  they  were  unknown  to  one  another,  but  not  far 
removed,  and  their  "orbits  every  day  approaching  nearer. 
There  was  a  wonderful  likeness  in  unlikeness  between  them. 
Their  opposites  drew  them  at  once  towards  each  other.  In  their 
union  they  constituted  such  gentleness  and  strength,  such 
clearness  and  force,  such  sagacity  and  courage,  such  knowledge 
and  address,  such  purity  and  zeal,  that  they  became  irresistible. 

In  early  times,  England  concurred  with  the  general  system  of 
other  nations  with  respect  to  the  importation  of  grain.  First, 
corn  was  reserved  for  home  use,  then  by  the  34th  Edward  III. 
(1360-61)  export  was  prohibited.  In  the  reign  of  Richard  II. 
(1394)  the  lieges  were  authorised  to  export  grain.  By  the 
fourth  of  Henry  VI.  (1425)  this  act  was  confirmed.  Eleven 
years  afterwards  a  law  limited  the  export,  which  was  renewed  in 
Ml),  11  ml  made  perpetual  in  1444.  Then  came  a  new  light 


70  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1810. 

on  the  Legislature,  and  by  the  3rd  Edward  IV.,  c.  2  (1463), 
the  country  gentlemen  in  the  House  of  Commons  had  a  law 
passed  prohibiting  the  importation  of  grain,  because  "  the 
occupiers  of  farms  within  the  realm  of  England  are  daily 
grievously  endangered  by  bringing  corn  out  of  other  lands,  and 
brought  into  this  realm  of  England  when  corn  of  the  growing 
of  the  realm  is  at  a  low  price."  To  prevent  this,  it  was  enacted 
that  when  a  quarter  of  wheat  did  not  exceed  6s.  8d.,  rye  4s.,  and 
barley  3s.,  no  person  should  import  any  of  these  kinds  of  grain 
upon  pain  of  forfeiture  thereof.  Some  time  after  the  proclamation, 
the  landlords  transferred  their  patronage  from  tillage  to  pasture,  on 
account  of  the  great  demand  for  wool  both  abroad  and  at  home. 
The  pastoral  state  in -its  turn  became  discredited;  thence  the 
5th  and  6th  Edward  VI.  were  passed,  entitled  "An  Act  for 
the  maintenance  and  increase  of  tillage  and  corn;"  and  directing 
that  as  much  land  as  was  under  the  plough  in  a  parish  at  the 
accession  of  Henry  VIII.  should  be  tilled,  and  for  every  acre 
less  the  parish  should  pay  5s.,  yet  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 
was  far  from  being  characterised  by  abundant  food  supplies. 
The  25th  of  that  king  speaks  of  dearths  and  scarcities,  and 
prohibits  exportation  without  license  from  the  king.  In 
Elizabeth's  reign  new  poor  laws  were  enacted,  and  old  laws 
enforcing  tillage  were  re-enacted.  Still  want  of  home-grown 
food  continued,  and  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  the  nation 
was  dependent  upon  foreign  lands  for  their  supply  of  corn. 
After  a  run  of  action  and  reaction,  alternating  between  plenty 
and  want,  'agriculture  resumed  its  parliamentary  despotism. 
The  duties  on  imported  grain  were  raised  in  1670  to  35s.  4d. 
per  quarter,  which  was  virtually  to  prohibit  its  import.  The 
22nd  of  Charles  II.,  c.  15,  advanced  on  this  extravagance. 
Wheat  might  be  imported  subject  to  a.  duty  of  16s.  when  in 
the  home  market  it  did  not  exceed  54s.  3d.,  and  8s.  when  it  ex- 
Deeded  80s.  Three  years  after,  by  the  25th  of  Charles  II.,  c.  1, 
a  bounty  was  granted  on  the  export  of  grain.  William  and  Mary 
enacted  that  a  bounty  of  5s.  was  to  be  paid  on  every  quarter 
exported,  when  the  price  of  the  quarter  of  wheat  in  England  did 
not  exceed  48s.  The  landowner  who  under  the  protection  might 
have  become  dependent  upon  foreign  countries  for  grain,  had,  in 
1791,  a  law  passed  raising  the  price  at  which  importation  might 
take  place  from  48s.  with  6d.  duty,  to  54s.  ;  2s.  6d.  was  tc 
be  charged  on  import  wheat,  when  the  price  of  English  wheat 
was  from  50s.  to  54s.,  and  when  it  was  below  50s.  imported 
wheat  was  to  be  .charged  24s.  3d.  the  quarter.  In  1809  and 
1810  our  imports  of  grain  exceeded  two  millions  of  quarters. 


1815.1  THE   COEN   LAWS.  71 

Prices  ranged  very  high  during  the  whole  of  the  period  of  the 
Peninsular  war,  but  just  at  its  close  there  came  three  good  har- 
vests in  succession,  and  prices  consequently  fell.  This  was 
only  a  pretext  for  a  more  stringent  corn  law,  by  which  the 
ports  were  to  be  once  more  closed  until  wheat  reached  the  price 
of  80s.  per  quarter. 

The  high  prices  of  corn  during  the  war  with  France  had  not 
been  brought  about  by  legislative  interference,  but  by  natural 
causes,  over  which  Parliament  had  no  control.  It  had  been 
a  period  of  great  prosperity  to  landlords,. during  which  farmers 
also  had  made  large  fortunes.  It  was  to  both  a  period  of  un- 
mixed benefit,  and  neither  class  had  the  slightest  ground  or 
pretence  to  ask  of  the  nation  to  perpetuate  such  a  state 
of  things.  They  had  derived  all  the  profits  from  the  high  prices, 
and  when  the  natural  causes  of  the  high  prices  no  longer  existed 
it  was  but  reasonable  and  just  that  high  prices  should  cease. 
The  war  had  left  no  taxes  or  burdens  that  were  not  more  than 
shared  by  the  rest  of  the  community  ;  and  though  some  expenses 
to  farming  had  risen  with  the  high  prices,  yet  most  would 
speedily  have  fallen  and  adjusted  themselves  to  low  prices. 

If  the  system  of  legislative  protection  which  had  been  so 
uniformly  and  unscrupulously  followed  were  a  sound  one, 
the  farmers  ought  to  have  been  the  most  thriving  and  fortu- 
nate of  men,  since  for  centuries  back  their  prosperity  had  been 
professedly  the  especial  care  of  Parliament.  The  agricultural  in- 
terest has  been  the  one  to  which  all  others  have  been  at  nearly 
all  times  unsparingly  sacrificed,  and  if  the  measures  on  behalf 
of  that  interest  had  not  answered,  it  could  only  have  been  either 
because  their  object  was  not  attainable,  or  because  they  were 
unwisely  adapted  to  their  end. 

Mr.  Frederick  Robinson,  on  the  17th  of  February,  1815, 
brought  forward  in  the  House  of  Commons  resolutions  in  favour 
of  prohibiting  the  importation  of  wheat  when  the  price  was 
under  80s.  per  quarter.  People  in  the  metropolis  protested  against 
this  attempt  to  lay  a  heavy  tax  upon  their  food,  and  tumults 
lasted  more  than  a  week,  but  they  were  quelled  by  military 
force.  The  attention  of  the  country  was  diverted  by  Napoleon's 
escape  from  Elba,  and  his  landing  in  France ;  and,  between  the 
time  of  his  landing  and  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  the  Corn  Bill 
was  passed,  the  House  being  surrounded  with  bristling  bayonets. 
The  people  at  this  time  were  poor,  for  they  had  passed  through 
twenty-two  years  of  war,  and  were  loaded  with  an  enormous 
debt.  A  million  and  a  half  of  lives  had  been  sacrificed,  trade 
had  been  deranged,  and  a  large  number  of  merchants  and  manu- 


72  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHX    BRIGHT.  [1833. 

facturers  had  been  ruined.  Misery  rose  out  of  the  obnoxious 
corn  laws,  for  from  them  poverty  flowed,  and  overwhelmed  the 
country ;  its  gaunt  hand  was  stretched  over  the  heads  of  the 
people,  thousands  of  hearts  sank,  and  the  death-rate  from  that 
time  increased  rapidly  : — 

"And  still  the  coffins  came 

With  their  sorrowful  trains  and  slow, 
Coffin  after  coffin  still, 
A  sad  and  sickening  show." 

Sir  William  Curtis  on  the  17th  of  February,  1815,  told  the 
landed  gentry  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  rents  had  in  all 
cases  doubled,  and  in  many  cases  even  trebled  during  the  war  ;  and 
he  saw  no  right  of  taxation  which  could  justify  the  interference 
of  Parliament  as  to  the  importation  of  corn. 

In  only  two  years  since  the  period  of  the  passing  of  the  act 
the  annual  average  of  80s.  a  quarter  had  been  reached,  and  those 
two  years  were  years  of  scarcity.  The  farmers  who  had  con- 
tracted to  pay  rents  which  only  a  uniform  price  of  80s.  would 
enable  them  to  pay,  were,  of  course,  impoverished  or  ruined. 

Mr.  Henry  Hunt,  in  his  address  to  the  electors  of  West- 
minster, in  1818,  said  : — "  I  will  never  rest  for  one  hour  contented 
while  the  starvation  law,  commonly  called  the  Corn  Law,  re- 
mains in  force.  Since  the  Act  was  passed  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands have  died  from  famine  in  a  land  of  plenty.  That  Act  in- 
sures riches  to  the  landowners  and  great  farmers,  aud  leaves  the 
tradesman,  the  journeyman,  the  mechanic,  and  labourer  to  starve. 
It  was  a  law  which  recently  caused  the  ports  to  be  closed,  and 
raised  the  price  of  bread  from  9d.  to  Is.  2d.,  and  this  only  to 
enrich  the  landlords  and  their  tenants.  Some  of  the  members  of 
the  House  of  Commons  were  for  the  Bill  when  it  was  introduced 
and  their  constituents  were  petitioning  against  it.  Such  men 
left  the  poor  to  starve  while  they  filled  their  own  coffers." 

In  1822  this  L;w  had  to  endure  the  test  of  abundance,  and 
therefore  a  cry  of  agricultural  distress  was  raised,  and  the 
Corn  Law  of  1822  was  substituted  for  it.  In  1826,  however,  it 
was  necessary  to  pass  a  temporary  act  for  the  admission  of 
foreign  grain.  In  May  of  the  following  year  all  the  bonded 
corn  was  released  by  Parliament,  and  in  September  of  the 
same  year  (1827)  the  ports  were  opened  for  corn  till  forty  days 
after. 

Earl  Fitzwilliam,  on  the  14th  of  May,  1833,  brought  before 
Parliament  resolutions  for  the  revision  of  the  Corn  Laws,  with 
a  view  to  their  repeal,  but  they  were  negatived  seriatim  without 
a  division.  Mr.  Whitmore  next  introduced  a  motion,  on  the 


x-834.1  THE    CORN    LAWS.  73 

17th  of  the  same  month,  the  object  being  for  an  alteration  in  the 
principle  of  the  law  to  one  of  a  moderate  fixed  duty,  but  it  was 
thrown  out  by  a  majority  of  199.  Mr.  Fryer  in  the  following 
month  tried  to  get  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  alter  the  Corn  Act 
of  1828,  with  a  view  to  admitting  colonial  grain  free  of  duty ; 
but  he  was  also  unfortunate,  for  the  motion  was  negatived  by  72 
to  47,  the  majority  being  25. 

On  the  4th  of  February,  1834,  Lord  Grey's  ministry  an- 
nounced through  Lord  Althorp  that  it  was  not  their  intention  to 
bring  forward  any  measure  for  the  alteration  of  the  law,  nor  to 
support  such  a  measure  if  introduced  by  others.  Mr.  Hume 
next  brought  forward  a 'motion,  on  the  3rd  of  March,  1834,  for 
a  committee  to  consider  the  propriety  of  a  moderate  fixed  duty, 
but  it  was  rejected,  and  the  majority  numbered  157.  At  the 
close  of  1836  there  was  a  commercial  collapse,  arising  out  of  the 
monetary  crisis  in  the  United  States  and  its  action  on  our  com- 
merce, and  this  collapse  was  accompanied  by  a  slightly  deficient 
harvest.  The  foreign  exchange  turned  against  us,  yet  the  cause 
or  causes  were  very  imperfectly  understood.  A  large  exportation 
of  bullion  was  going  on,  and  this  compelled  a  great  contraction 
of  commercial  accommodation,  which  was  aggravated  by  the 
discredit  thrown  on  the  best  houses,  owing  to  the  American 
revolution.  But  men  abused  the  Bank  of  England,  and  forgot 
the  sliding  scale.  They  talked  much  of  currency,  and  said 
little  about  corn,  and  1837  was  struggled  through,  and  trade 
seemed  to  be  recovering,  when  the  deficient  harvest  of  1838 
plunged  the  country  into  deeper  gloom  and  suffering,  and  by 
this  time  thinking  men  were  laying  their  finger  on  the  true 
cause  of  these  disasters. 

On  the  29th  of  January,  1834,  a  meeting  of  merchants  and 
manufacturers  was  held  in  the  Exchange  Committee  room, 
Manchester,  to  consider  the  advisability  of  agitating  for  the 
repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  Messrs.  R.  H.  Greg,  R.  Potter, 
M.P.,  Mark  Phillips,  M.P.,  John  Shuttleworth,  J.  B.  Smith, 
J.  Brotherton,  M.P.,  and  J.  C.  Dyer  addressed  the  meeting, 
but  the  project  fell  through. 

The  persons  who  originated  the  movement  which  gave  rise 
to  the  National  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  founded  in  Manchester 
in  October,  1838,  were  seven  in  number ;  six  Scotch- 
men and  one  Irishman,  namely,  Edward  Baxter,  of  Belfast ; 
W.  A.  Cunningham,  Andrew  Dalziel,  James  Howie,  of 
Edinburgh ;  James  Leslie,  Archibald  Prentice,  and  Philip 
Thomson.  Mr.  William  Rawson  was  the  first  Englishman  that 
joined  the  association,  and  he  acted  as  the  treasurer  of  tin1 


74  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1838. 

Lrngue.  A  grand  impulse  was  given  to  the  movement  when 
Mr.  R.  Cobden  joined  it,  and  the  agitation  was  immediately 
supported  by  the  merchants,  traders,  and  manufacturers  of 
Manchester,  with  a  subscription  of  j63,000,  which  was  after- 
wards increased  to  ,£6,000.  In  October,  1838,  the  provisional 
committee  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  Association  was  formed,  and 
the  first  name  on  the  list  was  Mr.  Elkanah  Armitage,  and  the 
second  Mr.  John  Bright.  Mr.  R.  Cobden's  name  was  afterwards 
added  to  the  committee,  and  his  address  was  given  as  "  Mosley 
Street/'  Manchester. 

Thirty-four  years  before  this  date  Mr.  Cobden  was  born 
at  Dunford,  a  pretty  picturesque  village  on  the  Sussex  Downs, 
about  two  miles  from  Midhurst,  in  a  house  where  his  parents  and 
his  ancestors  had  resided  ever  since  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. 
His  father  was  a  small  farmer,  who  died  when  Richard  Cobden 
was  young,  and  the  youth  received  the  rudiments  of  his  educa- 
tion at  Midhurst  grammar  school,  under  the  mastership  of  Mr. 
Philip  Knight.  Master  Cobden  had  there  the  reputation  of  an 
open-hearted,  unassuming  boy,  steady  and  diligent  at  the  tasks 
set  him,  but  evincing  less  quickness  of  parts  than  his  elder 
brother,  Frederick.  At  twelve  years  of  age  he  was  transferred 
to  Mr.  Clarkson's  seminary  at  Greta,  in  Yorkshire,  where  he 
remained  three  years.  His  favourite  study  was  geography.  At 
sixteen  he  began  his  apprenticeship  to  a  trade,  under  the 
guardianship  of  an  uncle,  who  was  a  London  warehouseman  in 
Watling  Street,  and  during  leisure  he  devoted  his  attention  to 
self-culture.  His  mother  was  a  woman  of  extraordinary  energy, 
and  this  is  the  secret  of  some  of  his  prominent  excellences. 

Many  of  the  old  inhabitants  of  Midhurst  remember  Richard 
Cobden's  grandfather,  who  resided  at  an  old  farmhouse  at  Dun- 
ford,  part  of  which  was  used  as  a  malt-works,  and  he  went  by 
the  name  of  "  Maltster  Cobden/'  He  was  a  substantial  yeoman 
of  the  old  school,  and  for  several  years  filled  the  office  of  chief 
bailiff  of  the  borough  of  Midhurst.  Some  of  the  villagers  also 
used  to  speak  with  delight  of  the  excellent  quality  of  the  beer 
he  brewed,  and  that  he  had  a  goat  that  "  butted "  the  boys 
who  attempted  to  enter  the  malt-house  and  who  had  no  business 
there ;  that  this  goat  used  to  go  on  to  the  heath  at  a  certain  hour 
every  evening,  to  bring  home  Master  Cobden's  four  cows  to 
milk,  which  it  would  select  out  of  a  large  number  of  others,  and 
take  them  back  again ;  that  there  was  a  lane  that  went  by  the 
name  of  "  Cobden  Lane/'  but  after  it  was  enlarged  it  was  called 
"Petersfield  Road."  No  neighbourhood  had  witnessed  more 
havoc  amongst  small  farmers  than  the  neighbourhood  of  Mid- 


1815.  ME.    COBDEN.  76 

Imrst,  and  Mr.  R.  Cobden's  father's  house  at  one  time  was 
tenanted  by  labourers. 

The  agricultural  labourers  in  this  district  up  to  the  year 
1845  were  poor,  their  average  wages  being  eight  shillings  a 
week ;  and  Mr.  R.  Cobden  years  after  at  a  public  meeting  at 
Hereford  said,  "  I  plainly  and  frankly  avow  to  you  that  if  I  had 
not  left  my  father's  farm,  and  gone  first  to  London,  thence  to 
Lancashire,  I  should  have  been  a  very  poor  man  indeed.  If  I  had 
remained  on  my  father's  land  in  Sussex,  I  should  most  likely 
have  been  very  poorly  off,  for  I  find  a  good  many  of  them  that 
were  my  playfellows  have  sunk  down  to  the  rank  of  labourers, 
and  some  are  even  working  on  the  roads,  breaking  stones." 
Mr.  Cobden  expressed  in  prose  what  the  poet  Gray  worked  out 
so  pathetically  in  rhyme  in  his  Elegy,  showing  how  lamentably 
the  education  of  the  poor  was  neglected,  and  how  difficult  it  was 
for  even  a  man  of  genius  to  develop  his  latent  faculties  whilst 
ground  down  by  poverty.  These  obstacles  have  kept  many  a 
man  formed  to  be  a  light  to  the  world  in  poverty  and  darkness 
to  the  end  of  his  days,  and  thus  he  has  "died  and  made  no  sign/' 

A  few  years  ago  Mr.  John  Bright  thus  described  how  Mr. 
R.  Cobden  left  London  for  Lancashire  : — 

"From  Watling  Street,  by  ail  accident,  it  became  his  duty  to  come  down  to  the 
North  of  England  as  the  agent  of  the  house  of  business  in  which  he  was  engaged  ; 
and  in  the  North  of  England  his  observant  and  intelligent  eye  discovered  very  soon 
that  in  Yorkshire  or  Lancashire — but  especially  in  Yorkshire,  with  which  he  became 
more  familiar — there  was  a  field  where  certain  qualities  which  he  felt  he  possessed 
would  enable  him  to  make  his  way  and  to  prosper  in  life.  He  settled  in  Manchester, 
I  believe,  when  he  was  only  twenty-six  years  of  age,  about  the  year  1830,  as  a 
calico  printer.  He  had  an  excellent  taste  in  design  and  in  colour.  He  had,  too,  the 
qualities  of  a  good  man  of  business — industry,  intelligence,  sagacity,  probity  of 
the  highest  kind ;  therefore  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  his  success  was 
great,  and  that  it  was  rapid.  But  then  he  had  a  mind  that  was  expansive  and 
sympathetic,  and  he  could  not  be  content  with  his  ledgers,  and  his  business,  and 
his  profits,  but  his  heart  went  out  at  once  to  the  great  population  amongst  whom  he 
lived  (hear,  hear),  and  he  looked  around  him  and  saw  their  condition  and  their 
wants,  and  the  first  great  question,  the  first  great  public  question,  to  which  he 
turned  his  mind,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  gather,  was  the  question  of  public  and 
national  education  (hear,  hear) ;  and  I  know  that  the  first  time  I  became  acquainted 
with  him  was  in  connection  with  that  question.  But  he  not  only  had  this  sympathy 
with  regard  to  what  he  deemed  necessary  for  the  instruction  of  the  people,  but  lie 
found  that  their  interests  were  greatly  affected  by  what  he  thought  an  unwise 
foreign  policy  on  the  part  of  his  Government  and  his  country,  and  so  early  as  the 
5  3ar  1834  or  1835  he  published  a  pamphlet  under  the  title  of  '  England,  Ireland, 
and  America, '  a  pamphlet,  I  venture  to  say,  of  a  sagacity  and  a  foresight  such  as 
probably  has  never  been  excelled  by  any  writer  of  politics  in  modern  times.  In 
this  pamphlet  he  dwelt  at  considerable  length  with  the  question  of  Russia  and  the 
question  of  Turkey,  because  at  that  time  great  efforts  were  being  made  by  some 
persons  to  create  and  to  excite  jealousy  on  the  part  of  England  against  the  Empire 
of  Russia  and  the  Russian  Government — efforts  which  have  not  ceased  even  to  the 
day  on  which  I  am  now  speaking  (hear,  hear).  I  said  that  the  first  time  I  became 
acquainted  with  him  was  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  education.  I  went  over  ' 
to  Manchester  to  call  upon  him  and  ask  him  if  he  would  be  kind  enough  to  come 
over  to  Rochdale  and  speak  at  an  education  meeting  which  was  about  to  be  held  in 
the  schoolroom  of  the  Baptist  Chapel  in  West  Street  of  that  town.  I  found  him  in 


76  LITE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1838. 

his  office  in  Mosley  Street,  aud  introduced  myself  to  him,  and  told  him  what  I 
wanted.  His  countenance  lit  up  with  pleasure  to  find  that  there  were  others  that 
were  working  in  this  question,  and  without  hesitation  he  agreed  to  come.  He  came 
and  he  spoke,  and  though  he  was  then  so  young  as  a  speaker,  yet  the  qualities  of 
his  speech  were  such  as  remained  with  him  so  long  as  he  was  able  to  speak  at  all — 
clearness,  logic,  a  conversational  eloquence,  a  persuasiveness  which,  when  conjoined 
with,  the  absolute  truth  that  there  was  in  his  eye  and  in  his  countenance,  it  was 
impossible  to  resist  (hear,  hear,  and  cheers).  After  this  there  came  up  the  question 
of  the  Corn  Laws,  for  the  skies  had  lowered  and  the  harvests  were  bad,  and  in  the 
year  1 838  there  was  a  considerable  movement  in  Manchester,  partly  by  some  private 
individuals  and  partly,  and  most  importantly,  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce ;  an 
Anti-Corn-Law  Association  was  formed,  which  ultimately  and  Boon  became  the 
now  famous  Anti-Coru-Law  League  (cheers)." 

In  the  fluctuations  of  trade  his  uncle  proved  unfortunate,  and 
Richard  Cobden  had  the  gratification  of  contributing  to  the  old 
merchant's  comfort  in  his  declining  years. 

The  League  engaged  a  room  in  the  upper  floor  of  NewalPs 
Buildings,  Market  Street,  Manchester,  to  carry  on  their  business. 
The  committee  sat  in  this  room,  which  was  divided  into  two  by 
a  red  curtain  drawn  across  it,  and  Mr.  Cobden  in  after- years  said 
that  the  dingy  red  curtain  was  drawn  across  so  that  they  might 
not  be  cast  down  by  the  paucity  of  their  numbers.  On  one  occa- 
sion during  the  agitation  he  remarked  to  Mr.  Prentice,  "  What  a 
lucky  thing  it  is  the  monopolists  cannot  draw  aside  the  curtain, 
and  see  how  many  of  us  there  are ;  for,  if  they  could,  they  would 
not  be  much  frightened/'  Although  the  public  meetings  were 
well  attended,  the  small  numbers  at  the  League's  room  were 
rather  of  frequent  occurrence  at  first,  and  it  was  feared  that  the 
fact  might  become  known  to  the  Government,  and  produce  a 
damaging  effect.  When  the  agitation  became  more  formidable, 
Government  spies  were  often  on  the  alert  about  the  building, 
but  the  Leaguers  were  shrewd,  and  did  not  communicate  more 
than  they  wished  to  be  known. 

Mr.  Cobden  in  his  first  attempt  at  public  speaking  was  more 
unfortunate  than  Mr.  Bright.  His  first  speech  he  delivered  at 
a  meeting  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Prentice,  at  the  Cotton 
Tree  Tavern  in  Ancoats,  Manchester,  in  furtherance  of  the 
scheme  for  the  incorporation  of  Manchester.  The  young  manu- 
facturer was  introduced  to  the  audience  by  Mr.  Prentice  as  the 
author  of  "  Some  able  letters  signed  '  Libra '  which  had  appeared 
in  the  Manchester  Times."  His  speech,  however,  in  spite  of  the 
flattering  reception  he  received,  or  perhaps  because  of  it,  was  a 
complete  failure.  He  was  nervous,  confused,  incoherent,  and 
in  fact  practically,  broke  down.  Undeterred  by  so  great  an 
oratorical  failure,  Cobden  again  and  again,  with  varying  success, 
attempted  to  gain  by  practice  the  art  of  public  speaking.  Gradu- 
nlly,  as  he  acquired  confidence  and  became  more  conscious  of  hi? 


1838.]  MR.    VILLIEKS.  77 

own  power,  the  nervous  hesitation  which  at  first  embarrassed  him 
partly  disappeared,  and  although  he  never  became  an  orator  of 
the  very  highest  class,  like  Bright,  he  acquired  at  last  a  consum- 
mate mastery  of  easy,  clear,  and  persuasive  argument. 

On  the  15th  of  March,  1838,  Mr.  Villiers  introduced  a 
motion  into  the  House  of  Commons,  for  a  committee  to  consider 
the  operation  of  the  Corn  Act  of  1828,  but  it  was  rejected,  and 
the  majority  numbered  205. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE   CAMPAIGN  AGAINST   THE   CORN  LAWS    BEGINS. 

Discontent  among  the  Labouring  Classes — The  Chartists— Great  Anti-Corn-Law 
Meeting  at  Rochdale — Price  of  Corn  at  Foreign  Ports — Increased  Distress 
amongst  the  Agricultural  Labourers — Mr.  Bright  devotes  himself  more  and  more 
to  Politics — Lectures  on  the  Corn  Laws — Helen  Priestmaii — More  Meetings. 

THE  state  of  the  country  from  the  year  1836  to  1840  was 
deplorable.  During  these  years  there  was  a  succession  of  bad 
harvests,  which  had  caused  provisions  to  rise  to  an  alarming 
pitch,  whilst  a  general  stagnation  of  trade  had  lowered  the  scale 
of  wages,  and  made  them  altogether  inadequate  to  meet  these 
high  prices.  Then  followed  pauperism  and  misery  throughout 
the  kingdom  to  an  extent  never  before  witnessed.  This  state  of 
things  inevitably  gave  rise  to  the  greatest  discontent  and  mur- 
muring among  the  labouring  classes.  The  Chartists  now  became 
popular,  and  the  results  of  their  harangues  were  shown  in  the 
insurrections  and  mob-risings  throughout  the  country.  The 
feeling  of  discontent  manifested  itself  also  in  strikes,  and  although 
the  outbreaks  were  vigorously  quelled  in  the  large  towns,  the  ill- 
feeling  still  smouldered  for  years,  and  broke  out  in  various  ways 
in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  Yet  the  Ministry  all  this 
time  made  no  attempt  to  trace  out  the  real  cause  of  distress  and 
discontent.  "  Food  in  a  house/'  Cobbett  contended,  "  was  a 
great  source  of  harmony."  The  same  theory,  but  on  a  more 
extended  scale,  might  be  applied  to  a  country,  and  would  show 
that  free  trade  was  more  than  a  national  blessing,  for  trade  has 
ever  been  the  pioneer  of  civilisation,  and  has  with  its  white  sails 
knitted  nation  to  nation  with  solid  interest  in  its  progress  through 
the  world. 

On  the  2nd  of  February,  1839,  an  open  air  Anti-Corn-Law 
meeting  was  held  in  The  Butts,  Rochdale.  The  promoters  were 
perched  on  a  waggon,  and  some  oppositionists  brought  another 
waggon  alongside  to  serve  as  a  platform.  There  were  present  at 
least  3,000  persons,  chiefly  of  the  working  class.  Mr.  Samuel 
Taylor  moved  that  Mr.  George  Ashworth  should  preside.  Mr. 
James  Taylor,  of  Spotland  Bridge,  moved  an  amendment  that 
Mr.  Job  Plant  should  take  the  chair,  and  the  amendment  was 
carried  by  a  large  majority.  Mr.  Plant  contended  that  the  total 


1839.1     THE    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    THE    COEN    LAWS    BEGINS.          79 

repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  would  not  at  that  time  benefit  the 
working  class  at  all,  and  advocated  the  cause  of  the  Chartists. 
Mr.  John  Bright  moved  the  first  resolution  : — "  That  it  is  the 
opinion  of  this  meeting  that  the  Corn  Laws  have  had  the  effect 
of  crippling  the  commerce  of  the  manufactures  of  the  country — 
have  raised  up  rival  manufactories  in  foreign  countries — have  been 
most  injurious  and  oppressive  in  their  operation  with  the  great 
bulk  of  our  population,  and  that  the  working  classes  have  been 
grievously  injured  by  this  monopoly  of  the  landed  proprietors." 
Mr.  Bright  argued  that  it  was  not  a  party  question,  because  men 
of  all  parties — men  who  wanted  ultra-despotism,  men  who 
wanted  ultra-radicalism — were  united  upon  it.  It  was  not  a 
party  question,  but  a  pantry  question,  a  knife-and-fork  question, 
a  question  between  the  working  millions  and  the  aristocracy. 
Mr.  Poulett  Thompson  had  truly  said  that  for  the  last  two 
years  the  manufacturers  had  been  living  on  their  hereditary 
revenues,  and  no  man  of  common  sense  would  now  enter  into  the 
trade.  Before  the  American  tariff  was  laid  on,  one-fifth  of  the 
flannel  manufactured  in  Rochdale  went  to  America,  but  since 
that  tariff  was  imposed,  which  was  in  consequence  of  the  Com 
Laws,  there  had  not  been  as  many  pieces  sent  there  as  there  had 
been  bales  before.  The  same  parties  who  had  passed  the  Corn 
Laws  had  passed  the  new  Poor  Law.  They  had  also  a  large 
standing  army,  and  now  it  was  proposed  to  have  a  new  rural  police. 
The  chairman  interrupted  Mr.  Bright  by  saying  that  he  was  out 
of  order,  but  a  host  of  persons  shouted  that  he  was  speaking  to 
the  point,  and  he  was  permitted  to  proceed.  Mr.  Bright  con- 
tended, at  some  length,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Government 
to  protect  the  rights  of  industry,  and  that  it  was  the  interest  of 
the  working  classes  to  assist  in  calling  for  the  repeal  of  the  Corn 
Laws.  Mr.  Samuel  Taylor  seconded  the  motion.  Mr.  James 
Taylor,  a  member  of  the  "  National  Convention/'  moved  an 
amendment : — "  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  meeting,  that 
though  the  Corn  Law  is  an  injurious  tax,  yet  the  present  House 
of  Commons,  or  any  other  House  of  Commons  constituted  on  the 
present  suffrage,  will  never  repeal  that  law  so  as  to  be  beneficial 
to  the  working  classes,  and  this  meeting  is  of  opinion  that  the 
present  Cora  Law  agitation  is  made  up  for  the  purpose  of 
diverting  the  minds -of  the  people  from  the  only  remedy  for  all 
political  grievances ;  therefore  it  is  necessary  that  the  people 
must  first  be  in  possession  of  their  political  rights  to  effect  the 
repeal  of  these  Corn  Laws,  and  this  meeting  therefore  thinks 
it  useless  to  petition  the  House  of  Commons  on  this  subject 
while  it  remains  constituted  as  at  present."  Mr.  William  Clark 


80  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1839. 

seconded  the  amendment,  which  was  carried  by  a  large  majority. 
Three  cheers  were  then  given  for  the  Chartists  of  Birmingham, 
three  cheers  for  the  "  National  Convention,"  three  groans  for  the 
"  House  of  Ill-fame  "  and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Man- 
chester, three  cheers  for  Stephens  and  O'Connor,  and  the  meeting 
broke  up  : — 

"  Sometimes  the  crowd  a  proper  judgment  makes, 
But  oft  they  labour  under  gross  mistakes."    • 

The  multitude,  like  the  ocean,  is  very  seldom  agitated  with- 
out some  definite  cause ;  both  are  capable  of  doing  the  greatest 
mischief  or  the  greatest  benefit,  after  the  cause  which  first  set 
them  in  motion  has  ceased  to  act.  Such  was  the  case  in  the  agita- 
tion that  was  springing  up  at  this  time,  and  what  was  wanted 
was  a  master  mind  to  guide  the  force  in  a  right  groove.  It  is  re- 
markable how,  in  the  history  of  men  whose  lives  are  designed  to 
exercise  a  great  quickening  influence  on  society,  the  way  is 
gradually  opened  out  which  leads  to  the  ordained  result.  They 
do  not  for  themselves  select  the  high  places  in  the  field,  but  are 
summoned  to  them  by  voices  which  they  dare  not  disobey.  Their 
call  to  the  noblest  forms  of  work  comes  out  of  their  diligent 
attention  to  the  duty  lying  nearest  to  their  hand. 

"  Chance  will  not  do  the  work ;  chance  sends  the  breeze, 
But  if  the  pilot  slumbers  at  the  helm, 
The  very  wind  that  wafts  us  towards  the  port 
May  dash  us  on  the  shelves ;  the  steersman's  part 
Is  vigilance,  blow  it  rough  or  smooth." 

Mr.  Bright  had  a  very  retentive  memory,  and  seldom  forgot 
what  he  read.  A  knowledge  of  the  past  as  well  as  of  the  present 
he  felt  to  be  necessary  to  enable  him  to  form  a  correct  judgment, 
to  speak  more  accurately,  to  cast  aside  all  that  was  worth- 
less, and  to  preserve  only  what  was  valuable.  He  also  studied 
history,  so  that  he  might  be  familiar  with  the  causes  of  the  rise, 
the  progress,  and  the  decline  of  nations,  the  virtues  by  which 
they  have  flourished,  the  vices  by  which  they  have  fallen,  the 
spirit  by  which  revolutions  are  brought  about,  and  the  march  of 
human  events  in  which  what  has  been  is  perpetually  recurring. 
In  this  way  he  was  enabled  to  form  the  lessons  by  which  alone 
a  knowledge  of  the  science  of  politics  can  be  attained.  It  is 
only  before  the  mind  becomes  set  in  its  own  opinions  or  the 
dogmas  of  others,  that  it  can  have  vigour  or  elasticity  to  throw 
off  the  load  of  prejudice  and  seize  new  and  extensive  combi- 
nations of  things.  In  exploring  unknown  tracts  of  speculation 
the  mind  strikes  out  true  and  original  views,  and  at  first,  like  a 
drop  of  water,  hesitales  what  direction  it  shall  take,  but  after- 


1880.]    THE    CAMPAIGN   AGAINST   THE   COEN   LAWS   BEGINS.         81 

wards  follows  its  own  course.  The  very  oscillation  of  the  mind 
in  its  first  search  after  truth  brings  together  extreme  arguments 
and  illustrations  that  would  never  occur  in  a  more  settled  and 
methodised  state  of  opinion,  and  felicitous  suggestions  turn  up, 
which  we  can  have  no  hope  of  understanding  when  we  have  once 
made  up  our  minds  to  a  conclusion,  and  only  go  over  the 
previous  steps  that  led  to  it. 

He  frnind  at  that  time  that  corn  was  offered  at  every  foreign 
port  for  half  the  price  charged  in  England,  that  it  was  re- 
jected in  consequence  of  our  Corn  Laws,  and  that  the  distress 
was  the  work  of  the  rich.  He  was  enabled  to  form  the  opinion 
that  the  overstocked  condition  of  our  markets  was  caused  by 
the  obnoxious  laws,  that  the  wealthy  classes  on  the  Continent 
could  not  purchase  English  merchandise  because  the  English  did 
not  buy  their  corn,  and  that  the  continental  manufacturers  were 
more  prosperous  owing  to  provisions  being  cheaper  on  the  Conti- 
nent, and  consequently  the  expenses  of  labour  less.  At  the 
same  time  he  knew  that  the  work  of  abolishing  the  Corn  Laws 
would  be  severe,  as  the  Parliament  was  composed  of  landowners, 
who  were  at  once  judges  and  parties  in  the  cause. 

The  long  winter  of  1838-9  increased  the  distress,  especially 
amongst  the  agricultural  labourers,  as  their  scanty  wages  scarcely 
left  them  anything  for  fuel,  and  afforded  nothing  for  clothing. 
The  peasantry  of  the  south  of  England  were  reduced  almost  to 
the  level  of  Polish  serfs.  Their  chief  food  was  black  bread, 
made  of  a  mixture  of  barley-meal  and  potatoes.  Their  wages 
averaged  seven  shillings  per  week,  and  out  of  that  sum  they  had 
to  pay  about  one  shilling  and  fourpence  for  rent ;  and  some 
families  numbered  six.  Their  pale  and  sunken  faces  too  plainly 
denoted  the  emaciated  condition  they  were  in. 

The  campaign  against  the  Corn  Laws  opened  under  the  most 
formidable  difficulties,  and  the  story  of  its  prosecution  is  full  of 
interest,  for  it  showed  how  truth,  with  steady  pace,  can  make 
headway  against  the  opposing  prejudices  and  passions  of  man- 
kind— how  strong  it  is,  not  only  to  conquer  its  enemies,  but  to 
convert  them  into  allies — how  resolute  it  is  in  struggle,  and  how 
beneficent  in  victory.  Our  narrative  will  thus  be  deeper  in 
interest  than  the  most  brilliant  history  of  wars  that  have 
arrested  the  progress  of  nations  and  devastated  the  world. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Paulton,  an  active  member  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League,  visited  Rochdale  on  the  18th  of  May,  1839,  and  deli- 
vered a  lecture  on  the  Corn  Laws,  in  the  Theatre  in  Toad  Lane. 
Two  days  after  he  gave  a  second  lecture  on  the  same  subject. 
Mr.  John  Bright  on  the  termination  of  these  lectures  proposed  a 


82  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Paulton.  A  friendly  discussion  followed 
between  Mr.  Bright  and  a  number  of  Chartists,  and  he  urged 
upon  them  the  necessity  of  familiarising  themselves  as  to  the 
way  in  which  commercial  restrictions  or  monopolies  affected 
their  social  happiness  and  domestic  comfort. 

The  first  time  Mr.  Bright  spoke  at  a  public  meeting  in  neigh- 
bouring towns  was  at  Bolton,  in  the  Assembly  Room,  Oxford 
Street,  on  the  6th  of  November,  1839,  when  a  dinner  was  given 
to  Mr.  A.  W.  Paulton, — who  had  been  lecturing  for  the  League 
twelve  months, — as  a  mark  of  respect  for  his  exertions  in  ad- 
vocating the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  About  120  gentlemen  were 
present  on  the  memorable  occasion,  and  amongst  the  number 
were  Messrs.  R.  Cobden,  J.  Brotherton,  M.P.  for  Salford,  P. 
Ainsworth,  M.P.  for  Bolton,  C.  J.  Darbishire,  the  Mayor  of 
Bolton,  who  occupied  the  chair,  J.  Thomasson,  H.  Ashworth, 
E.  Ashworth,  and  Alderman  Callender  of  Manchester.  Mr. 
Bright  responded  on  behalf  of  the  strangers,  and  Mr.  Prentice, 
in  his  History  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  alluding  to  this 
meeting  and  to  Mr.  Bright,  states  that  he  gave  "  evidence  of  his 
grasp  of  the  subject,  of  his  capacity  soon  to  take  a  leading  part 
in  the  great  agitation." 

On  the  18th  and  19th  of  December,  1839,  Mr.  Bright  presided 
over  meetings  held  in  the  Theatre,  Toad  Lane,  of  his  native 
town,  which  were  addressed  by  Mr.  Smith.  On  both  evenings 
questions  were  put  by  working  men,  that  indicated  an  amount 
of  careful  consideration  of  the  subject. 

During  one  of  Mr.  John  Bright's  visits  to  a  general  meeting 
at  Ack worth  School,  accompanied  by  one  of  his  sisters,  he 
noticed  in  the  gathering  a  young  lady  of  superior  appear- 
ance and  manners,  with  "  sweet  attractive  grace/'  While 
walking  in  the  grounds  he  prevailed  upon  his  sister  to  bring 
about  an  introduction.  She  did  so,  and  the  intimacy  thus  com- 
menced ended  in  a  marriage  in  November,  1839.  She  was  the 
eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  Jonathan  Priestman,  of  Newcastle-upon  • 
Tyne,  and  was  refined,  natural,  lady-like,  yet  meek  and  sensible, 
and  interesting  in  her  conversation.  She  was  beloved  in  a  re- 
markable degree  both  by  her  own  and  her  husband's  family, 
being  not  only  lovely  in  person,  but  possessed  of  a  character  of 
singular  sweetness  and  purity.  Old  people  in  her  father's  em- 
ployment remembered  her  to  the  end  of  their  lives  with  a 
curiously  vivid  interest  and  attachment,  and  in  her  new  home  at 
"One  Ash"  she  made  friends  with  all.  Her  ancestors  were 
"  Friends/'  upright  and  generous  people.  Her  mother,  grand- 
mother, and  great-grandmother,  were  faithful  ministers  in  that 


1840.]          CONOR  ATTTLATOKY    ADDRESS    TO    HER    MAJESTY.  83 

Society,  and  people  of  strong  character.  On  the  10th  of 
October,  1840,  at  "One  Ash,"  she  gave  birth  to  a  daughter, 
who  was  named  Helen  Priestman.  She  became  an  accomplished 
young  lady,  and  for  many  years  assisted  her  father  as  his 
amanuensis. 

On  the  29th  of  January,  1840,  a  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Commissioners'  Rooms,  Smith  Street,  Rochdale,  for  the  purpose 
of  forming  a  branch  of  the  Anti-Corn  Law  League.  Mr.  James 
Gibson  presided.  Mr.  John  Bright  explained  the  objects  of  the 
League,  and  read  some  resolutions  which  had  been  adopted  at  a 
preliminary  meeting,  held  at  Tweedale's  Hotel,  Baillie  Street,  on 
the  previous  Saturday.  A  committee  was  formed,  with  Mr. 
John  Petrie,  senior,  as  chairman,  Mr.  John  Bright  treasurer,  and 
Mr.  Thomas  Stephens  secretary.  The  majority  of  those  present 
became  members,  and  a  few  weeks  after  a  petition  against  the 
Corn  Laws  was  got  up  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Bright, 
and  was  sent  to  the  House  of  Commons.  It  had  9,700  signa- 
tures, and  measured  170  feet  in  length.  In  the  same  month 
Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  a  meeting  of  the  League,  held  in 
their  extensive  pavilion,  which  was  temporarily  erected  on  the 
site  of  the  "  Peterloo  Massacre/'  Manchester.  He  was  one  of 
the  delegates  from  Rochdale,  and  sat  in  .the  body  of  the  assem- 
blage as  a  listener,  and  not  as  a  speaker,  as  his  fame  had  not  yet 
spread  much  abroad,  and  he  was  of  a  retiring  disposition. 

On  the  17th  of  March,  1840,  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Com- 
missioners' Rooms,  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  for  the 
purpose  of  adopting  a  congratulatory  address  to  Her  Majesty 
respecting  her  marriage.  The  room  was  crowded.  Mr.  C. 
Royds,  a  Rochdale  banker,  called  upon  Mr.  Molesworth  to  take 
the  chair.  Mr.  John  Bright  objected  to  any  gentleman  pre- 
siding without  first  receiving  the  sanction  of  the  meeting.  Mr. 
Royds  replied  that  the  gentleman  who  had  called  the  meeting  had 
deoilod  that  Dr.  Molesworth  should  occupy  the  chair.  Mr.  John 
Bright  remarked  that  he  should  move  an  amendment,  and  give 
those  persons  assembled  an  opportunity  of  making  a  choice  more 
agreeable  to  their  feelings.  He  considered  that  every  meeting 
liad  a  right  of  electing  its  own  chairman,  and  he  for  one  should 
not  give  up  his  right.  Dr.  Molesworth  contended  that  he  had 
a  legal  right  to  take  the  chair,  agreeably  to  the  wishes  of  the 
gentleman  calling  the  meeting.  Mr.  Bright  replied  that  if  that 
meeting  had  been  a  vestry  meeting  he  would  be  legally  entitled  to 
that  post,  according  to  the  decision  given  by  the  Court  of 
Queen's  Bench,  but  he  erred  if  he  fancied  that  he  could  claim  it 
as  a  right  at  other  meetings.  Mr.  John  Roby,  excited,  said, 
G  2 


84  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

"  How  dare  you  speak  to  your  elders  ? "  Mr.  John  Bright, 
smiling,  coolly  retorted  that  there  were  only  two  gentlemen 
present  who  ought  not  to  preside  on  that  occasion.  One 
was  a  person  who  had  made  himself  notorious  from  home 
by  the  violent  speech  he  had  made  against  the  lady  they  were 
about  to  congratulate,  but  they  all  knew  in  Rochdale  that  he  was 
no  prophet.  A  confused  scene  ensued.  Dr.  Molesworth,  Mr. 
C.  Royds,  and  a  number  of  other  gentlemen  were  endeavouring 
to  speak  at  the  same  time.  Mr.  Thomas  Dearden,  the  coroner, 
broke  the  top  of  his  walking-stick  by  striking  it  on  the  table  in 
trying  to  restore  order.  When  silence  was  obtained,  Mr.  Bright 
continued  to  say  that  he  had  no  objection  against  Dr.  Molesworth 
for  anything  that  had  taken  place  since  he  came  to  reside 
in  Rochdale,  but  (pulling  the  Times  newspaper  from  his  pocket) 
he  had  some  of  his  sayings  and  doings  at  Canterbury.  (Uproar.) 
Dr.  Molesworth  remarked  that  his  conduct  at  the  dinner  referred 
to  had  been  brought  before  the  public  by  the  newspapers,  and  he 
had  given  his  reasons  for  the  part  he  had  taken  upon  that 
occasion.  Whenever  Mr.  Bright  began  to  refer  to  the  dinner  at 
Canterbury  an  uproar  was  raised,  and  cries  of  "  Turn  him  out ; " 
and  at  last  Dr.  Molesworth,  after  conferring  with  his  friends, 
said,  amid  much  laughter,  "  I  dissolve  this  meeting,"  and  Dr. 
Molesworth  and  his  party  began  to  leave.  Mr.  Thomas  Livsey 
cried  out,  "  Let  that  faction  leave  the  room,  and  the  loyal  and 
well-disposed,  who  have  never  sullied  their  character  by  calum- 
niating the  Queen,  remain."  (Applause.)  Mr.  W.  W.  Barton 
was  then  called  to  the  chair,  and  it  was  decided  to  adjourn  the 
meeting  until  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  to  give  the  working 
class  an  opportunity  of  attending.  One  hour  had  been  spent  in 
deciding  as  to  who  should  occupy  the  chair.  About  four-fifths 
of  those  present  were  Reformers,  and  they  were  determined  to 
resent  what  they  considered  an  insult  offered  to  the  Queen  by 
Mr.  Roby  at  a  dinner  at  Ashton,  and  by  Dr.  Molesworth  at 
Canterbury.  Dr.  Molesworth  and  his  friends,  after  leaving  the 
Commissioners'  Rooms,  made  their  way  to  the  Town  Hall  news- 
room, belonging  to  the  Market  Company,  in  Lord  Street,  and 
held  a  meeting  there.  They  adopted  the  address  to  Her  Majesty 
which  should  have  been  proposed  at  the  first  meeting,  and  left 
it  there  to  receive  signatures.  At  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening 
an  open-air  meeting  was  held  on  a  vacant  plot  of  ground  off 
Smith  Street,  and  about  1,500  persons  were  present.  Mr.  John 
Bright  was  voted  into  the  chair.  Mr.  John  Petrie,  sen.,  one 
of  the  gentlemen  who  had  signed  the  requisition  calling  the 
meeting,  moved  the  address  to  the  young  Queen,  which  was 


1840.]  DISLOYAL    TOBIES.  86 

seconded  by  the  Rev.  A.  Mackay,  and  carried  unanimously,  and 
three  hearty  cheers  were  given  for  the  Queen;  for  men  were 
then' in  love  with  monarchy. 

It  may  be  as  well  to  explain  that  on  the  30th  of  October, 
1 839,  a  Tory  banquet  was  held  at  Canterbury,  and  Mr.  Bradshaw, 
M.P.  for  Canterbury,  made  a  violent  harangue  a  gainst  the  Prime 
Minister  and  the  Queen,  saying  that  Her  Majesty  was  only 
queen  of  a  faction.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Molesworth  was  present  at 
the  banquet  and  proposed  the  health  of  Mr.  Bradshaw  in  com- 
plimentary terms,  and  it  was  this  that  gave  offence.  In  January, 
]  840,  a  hostile  correspondence  took  place  between  Mr.  Bradshaw 
and  Mr.  Horsman,  M.P.  for  Cockermouth,  arising  out  of  a 
statement  made  by  the  latter  to  his  constituents  that  the  former 
"  had  the  tongue  of  a  traitor,  but  lacked  the  courage  to  become 
a  rebel,"  and  further  charged  him  with  insulting  his  Sovereign. 
A  "meeting"  was  therefore  arranged,  and  shots  were  inter- 
changed without  effect.  Mr.  Bradshaw  thereafter  caused  his 
second  to  express  regret  for  the  language  made  use  of,  which  he 
felt  on  reflection  was  unjust  to  Her  Majesty. 

Mr.  Roby,  at  a  Conservative  dinner  at  Ashton-under-Lyne, 
used  expressions  regarding  the  Queen  and  Ministry  which  com- 
pelled the  Commander-in-Chief  to  bring  it  under  the  notice  of  cer- 
tain officers  who  were  present,  reminding-  them  that,  as  military 
servants,  they  were  bound  to  confine  themselves  to  their  military 
duties,  and  when  they  thus  ventured  to  connect  themselves  with 
any  party  association,  they  incurred  serious  responsibility  and 
exposed  themselves  to  the  heaviest  blame. 

On  the  19th  of  March,  1840,  a  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Commissioners'  Rooms,  Rochdale,  to  appoint  delegates  to  a 
meeting  in  London,  with  reference  to  the  Corn  Laws.  Mr. 
John  Petrie,  sen.,  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  Bright  congratu- 
lated those  present  on  the  unanimity  that  prevailed  in  the 
town  and  neighbourhood,  in  opposition  to  the  Corn  Laws,  and 
concluded  by  proposing  that  Messrs.  George  Ash  worth,  Joseph 
Fenton,  and  John  Fenton.  should  be  the  deputation  from  Roch- 
dale to  London  on  the  24th  of  the  same  month.  At  this 
time  many  of  the  woollen  mills  were  working  only  three  or  four 
clays  a  week,  others  were  at  a  standstill,  and  the  distress  amongst 
the  weavers  was  appalling. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

OPPOSITION  TO  CHURCH  BATES. 

An  amicable  Attempt  to  settle  the  Church.  Bate  Dispute — Struggle  between  Church- 
men and  Dissenters — Blight's  famous  Tombstone  Speech — Seizing  a  Dying 
Man's  Bible  for  the  Bate — Bright  and  the  Clergy — -The  Besult  of  the  Contest — 
An  Attempt  to  recover  the  Bate,  and  how  it  was  Finally  Abolished — Contrast 
between  the  Past  and  the  Present. 

MR.  JOHN  BEIGHT  is  next  found  opposing  the  Church  Rates 
in  Rochdale.  The  contest  was  of  a  most  extraordinary  character, 
and  surpassed  the  struggles  that  have  taken  place  on  the  same 
subject  in  any  other  town.  On  Friday,  the  10th  of  July,  1840, 
a  meeting  of  ratepayers  was  held  to  consider  the  propriety  of 
making  a  Church  Rate  for  that  year.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Moles- 
worth  presided,  and  gave  his  reasons  why  he  could  not  agree 
to  a  voluntary  rate,  which  had  been  proposed  to  him  by  Mr. 
James  Little  wood  and  Mr.  John  Petrie.  These  two  gentlemen, 
on  behalf  of  the  Anti-Church  Rate  party,  intimated  to  the 
Doctor  that  they  would  consent  to  the  laying  of  the  rate  pro- 
vided it  was  understood  that  the  term  "  optional  "  should  be 
annexed  to  the  papers  delivered  by  the  collector.  Mr.  Abraham 
Brierley,  the  vicar's  warden,  moved  a  rate  of  a  halfpenny  in 
the  pound.  After  a  long  discussion  the  motion  was  put  to  the 
meeting,  and  the  chairman  declared  that  the  show  of  hands  was 
in  favour  of  the  rate.  The  opponents  demanded  a  poll,  and  it 
was  agreed  that  it  should  commence  on  the  Monday  following, 
and  continue  every  day  till  Friday ;  that  the  poll  should  each 
day  open  at  twelve  and  close  at  live.  On  the  Monday  at  noon 
the  poll  opened,  and  the  voters  in  favour  of  the  rate  took  the 
lead  for  the  first  fifteen  minutes,  but  the  scales  then  turned, 
and  the  opponents  of  the  rate  increased  their  majority  every 
hour,  and  at  the  close  it  was  found  that  3,976  had  voted  for 
the  rate  and  4,060  against  it,  giving  a  majority  against  it  of  84. 
Dr.  Moleswovt  h  and  his  party  feeling  dissatisfied  at  the  result 
called  a  meeting  on  the  29th  of  July,  1840,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  a  Church  Rate.  The  excitement  became  intense,  and  espe- 
cially when  it  had  been  stated  by  the  Anti-Church -Rate  party  that 
children  had  been  discharged  by  employers  who  were  in  favour 
of  the  rate  because  their  fathers  had  voted  against  it.  Though 
the  meeting  was  announced  to  commence  at  two  o'clock,  several 


1840.1  OPPOSITION    TO    CHURCH   RATES.  87 

hundred  persons  had*collected  in  the  churchyard  an  hour  before 
the  time,  and  there  was  every  appearance  of  a  stormy  meeting. 
St.  Chad's  Church  doors  were  thrown  open  at  twenty  minutes 
to  two,  when  there  was  a  dreadful  rush  into  the  church.  Many 
who  were  standing-  on  the  gravestones  near  the  church  door 
jumped  upon  the  heads  of  the  crowd,  and  were  absolutely  carried 
into  the  body  of  the  church  in  a  horizontal  position.  The  body 
of  the  church  was  soon  filled  with  about  1,500  people,  and 
hundreds  of  persons  were  not  able  to  gain  admittance.  The 
noise  was  as  great  as  if  Bedlam  had  broken  loose,  and  hats 
were  crushed  and  clothes  torn  in  the  scramble  for  places.  At 
two  o'clock  the  Vicar  and  Mr.  Abraham  Brierley,  Mr.  Charles 
Butterworth  and  Mr.  Wood,  made  their  appearance  in  the 
gallery,  and  were  received  with  marks  of  disapprobation  and 
applause.  Mr.  James  Fielden  (brother  of  the  then  Member  of 
'Parliament  for  Oldham),  Mr.  John  Bright,  and  Mr.  W.  W. 
Barton,  took  up  a  position  in  the  pulpit,  or  reading  desk,  amidst 
the  cheers  of  a  vast  number  of  persons.  It  was  decided  to  hold 
the  meeting  in  the  churchyard  instead  of  the  church,  on  account 
of  the  number  of  persons  that  were  not  able  to  gain  admittance. 
Dr.  Molesworth,  the  Rev.  W.  J.  ffarington  (incumbent  of  St. 
James's),  the  incumbent  of  St.  Mary's,  the  Rev.  I.  Gaitskill 
(of  Whitworth),  the  two  curates,  the  two  churchwardens,  Mr. 
Fielden,  Mr.  W.  W.  Barton,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  took  their 
places  upon  two  tombstones  nearly  close  together,  within  a  yard 
of  the  wall  which  separates  the  graveyard  from  the  vicar's 
garden,  and  lying  between  the  garden  door  and  the  churchyard 
gate  which  leads  into  Church  Stile:  Dr.  Molesworth  and  his 
friends  stood  on  James  Taylor's  tombstone  on  the  right ;  Mr. 
John  Bright  and  his  supporters  stood  on  the  tombstone  on  the 
left,  over  the  remains  of  Robert  Marriott.  The  sight  of  about 
4,000  people  assembled  around  these  tombstones,  some  calm 
and  resolute,  others  contemptuous,  was  indicative  of  a  coming 
storm,  and  it  remained  with  those  present  to  decide  whether  or 
not  a  peaceful  solution  should  be  come  to. 

"This  way! 

The  wind  ia  prosperous,  do  Imt  shift  your  sail, 
Here's  a  fair  western  breeze,  and  there  the  south 
Heavy  with  rain  :  this  spreads  a  peaceful  calm 
Over  the  bosom  of  the  deep,  and  that 
Works  up  the  billows  to  a  foam.     This  way ! 
Make  towards  the  land !    Don't  you  see 
How  black  the  clouds  are  yonder,  how  the  shower 
Hangs  ready  to  burst  over  you,  while  here 
Prevails  eternal  sunshine  and  fair  weather." 

After   Dr.   Molesworth    had    explained   the   object   of    the 


88  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1840. 

meeting,  Mr.  Abraham  Brierley,  the  vidar's  warden,  read  an 
estimate  of  the  expenses  for  the  year,  which  made  a  total 
of  £447  15s.  Od.,  and  in  advocating  the  amount  to  be  raised 
said  that  these  repairs  were  absolutely  required;  for  the  foun- 
dations of  the  steeple  and  the  church  were  unsafe  and  giving 
way.  (Laughter.)  Mr.  Thomas  Holden  moved,  and  Mr.  Charles 
Butterworth  seconded,  the  motion — "  That  a  Church  Rate  of  a 
halfpenny  in  the  pound  be  made  to  cover  the  expenses/' 

Mr.  John  Bright,  who  was  received  with  cheers,  then  said : — 

"  In  addressing  myself  to  this  immense  gathering  I  am  under  the  influence  of 
feelings  of  a  widely  different  character.  I  feel  shame  that  any  of  my  townsmen 
should  have  so  far  disregarded  common  decency  as  again  to  have  called  the  rate- 
payers of  this  large  and  populous  parish  together  after  the  decision  to  which  they  so 
lately  came,  and  I  feel  a  consolation  in  contemplating  this  immense  assemblage 
from  the  evidence  it  affords  that  the  subject  of  Church  Rates  and  of  Church  oppres- 
sion generally  excites  a  lively  interest  amongst  you.  I  proceed  to  the  question 
before  us,  and  first  I  refer  to  the  opinion  which  the  Vicar  of  this  parish  has  promul- 
gated as  to  the  law  of  the  case,  or  rather  as  to  the  intention  of  the  law.  He  owns 
that  the  law  does  not  and  cannot  compel  you  to  make  a  rate,  but  asserts  that  the 
intention  of  the  law  is  that  you  shall  make  a  rate ;  and  that,  therefore,  unless  you 
agree  to  this  exaction  for  the  enriching  of  the  Church  of  which  he  is  a  dignitary, 
you  are  guilty  of  an  evasion  of  the  law  and  of  an  abandonment  of  your  duty  as 
Christians.  Now  as  to  the  intention  of  the  law  I  know  nothing ;  all  we  have  to  do 
is  to  obey  the  law,  and  that  law  is  acknowledged  not  to  exist.  It  is  hardly  possible 
that  the  Vicar  can  have  any  very  accurate  information  as  to  the  intention  of  those 
by  whom  the  practice  of  levying  Church  Rates  was  commenced,  and  certainly  the 
parishioners  are  not  and  cannot  be  bound  by  this  interpretation  of  a  deeply- 
interested  person.  It  is  probable,  when  the  practice  first  commenced,  that  all  the 
parishioners  could  assemble  in  the  parish  church,  and  that  all  agreed  with  the  principle 
and  practice ;  therefore  to  them  there  could  be  no  injustice  in  levying  a  fair  rate 
for  its  repair  and  maintenance.  But  now  things  are  greatly  changed,  the  population 
of  the  parish  could  not  pack  themselves  in  twenty  churches  like  the  one  before  you, 
and  more  than  one-half  of  the  parishioners  are  Dissenters.  A  law  now  to  compel 
rates  from  all  to  support  the  church  of  one  sect  only  could  not  be  carried,  and  the 
House  of  Commons  has  more  than  once  decided  that  Church  Rates  shall  be 
abolished,  and  a  very  just  and  excellent  method  of  abolishing  would  have  been 
carried  but  for  the  interested  and  selfish  opposition  of  the  clergy  and  Tories.  It  is 
enough  for  us  now  that  we  are  not  transgressing  any  law — even  if  the  law  did  exist  it 
would  not  make  Church  Rates  just,  and  the  man  who  expects  us  to  submit  to  what 
is  manifestly  neither  lawful  nor  just  ought  to  have  lived  three  or  four  hundred 
years  ago.  Lord  Denman  and  four  other  judges  have  decided  unanimously  that  the 
power  to  make  a  Church  Rate  exists  only  with  the  parishioners,  and  we  know  too 
well  to  what  purposes  the  wealth  of  the  Church  is  devoted,  voluntarily  to  tax 
ourselves  for  her  further  aggrandisement.  But  as  to  the  intention  of  the  law  I  will 
put  a  case  for  the  consideration  of  this  meeting,  and  particularly  for  the  refresh- 
ment of  the  Vicar.  Once  on  a  time  it  was  ordered  by  law  that  whenever  a  clergy- 
man came  into  possession  of  a  living  he  was  to  pay  over  the  first  year's  income  to  a 
fund  for  extending  the  usefulness  of  the  Church.  At  that  time  the  Vicarage  of 
Rochdale  was  worth  under  £100  per  year,  and  the  first  fruits  were  paid  on  that 
amount.  Now  was  it  not  the  intention  of  the  law  that  in  all  future  time  the  first 
year's  income  should  be  devoted  to  the  purpose  I  have  just  mentioned?  Certainly 
it  was.  But  what  does  the  Vicar  and  the  rest  of  his  brethren  in  the  Church?  Has 
he,  paid,  or  does  he  intend  to  pay,  his  first  year's  income,  or  will  he  content  himself 
by  paying  under  £100  to  that  useful  fund  ?  How  does  he  satisfy  his  conscience  that  he 
is  obeying  the  intention  of  the  law?  (Loud  cheers.)  I  will  now  direct  your  attention 
to  the  state  of  the  rate  question  in  this  parish.  For  many  years  you  are  aware  that 
large  sums  were  annually  raised  by  the  wardens,  which  sums  were  generally  spent 
in  feasting  and  drinking,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  parties  concerned.  This  amount 
has  been  gradually  lessened,  and  in  1834  the  attempt  to  obtain  a  rate  was  defeated 


1840.]  OPPOSITION   TO   CHURCH    RATES.  89 

by  a  considerable  majority.  Did  the  wardens  submit  to  that  decision  ?  No !  they 
proceeded  to  levy  a  rate,  and  dragged  six  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  into  the 
Ecclesiastical  Court,  and  threw  upon  them  an  expense  of  nearly  £400.  The  wardens 
were  defeated  in  the  Church  courts,  but  during  the  contest  they  continued  to 
distrain  and  to  oppress  the  ratepayers.  They  entered  the  house  of  an  inhabitant  of 
Spot-land,  poor  James  Brearley,  who  was  then  on  his  death-bed.  The  illegal  claim 
upon  the  poor  weaver  was  Jourpence ;  they  seized  a  looking-glass,  but  this  would 
not  cover  the  costs,  and  their  ruthless  hands  then  seized  his  family  Bible,  and  sold  it 
for  an  illegal  rate,  and  a  fortnight  ago,  during  the  poll  in  the  vestry,  the  widow  of 
that  man  came  and  tendered  her  vote  against  the  rate.  I  pointed  her  out  as  she 
came  to  the  polling  tables  to  those  who  stood  around,  and  said,  '  That  is  the  woman 
from  whose  husband  you  took  a  Bible  for  an  illegal  claim  of  fourpence  when  he  was 
on  his  death-bed.'  A  young  man,  the  son  of  a  clergyman,  but  not  of  this  parish, 
stood  by  and  heard  this.  He  replied,  '  Yes,  and  I  would  have  sold  his  bed  from 
under  him ! '  That  young  man  is  now  present !  I  will  not  further  expose  him,  but 
he  knows  it,  and  if  he  dare  he  may  come  forward  and  deny  it.  (Cries  of  '  Shame '). 
Since  the  year  1834  much  dissension  has  existed  on  this  question,  and  the  wardens' 
have  never  succeeded  in  collecting  a  rate.  In  Todmordeu  it  never  can  be  collected, 
and  every  contest  makes  fresh  converts  to  the  system  of  refusing  to  pay  under  any 
circumstances.  A  fortnight  ago  the  grasping  Church  party  suffered  another  defeat, 
in  spite  of  the  means  they  used  to  ensure  a  triumph — means  such  as  any  honest  man 
would  blush  to  be  suspected  of.  I  allude  chiefly  to  the  compulsion  exercised  on  work- 
men by  their  employers,  which  I  declare  to  be  an  unjust  and  wicked  interference 
with  their  rights.  I  assert  before  this  immense  assemblage  that  I  never  have  used 
any  compulsory  measures  with  anyone  employed  in  our  works,  and  I  should  not 
dare  to  lift  my  head  amongst  honest  men  if  I  were  capable  of  such  acts  of  gross 
wrong  and  oppression.  But  I  know  of  many  cases  where  men  have  been  forced  to  vote 
against  their  consciences  from  fear  of  losing  their  employment.  I  heard  a  woollen 
manufacturer  declare  during  this  week  that  he  would  compel  all  his  men  to  vote  for  the 
rate,  and  he  would  immediately  discharge  anyone  who  refused  to  vote  for  it.  Now, 
what  language  can  I  use  to  express  my  indignation  at  conduct  such  as  this  ?  You 
have  the  form  of  man,  you  may  have  the  faculties  of  man,  you  may  claim  the  right 
which  your  Creator  has  conferred  upon  you — but  if  you  are  thus  coerced,  if  your 
judgment  and  your  conscience  are  thus  violated,  if  your  own  and  your  neighbour's 
interests  are  struck  at  and  wounded  through  the  very  privileges  which  the  law  has 
guaranteed  you  for  their  defence, — then  you  are  no  longer  men,  you  may  crouch  and 
confess  yourselves  slaves  (cheers).  The  perpetrators  of  these  outrages  on  the  rights  of 
the  least  powerful  of  the  people  aw  sunk  to  the  lowest  depth  of  degradation,  and  their 
conduct  tends  inevitably  to  demoralize  the  working  classes,  arid  every  man  guilty  of 
it  should  be  treated  with  the  scorn  and  reprobation  he  so  richly  merits."  (Some 
one  called  out  "  Name  him,"  when  Mr.  Bright  said  if  any  of  his  own  friends  would 
demand  his  name  he  would  give  it,  but  no  friend  made  the  demand,  and  the  speaker 
proceeded.)  "My  fellow-parishioners,  I  grieve  that  you  should  be  again  called 
from  your  homes  and  your  occupations  to  express  your  opinion  upon  the  subject  of 
Church  Rates.  I  know  there  are  many  here  for  whom  and  for  whose  families  a 
hard  day's  labour  will  but  scantily  supply  a  day's  food,  and  yet  at  the  bidding  of 
the  zealots  of  the  State  Church  you  are  compelled  either  to  sacrifice  your  time,  and 
consequently  your  means,  or  be  trampled  on  and  robbed  under  pretence  of  serving 
the  cause  of  religion.  The  unholy  attempt  has  failed,  and  I  trust  it  will  for  ever 
fail.  I  will  give  you  a  few  reasons  why  you  ought  not  to  grant  this  rate.  The 
income  of  the  Vicarage  was  returned  in  1831  at  £1,730  per  annum;  add  to  this  the 
vicar's  house  and  grounds,  and  the  renewals  of  leases,  and  the  letting  of  more  plots 
of  land,  and  the  present  income  is  much  more  than  that.  Who  gets  the  fees  for 
christenings,  marriages,  and  funerals?  And  why,  I  ask,  are  any  fees  paid  for 
these  ?  The  Popish  Council  of  Trent,  and  the  State  Assembly  held  at  Orleans  in 
1651,  declared  that  the  fees  for  the  sacraments  were  simony  and  a  scandal  to  the 
Church,  and  yet  Protestant  clergymen  uiiblushingly  charge  for  administering  the 
sacraments  of  their  Church !  These  are  the  men  who  rail  at  the  failings  of  Catholics, 
and  who,  nevertheless,  almost  daily  practise  the  very  enormities  which  were  de- 
nounced as  simony,  or  the  crime  of  trading  in  Church  livings,  by  the  most  popish  of 
councils  !  If  they  believe  that  virtue  exists  in  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  are  they 
not,  in  charging  fees  for  its  administering,  like  Simon  Magus,  who  thought  that  the 
gift  of  God  might  be  purchased  with  money  ?  The  minister  is  paid  once  for  all, 
and  then  he  comes  again  for  payment  for  several  parts  of  his  duties,  just  as  a 
servant  has  his  wages  and  then  begs  for  perquisites !  The  Vicar  has  published  a 


90  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF  JOHN    BRIGHT.  |1840. 

handbill,  a  copy  of  which  I  hold  in  my  hand;  he  quotes  Scripture  in  favour  of  a 
rate,  and  a  greater  piece  of  hardihood  cannot  be  imagined :  '  Bender  unto  Cfesar  the 
things  that  are  Caesar's,"  leaving  out  the  latter  part  of  the  sentence.  I  will  give  you 
my  opinion  of  the  applicability  of  this  passage  in  a  quotation  from  our  excellent 
fnena,  the  people's  poet,  Ebenezer  Elliott.  He  says : — 

'  When  palared  paupei-s,  sneering1,  beard  the  town, 
They  preach  the  Church  Tux  in  a  text  like  this — 
No  text  more  plain :— '  To  Cwsar  give  his  own  1  ' 
Ah,  serviles,  knavishly  the  mark  they  miss, 
And  give  to  Csesar  ours— not  theirs  nor  his ! ' 

(Loud  cheers.)  I  hold  that  to  quote  Scripture  in  defence  of  Church  Rates  is  the 
very  height  of  rashness.  The  New  Testament  teems  with  passages  inculcating 
peace,  brotherly  love,  mutual  forbearance,  charity,  disregard  of  filthy  lucre,  and 
devotedness  to  the  welfare  of  our  fellow-men.  In  the  exaction  of  Church  Hates,  in 
the  seizure  of  the  goods  of  the  members  of  his  flock,  in  the  imprisonment  of  them 
that  refuse  to  pay,  in  the  harassing  process  of  law  and  injustice  in  the  Church 
courts,  in  the  stirrings  up  of  strife  and  bitterness  among  the  parishioners,  in  all  this 
a  clergyman  violates  the  precepts  he  is  paid  to  preach,  and  affords  a  mournful  proof 
of  the  infirmity  or  wickedness  of  human  nature.  I  believe  that  in  these  contests  for 
the  iniquitous  exactions  of  the  Church,  more  mischief  will  be  done  and  more  strife 
engendered  than  will  be  atoned  or  compensated  for  by  all  the  preachings  of  the 
clergy  of  this  parish  during  the  rest  of  their  lives.  Fellow-townsmen,  I  look  on  that 
old  building,  that  venerable  building,  for  its  antiquity  gives  it  a  venerable  air,  with 
a  feeling  of  pain.  I  behold  it  as  a  witness  of  ages  gone  by,  as  one  of  the  numberless 
monuments  of  the  piety  or  zeal  of  pur  ancestors,  as  a  connecting  link  between  this 
and  former  ages.  I  could  look  on  it  with  a  feeling  of  affection,  did  I  not  know  that 
it  forms  the  centre  of  that  source  of  discord  with  which  our  neighbourhood  has  for 
years  been  afflicted,  and  did  it  not  seem  the  genial  bed  wherein  strife  and  bitter 
jarrings  were  perpetually  produced  to  spread  their  baneful  influence  over  this 
densely -peopled  parish !  I  would  that  that  venerable  fabric  were  the  representative 
of  a  really  reformed  church — of  a  church  separated  from  the  foul  connection 
with  the  State — of  a  church  depending  upon  her  own  resources,  upon  the 
zeal  of  her  people,  upon  the  truthfulness  of  her  principles,  and  upon  the  bless- 
ings of  her  Spiritual  head !  Then  would  the  Church  be  really  free  from  her  old 
vices,  then  would  she  run  a  career  of  brighter  and  still  brightening  glory ;  then 
would  she  unite  heart  and  hand  with  her  sister  churches  in  this  kingdom  in  the  great 
and  glorious  work  of  evangelizing  the  people  of  tBis  great  empire,  and  of  every  clime 
throughout  the  world !  My  friends,  the  time  is  coming  when  a  State  church  will 
be  unknown  in  England,  and  it  rests  with  you  to  accelerate  or  retard  that  happy 
consummation.  I  call  upon  you  to  gird  yourselves  for  the  contest  which  is  impend- 
ing, for  the  hour  of  conflict  is  approaching  when  the  people  of  England  will  be 
arbiters  of  their  own  fate ;  when  they  will  have  to  choose  between  civil  and  religious 
liberty  or  the  iron  hoof,  the  mental  thraldom  of  a  hireling  State  priesthood  !  Men 
of  Rochdale,  do  your  duty !  You  know  what  becomes  you !  Maintain  the  great 
principles  you  profess  to  hold  dear,  unite  with  me  in  the  firm  resolve  that  under  no 
possible  circumstances  will  you  ever  pay  a  Church  Rate ;  and  though  the  fate  of 
Thorogood  may  await  you,  prove  that  good  and  holy  principles  can  nerve  the  heart, 
and  ultimately  our  cause,  your  cause,  the  world's  cause,  shall  triumph  gloriously.  I 
now  move  as  an  amendment,  '  That  no  Church  Rate  be  granted  before  the  30th  day 
of  July,  1841,  and  that  this  meeting  stand  adjourned  to  that  day.'  "  (Great 
cheering.) 

Mr.  James  Fielden  seconded  the  amendment,  which  was 
carried  by  a  large  majority.  The  Church  party  then  demanded 
a  poll,  and  it  was  decided  to  commence  on  the  following  Tues- 
day, and  remain  open  till  the  Saturday  ;  that  each  day  it  should 
open  at  twelve  o'clock  and  close  at  five  in  the  evening.  The 
meeting  was  over  about  four  o'clock,  and  each  party  began  to 
make  every  arrangement  for  the  coming  struggle.  It  was 
arranged  that  the  polling  place  should  be  the  National  School, 


1810.J  OPPOSITION   TO    CHURCH   BATES.  01 

Redcross  Street,  and  booths  should  be  there  for  all  the  town- 
ships, and  presiding;  officers  were  appointed  to  each  booth  by 
the  Vicar,  and  in  each  booth  the  anti-rate  party  appointed  a 
"  watcher/'  John  Bright  being  appointed  to  the  Wardleworth 
booth,  and  Mr.  Barton  to  "  watch }}  the  vicar. 

"  During  the  time  which  elapsed  from  the  day  of  the 
meeting  to  the  opening  of  the  poll/'  wrote  Mr.  Bright  a  few 
days  after,  "  extraordinary  exertions  were  made  by  the  Vicar  and 
his  party,  to  bring  up  all  the  votes  they  could  command ;  there 
is  probably  not  a  place  in  this  extensive  parish,  however  remote 
or  inconsiderable,  which  was  not  visited  by  these  harbingers  of 
the  approaching  '  triumph ''  of  the  State  Church,  and  the  Vicar 
himself,  with  an  alacrity  worthy  of  a  nobler  cause,  was  seen 
zealously  labouring  in  the  inglorious  work  of  prevailing  upon 
one  portion  of  his  '  law-appointed  '  Hock,  to  do  their  utmost  to 
fix  an  exasperating  and  detested  tax  upon  their  neighbours  and 
fellow-parishioners.  It  is  well  known  that  these  canvassers  on 
entering  the  houses  of  working  men,  where  some  hesitation  was 
manifested  as  to  supporting  the  rate,  put  the  question,  '  For 
whom  do  you  work  ?  '  or,  if  the  wife  only  was  at  home,  '  Where 
does  your  husband/  or,  '  Where  do  your  children  work  ? '  by 
this  means  endeavouring  to  obtain  information  as  to  the  most 
effectual  method  of  compelling  them  to  vote ;  when  coaxing 
was  to  be  tried,  the  voters  were  told  that  if  they  would  vote  for 
the  rate  their  names  should  be  entered  in  a  book,  and  the 
collectors  should  be  told  not  to  call  upon  them  for  payment ! ! 
These  attempts  to  coerce  or  to  cajole  the  ratepayers  were  common, 
and  known  to  thousands,  and  they  are  mentioned  here  as 
evidence  of  the  spirit  in  which  the  contest  was  begun;  how  it 
has  been  carried  on  will  soon  be  explained/' 

On  the  first  day,  at  twelve  o'clock,  there  came  into  the  town 
from  Todmorden,  headed  by  two  bands  of  music,  thirty- three 
carts  and  one  waggon,  which  were  crowded  with  women  and  men 
voters,  who  carried  banners  with  the  following  mottoes;  u  John 
Thm-ogood,"  "No  Church  Rate/'  " Civil  and  Religious  Liberty," 
"No  Bread  Tax,"  and  " Church  Intolerance." 

At  the  close  of  the  first  day's  poll,  the  supporters  of  the  rate 
found  themselves  in  a  minority  of  040.  This  stimulated  them 
to  redouble  their  exertions  to  recover  lost  ground,  and  the  walls 
of  the  town  were  covered  by  each  party  with  acrimonious  attacks 
on  its  opponent.  It  was  said  that  some  employers  of  labour  who 
were  in  favour  of  the  rate  discharged  many  of  their  workmen 
because  they  had  voted  against  the  rate.  On  Wednesday 
morning,  chaises,  carts,  waggons,  and  carriages  of  all  sorts  were 


92-  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1840. 

set  in  motion  to  convey  voters  to  the  poll,  and  drink  and  eatables 
could  be  got  at  certain  public-houses  free  of  charge.  The  anti- 
rate  party  accused  their  opponents  of  having  bribed  persons  who 
had  not  paid  their  rates  by  paying  them  on  their  behalf  after 
voting  favourably.  Dr.  Molesworth  prolonged  the  poll  from  five 
till  six,  which  was  objected  to  by  those  who  were  against  the  rate, 
and  it  was  contended  that  by  this  act  the  proceedings  were 
rendered  illegal.  The  numbers  at  the  close  of  the  second  day 
were,  3026  for  the  rate,  and  2911  against  it.  This  apparent 
victory  made  the  Church  party  very  jubilant,  and  they  paraded 
the  streets  with  bands  of  music,  evidently  thinking  that  their 
tactics  had  been  successful.  On  Thursday,  however,  it  soon 
became  evident  that  the  poll  was  running  differently  from  that 
of  the  preceding  day,  and  at  the  close  it  was  found  that  they 
had  lost  60  votes  on  the  day's  poll,  leaving  a  majority  of  55  only. 
On  Friday  the  poll  opened  favourably  to  the  anti-rate  party.  The 
excitement  was  so  great  that  nearly  all  the  manufactories  and 
foundries  in  the  town  were  closed,  as  it  was  found  impossible  to 
keep  the  workpeople  at  their  employment,  so  intense  was  the 
interest  which  they  took  in  this  important  struggle.  Mr.  James 
Fielden  felt  so  much  concern  in  the  matter  that  he  had  about  thirty 
waggons  employed  in  conveying  voters  from  Todmorden,  and  the 
procession  of  these  waggons,  crowded  with  people,  was  an  im- 
posing sight  as  they  rolled  along  the  streets  amidst  the  applause 
of  assembled  thousands.  Between  one  and  two  the  booths  were 
crowded,  and  the  anti-rate  party  complained  that  the  wardens, 
and  those  assisting  to  take  the  poll,  were  throwing  every  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  intending  voters  against  the  rate ;  that  at  the 
Wardleworth  booth,  there  being  at  one  time  none  but  anti-rate 
voters  present,  the  warden  who  presided  began  to  delay  the 
voters  by  asking  all  kinds  of  questions,  such  as  "  How  old  are 
you  ?  "  "  What  is  the  age  of  your  eldest  child  ?  "  &c.  Mr.  John 
Bright  protested  against  this  mode  of  proceeding  as  disgraceful, 
and  Dr.  Molesworth  was  appealed  to,  but  it  was  not  altered. 

At  the  close  of  the  poll  on  Friday  evening  it  was  found  that 
the  numbers  stood  5,216  for  the  rate,  and  5,212  against  it, 
leaving  only  a  majority  of  four  in  favour  of  the  rate.  On 
Saturday,  the  last  day,  the  excitement  surpassed  anything  that 
had  ever  taken  place  at  the  borough  elections.  Votes  were 
on  sale  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  bargains  were  regularly  going 
on  both  in  the  streets  and  in  the  National  School  in  Redcross 
Street,  and  it  was  said  that  many  who  had  their  rates  paid  by 
the  Church  party,  some  to  the  amount  of  20s.  and  30s.,  after- 
wards went  over  to  the  an ti- rate  party,  and  voted  for  them  for 


1840.1  OPPOSITION   TO    CHUECH    RATES.  93 

the  trifling  sum  of  2s.  or  3s.  Many  who  had  asked  too  much 
for  a  vote  lost  the  opportunity  of  realising  anything  for  it.  By 
three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  number  of  persons 
assembled  in  front  of  the  National  School  was  immense,  and  con- 
tinued to  increase  until  the  close  of  the  poll.  One  carriage 
bringing  some  "  blues  "  was  seized  by  the  crowd,  and  carried 
away  with  the  voters  in  it.  A  few  fights  took  place,  and  the 
combatants  were  carried  away  with  bruised  heads,  but  not 
seriously  hurt.  Mr.  Chadwick,  assistant-overseer  for  Wuerdle 
and  AVardle,  was  taxed  with  having  given  false  certificates  that 
the  rates  were  paid ;  but  he  replied  that  he  would  be  responsible 
for  the  payment.  About  a  quarter  past  five,  companies  of  the 
79th  Highlanders,  stationed  in  the  barracks  in  Toad  Lane, 
headed  by  Mr.  C.  Royds,  appeared  with  fixed  bayonets  in 
front  of  the  National  School,  and  occupied  the  space  where  the 
crowd  had  been  standing.  The  people  were  astonished,  and  for  a 
few  seconds  there  was  silence,  then  an  under  murmur,  and  a  col- 
lecting of  stones  began.  The  Riot  Act  was  read,  and  the 
soldiers  were  ordered  to  load. 

Mr.  John  Bright,  who  stood  at  the  front  window,  seeing 
there  was  every  appearance  of  a  rupture  between  the  crowd  and 
the  military,  essayed  to  speak  through  the  window,  to  dissuade 
any  violence,  but  he  could  not  be  heard.  He  then  directed  Mr. 
Edward  Taylor  to  make  his  way  out  of  the  schoolroom  and 
induce  the  people  not  to  throw  stones  at  the  soldiers,  as  if  they 
did  lives  would  be  sacrificed.  When  the  crowd  were  in  the  act 
of  listening  to  Mr.  Taylor's  advice,  Mr.  Chadwick  came  up  and 
ordered  the  soldiers  to  return  to  the  barracks,  saying  there  was 
no  reason  for  their  presence,  and  they  obeyed.  It  was  said  that 
Mr.  C.  Royds  had  ordered  out  the  soldiers.  Dr.  Molesworth, 
at  five  o'clock,  declared  he  should  extend  the  polling  an  hour 
longer.  Mr.  Barton  protested  against  this  as  illegal,  since  the 
whole  parish  had  been  informed  by  placards,  published  by  the 
Vicar  himself,  that  the  poll  would  finally  close  at  five  o'clock  on 
Saturday  night.  Some  time  after,  Dr.  Molesworth  was  informed 
that  the  several  overseers  of  Spotland,  Wardleworth,  and  Castle- 
ton  had  left  their  offices  at  five  o'clock,  under  the  impression  that 
the  poll  was  then  closed  ;  that  consequently  in  those  townships 
the  ratepayers  were  unable  to  obtain  voting  tickets,  that  certifi- 
cates could  be  got  from  three  townships  only,  whose  overseers 
were  in  the  National  School,  and  that  the  whole  proceedings 
would  be  rendered  illegal.  The  Vicar,  upon  learning  this, 
ordered  the  doors  to  be  closed,  asking  those  present  who  had 
not  yet  voted  to  do  so.  Mr.  J.  Bright,  with  a  large  placard  in 


04  LIFE    AND    TIMES  OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1840. 

his  hand,  called  attention  to  its  contents,  which  stated  the  hours 
at  which  the  poll  was  to  commence  and  terminate,  and  he  pro- 
tested against  the  action  of  the  Vicar  in  prolonging  the  poll. 
He  said  he  had  another  observation  to  make  before  the  result 
of  the  poll  was  made  known  by  the  Vicar.  He  objected  to 
the  votes  recorded  by  persons  in  Wuerdle  and  Wardle,  Blatchin- 
\vorth  and  Calderbrook,  and  Butterworth,  who  had  not  paid 
their  rates,  but  who  had  simply  received  certificates  or  other 
helps  from  the  overseers  of  those  townships.  That  afternoon 
some  hundreds  had  voted  who  had  never  paid  one  penny  of 
their  rates,  and  it  was  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  law  to 
give  certificates  of  rates  being  paid,  when  in  fact  only  some 
persons  had  promised  to  pay  them.  Dr.  Molesworth  read  a  list 
showing  the  final  result  of  the  poll  as  follows  : — In  favour  of  the 
rate,  6,694  ;  against,  6,581.  Majority  in  favour  of  the  rate, 
1 13.  The  anti-rate  party  disputed  the  correctness  of  this  return, 
and  claimed  that  they  had  a  majority  of  seven.  Mr.  Royds, 
with  the  police,  conducted  Dr.  Molesworth  home,  amid  the 
hisses,  hooting,  and  cheering  of  the  crowds.  "  Red "  and 
"  blue "  bands  played  through  the  streets  during  the  evening, 
in  celebration  of  the  victory  which  each  party  claimed  to  have 
won.  On  the  following  Monday  night  a  large  meeting  was 
held  at  the  "  Roebuck,"  and  a  subscription  set  on  foot  to  defend 
any  person  who  should  be  prosecuted  for  non-payment  of  the 
rate. 

On  the  following  Wednesday  evening  a  public  meeting  was 
held  in  Mr.  Petrie's  new  foundry,  and  although  the  size  of  the 
building  was  sixty-six  yards  in  length  and  seventeen  yards 
broad,  it  was  crowded.  Mr.  John  Howard,  chief  constable,  was 
in  the  chair.  The  Rev.  David  Hewitt  moved  the  first  resolution, 
censuring  Dr.  Molesworth  and  the  wardens  for  again  agitating 
the  parish  for  a  Church  Rate,  which  had  been  refused  a  few 
days  before.  The  Rev.  John  Kershaw  seconded  the  motion. 
Mr.  Barton  moved  the  next  resolution,  charging  the  Vicar 
with  partiality  and  injustice  in  his  decisions  as  chairman, 
and  as  an  instance  mentioned  the  case  of  a  boy,  twelve  or 
fourteen  years  of  age,  named  Healey,  who  was  brought  up  and 
allowed  to  vote  as  partner  in  a  cotton  concern  at  Smallbridge, 
although  his  vote  was  strongly  objected  to,  Mr.  Whit  worth 
seconded  the  motion.  Mr.  John  Bright  next  moved  a  resolution 
to  the  effect  that  the  present  Church  Rate  was  illegal,  and  that 
it  was  the  duty  of  the  opponents  of  the  rate  to  use  every  legal 
means  to  resist  it.  Mr.  Bright  made  a  long  and  eloquent 
speech,  which  was  listened  to  with  the  greatest  attention.  He 


OPPOSITION   TO    CHURCH   BATES.  do 

gave  a  striking  picture  of  the  injury  done  to  the  morals  of  the 
people  by  the  drunkenness,  bribery,  and  intimidation  which  he 
said  had  been  resorted  to  by  persons  who  favoured  the  rate,  and 
that  the  struggle  had  been  the  means  of  creating  envy,  hatred, 
malice,  and  all  uncharitableness  amongst  the  peaceable  parish- 
ioners, by  fomenting  family  broils,  setting  brother  against 
brother,  and  father  against  son.  What  would  a  savage  think 
of  the  religion  of  the  English  people  if  he  had  seen  one  of 
its  ministers  on  the  previous  Saturday  night  conducted  through 
the  streets  by  a  civil  magistrate  and  the  police,  amidst  the  shouts 
and  yells,  the  hissing  and  hooting  of  the  insulted  people  ? 
The  very  man  that  should  have  been  the  minister  of  peace, 
and  that  should  have  inculcated  good-will  towards  men,  em- 
broiled this  extensive  parish  in  almost  civil  war.  There  was 
one  thing  he  thought  it  was  his  duty  to  tell  them  ;  namely, 
that  one  of  their  townsmen  had  written  to  the  directors  of 
the  Manchester  and  Leeds  Railway,  expressing  his  astonish- 
ment that  some  of  the  workmen  on  the  line  had  been  permitted 
to  vote  against  the  rate.  He  would  name  the  man  :  he  was  no 
other  than  Mr.  John  Roby,  calumniator  of  the  Queen.  He 
informed  the  meeting  that  about  three  hundred  navvies,  who 
were  employed  at  the  Summit  tunnel,  voted  for  the  rate,  and 
between  twelve  and  twenty  railway  employes  who  worked  near 
the  Rochdale  station  had  voted  against  it.  The  former  were 
strangers,  and  had  been  placed  upon  the  rate  books  for  some  few 
dozen  sod  huts ;  the  latter  were  occupiers  of  houses  in  or  near 
the  borough.  These  resolutions  were  all  carried,  and  a  determined 
spirit  not  to  pay  the  rate  prevailed. 

Dr.  Molesworth  issued  an  address,  and  Mr.  Bright  thus  com- 
mented upon  it : — 

"  The  Address  next  alludes  to  the  religious  Dissenters  who,  '  not  tempted  hy  the 
desire  of  pocketing,  under  the  plea  of  conscience,  what  the  law  has  appropriated  to 
another,'  voted  for  the  rate.  Aye,  '  there's  the  rub; '  when  Tetzel  was  selling  indul- 
gences, he  closed  his  sermons  with  'Bring  money!  bring  money!  as  soon  as  the 
sound  of  coin  is  heard  in  that  chest,  the  soul  ^icw  suffering  in  Purgatory  is  wafted  to 
Heaven ! '  The  same  trick  is  tried  now,  '  Vote  for  the  rate,  enrich  the  Church,  and 
you  will  be  religious  Dissenters ! '  The  man  who  could  write  about  '  pocketing 
under  the  plea  of  conscience,  &c.,'  is  truly  in  small  danger  of  being  troubled  with 
scruples,  and  when  it  is  recollected  that  he  is  absorbing  something  like  £2,000  per 
annum  of  national  property  for  the  performance  of  duties  which  the  curates  have 
undertaken  for  years  for  little  more  than  one -tenth  of  the  sum,  it  does  appear 
somewhat  'indiscreet,'  as  one  of  his  brother  clergymen  would  say,  to  speak  of 
'  pocketing,'  and  to  sneer  at  the  '  plea  of  conscience.'  It  has  been  said  that 

'  They  laugh  at  scars  who  never  felt  a  wound,' 
and  may  it  not  be  said  with  equal  force, 

'  They  sneer  at  conscience  who  disown  its  law.' 

The  elegant  writer  of  the  Address  speaks  of  '  mistaken  Dissenters,  with  Socialists, 
Chartists,  Jacobins,  infidels  and  Atheists,  as  opposed  to  his  endeavours  to  uphold  law 


96  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  IJ841. 

a  ad  religion.'  Why  are  the  Sociiiians  omitted  in  this  list?  Did  he  recollect  thai 
Mime  of  them  voted  for  the  rate  ?  Is  the  support  of  Church  Hates  a  virtue,  which, 
like  charity,  '  covereth  a  multitude  of  sins '( '  ,  But  how  stands  the  Church  with 
respect  to  the  spread  of  infidelity  ?  Let  Churchmen  and  Bishops  answer.  Bishop 
Lavington,  speaking  of  the  '  moral  preaching '  in  the  Church,  says  : — '  We  have  long 

'"-  "  -••  With  what 
'ople  into 
Church,  in 

'  Observations  on  the  Liturgy, '  speaking  of  the  Athanasian  Creed,  says : — 'I  really  be- 
lieve that  Creed  has  made  more  Deists  than  all  the  writings  of  all  the  opposers  of 
Christianity,  since  it  was  first  unfortunately  adopted  in  our  Liturgy.'  Bishop  Warton, 
the  only  bishop  who  opposed  the  French  war,  and  who  for  his  honesty  received  no 
promotion,  speaks  thus  of  the  Church : — 'A  motley  monster  of  bigotry  and  superstition, 
a  scarecrow  of  shreds  and  patches,  dressed  up  of  old  by  philosophers  and  Popes,  to 
amuse  the  speculative  and  to  affright  the  ignorant :  now,''  says  the  Bishop, '  a  butt  of 
scorn,  against  which  every  unfledged  witling  of  the  age  essays  his  wanton  efforts, 
and  before  he  has  learned  his  catechism  is  fixed  an  infidel  for  life  !  '  Whence  come 
the  Infidels,  and  Atheists,  and  Socialists  ?  Wilberforce  says : — '  Improving  in  every 
other  branch  of  knowledge,  we  have  become  less  and  less  acquainted  with  Christi- 
anity.' And  the  Quarterly  Review,  in  1816,  said  : — '  Two-thirds  of  the  lower  order 
of  people  in  London  are  as  errant  and  unconverted  Pagans  as  if  they  had  existed  in 
the  wildest  parts  of  Africa,  and  the  case  is  the  name  in  Manchester,  Leeds,  Bristol, 
Sheffield,  and  all  the  large  towns ;  the  greatest  part  of  the  manufacturing  populace, 
of  the  miners  and  colliers,  are  in  the  same  condition ;  and  if  they  are  not  universally 
so,  it  is  more  owing  to  the  zeal  of  the  Methodists  than  to  any  other  cause.'  What  have 
the  clergy  been  doing?  Have  they  been  absorbing  the  immense  national  funds 
entrusted  to  their  care,  whilst  their  duties  have  been  in  great  part  neglected?  Or 
have  they  allowed  rates  to  be  uncollected,  and  the  impost  of  tithes  to  be  forgotten  ? 
No,  the  fleece  has  had  its  full  share  of  attention,  whatever  has  become  of  the 
flock. 

"  The  Vicar  endeavours  to  draw  a  parallel  between  his  case  and  that  of  the  prophet 
Elijah  !  Does  he  not  perceive  the  ludicrous  error  into  which  he  has  fallen  ?  Elijah 
was  a  reformer,  he  opposed  the  state  priesthood  of  his  day,  and  dared  to  disobey  the 
commands  of  Ahab,  who,  with  the  priests  of  Baal,  charged  him  with  '  troubling 
Israel.' 

"  He  (the  Vicar)  says  further: — '  the  principal  performer  in  that  farce  of  false 
accusation  is  known  in  Rochdale,  and  so  am  I.  Let  the  people  believe  him  whose 
character  they  think  best  entitles  him  to  credit.'  In  answer  to  this,  it  may  be 
enough  to  state  that  the  individual  (W.  W.  Barton)  to  whom  he  evidently  alludes 
is  '  known  in  Rochdale,'  that  he  has  lived  in  Rochdale  twenty-six  years,  that  he  has 
maintained  himself  and  his  family  by  honest  industry,  that  during  that  time  he  has 
walked  6,000  miles  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor,  and  that  he  has,  doubtless,  been 
in  more  sick  chambers  in  that  period  than  the  whole  corps  of  clergymen  connected 
with  the  parish  church.  This  is  not  stated  as  a  boast,  and  I  may  have  said  more 
than  will  be  agreeable  to  the  individual  in  question,  but  I  would  show  that  great 
zeal  may  exist  without  the  inducement  of  a  great  income." 

On  the  18th  of  January,  1841,  nine  gentlemen : — John 
Petrie,  ironfounder  and  engineer,  Edward  Taylor,  druggist, 
Robert  Heape,  wholesale  grocer,  Thomas  Southworth,  draper, 
Joseph  Butterworth,  gentleman,  Edward  Briggs,  one  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  Wm.  Driver,  gardener,  and  John  Whitaker 
and  James  Gibson,  dyers,  were  summoned  for  refusing  to  pay 
the  Church  Rate.  The  charges  were  heard  at  the  Flying  Horse, 
in  Packer  Street,  before  Clement  Royds  (chairman),  John 
Fenton,  Wm.  Chad  wick,  Henry  Kelsall,  and  other  magistrates. 
The  court-room  and  streets  were  crowded  by  partisans  of  both 
sides.  The  majority  of  the  magistrates,  considering  that  the 
summonses  were  incorrectly  drawn,  invalidated  the  claim. 


1810.1  OPPOSITION   TO   CHURCH   KATES.  97 

and  dismissed  them.  Although  further  proceeding's  were  taken 
the  rate  was  never  collected.  The  Vicar  and  his  friends  in  time 
grew  tired  of  the  vigorous  opposition  that  met  them  on  every 
hand,  and  the  Church  Rates  ultimately  became  things  of  the 
past. 

The  feeling-  between  the  two  sects  has  since  then  undergone 
considerable  change,  for  we  find  in  the  month  of  June,  1883, 
the  Vicar  of  Rochdale,  the  Rev.  Canon  Maclure,  inviting  any 
minister  of  the  United  Methodist  Free  Church  coming  to  the 
annual  Conference  of  that  body,  to  become  a  guest  at  the 
Vicarage  during  his  stay.  Further  we  witnessed  the  Vicar 
taking  part  in  the  funeral  service,  at  the  Dissenters'  Chapel  at 
the  Rochdale  Cemetery,  over  the  remains  of  the  late  Mayor  of 
the  town,  who  was  a  Dissenter,  and  the  Rev.  Canon  W.  N. 
Moles  worth,  the  son  of  the  late  Vicar,  pronouncing  the  bene- 
diction at  the  graveside. 


CHAPTER    X. 

AS  A  LITERARY  CHARACTER. 

The  Commencement  of  Church  and  Dissenting  Magazines — Conflict  between  Them 
— The  Clergy  and  the  Com  Laws — Vicars  contrasted— A  Munificent  Gift  to 
the  League  Funds— The  End  of  the  Magazines — On  Grammar — Kind  Deeds. 

MR.  BBIGHT  is  next  seen  as  a  literary  character.  In  1842 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Molesworth  and  the  Rev.  W.  N.  JMolesworth,  pub- 
lished a  magazine  entitled  "  Common  Sense,  or  Everybody's 
Magazine  " — with  the  motto,  "  Fine  sense  and  exalted  sense  are 
not  half  so  useful  as  common  sense  " — in  support  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church,  and  advocating  the  continuance  of  Church  Rates. 
Mr.  Edward  Taylor  and  Mr.  John  Coates  (surgeon)  issued  a 
prospectus  announcing  the  appearance  of  another  monthly  maga- 
zine, in  favour  of  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  and  volun- 
taryism in  religion,  to  which  they  gave  the  significant  title  of 
"The  Vicar's  Lantern,"  with  the  motto  " Alere  Flammam" 
beneath  a  very  neat  illustration  of  a  human  hand  exhibiting 
a  burning  lamp,  close  to  the  handle  of  which  a  grave-looking 
owl  appears  to  be  serenely  contemplating  the  brilliant  light 
of  the  lamp.  Mr.  John  Bright,  Mr.  Oliver  Ormerod,  and 
Mr.  Thomas  Booth  joined  the  promoters  of  this  magazine,  and 
it  was  arranged  that  Mr.  E.  Taylor  should  attend  to  the  edi- 
torial department,  and  that  the  other  four  gentlemen  should 
contribute  the  articles.  Once  a  month  they  met  at  the  Old 
Market  Place  (Mr.  Taylor's  residence)  to  arrange  the  subjects 
each  should  undertake,  and  Mr.  Bright's  productions  usually 
comprised  the  first  article  of  each  number.  As  it  will  no  doubt 
be  interesting  to  give  a  few  extracts  from  Mr.  Bright's  papers, 
we  proceed  to  do  so. 

The  first  article,  as  well  as  four  others,  bear  the  title  of 
"  Common  Sense/'  and  is  a  review  of  the  articles  that  appeared 
in  the  magazine  brought  out  by  Dr.  Molesworth  and  his  friends. 
"  When  corn  is  high  in  price,"  so  wrote  Mr.  Bright,  ' '  tithes 
are  increased  in  amount,  and  when  corn  is  cheap  tithes  suffer 
considerable  diminution,  and  thus  the  clergy  of  the  Act  of 
Parliament  Church  feed  more  luxuriously  in  proportion  as  their 
flocks  are  suffering  from  scarcity.  .  .  .  The  vine  brought 
out  of  Egypt  had  assuredly  no  reference  to  the  pampered  perse- 


1642.]  AS   A   LITERARY   CHARACTER.  99 

cutor  of  our  country.  The  only  resemblance  which  that  State 
Church  bears  to  a  vine  is  that  she  cannot  nourish  of  herself,  but 
must  climb  around  and  clasp  the  '  elm  of  worldly  strength  and 
felicity/  and  of  this  feature  surely  the  inspired  bard  intended 
no  approval.  The  general  question  of  the  Corn  Law  is  not 
to  be  interfered  with.  Of  course  not.  To  withhold  a  few 
pence  of  an  illegal  Church  Rate  is  an  offence  which  cries  to 
heaven  and  demands  a  pamphlet,  but  to  withhold  bread  from 
millions  of  honest  men  and  their  families  is  a  general  question  of 
no  immediate  importance,  and  not  to  be  interfered  with ! " 
Speaking  of  one  of  the  articles  in  the  Vicar's  publication,  Mr. 
Bright  writes,  "  In  this  article  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  Church 
of  Rome,  which  we.  cannot  but  think  somewhat  uncivil  when  we 
consider  how  much  of  the  system  lauded  to  the  skies  in  '  Common 
Sense '  is  borrowed  from  that  venerable,  if  darkened,  institution. 
Much  of  that  which  is  the  boast  of  the  State  Chui'ch  comes 
second-hand  from  Rome,  and  we  are  strongly  of  opinion  that  if 
old  Adam  of  Spotland  had  known  that  his  bequest  would  at 
some  future  day  be  in  the  possession  of  a  man  who  would 
be  ungrateful  enough  to  sneer  at  the  Church  of  his  affec- 
tions, he  would  have  directed  his  property  into  a  very 
different  channel."  " '  Mr.  Robert  Bath  was  vicar  many 
years/  He  '  resigned  his  living  rather  than  act  contrary  to  the 
dictates  of  his  conscience/  We  are  not  greatly  surprised  that 
such  men  as  Robert  Bath  should  be  rarely  found  in  the  State 
Church.  The  facts  before  us  are  of  a  mournful  character.  For 
such  men  as  he  to  be  in  the  Establishment,  where  the  soul  is 
tied  down  by  Acts  of  Parliament,  would  be  unnatural  and  almost 
impossible.  An  Act  of  Uniformity,  made  by  weak  and  erring 
mortals  to  bind  the  human  mind  for  ever,  is  a  monstrous  thing. 
Are  mankind  to  stand  still?  Are  all  things  to  change  and  to 
advance,  and  man  alone  to  rest  content  with  ignorance  and 
superstition  and  imperfection?  Is  a  parchment  church,  whilst  it 
drains  the  purse,  to  perpetuate  error  and  to  shun  as  a  pestilence 
the  discovery  of  truth  ?  Is  custom  to  be  venerated  because  it  is 
old,  or  ought  we  not  rather  to  affirm  with  Cyprian  that  custom 
without  truth  is  but  agedness  of  error  ?  The  call  of  truth  is 
often  a  still  small  voice — the  temptation  of  wealth,  and  ease, 
and  station,  speak  loudly  to  the  frailty  of  our  nature,  but  when, 
to  use  the  words  of  Bacon,  'men  by  indignities  come  to 
dignities/  better  far  were  it  to  wander  poor  and  friendless,  an 
outcast  on  the  world,  like  Robert  Bath,  the  Puritan  vicar  of 
Rochdale,  than  to  live  in  the  thraldom  of  a  church  hedged  in  by 
the  clauses  of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  even  though  delusion  may 
H  2 


100  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (1842. 

have  become  so  dense  that  the  poor  victim  hugs  his  fetters,  and 
dances  with  violent  gesticulation  even  in  his  chains/'  "  When 
that  obstinate,  if  not  then  insane  monarch,  George  III.,  was 
carrying  fire  and  sword  into  the  American  colonies,  in  the  vain 
endeavour  to  compel  them  to  submit  to  his  arbitrary  will,  the 
ministry  of  that  day  was  supported  by  the  whole  bench  of 
bishops,  with  only  one  honourable  exception.  When  the 
aristocracy  of  Britain  were  draining  the  country  which  has  so 
long  been  afflicted  by  the  pressure  of  their  iron  heel,  for  the 
purpose  of  exterminating  the  germs  of  liberty  in  continental 
Europe,  the  whole  bench  of  bishops,  with  only  one  honoui-able 
exception,  were  their  firm  allies,  and  their  votes  were  ever  ready 
in  behalf  of  the  war  which  was  desolating  the  fairest  portions  of 
the  civilised  world. 

'  When  earth  wept  blood  that  wolves  might  lap  and  swill, 

And  pleading  mercy  was  a  trampled  worm, 
Basely  they  pander' d  to  the  slayer's  will, 
And  still  their  spells  they  mutter  in  the  storm, 
Retarding  long  the  march  of  slow  reform.' 

When  the  question  of  the  abolition  of  that  infamous  and 
accursed  traffic  in  human  flesh,  the  African  slave  trade,  was  pro- 
posed, it  met  with  great  opposition  from  the  bench  of  bishops. 
Their  conduct  on  one  occasion  drew  from  Lord  Eldon  the  cutting 
sarcasm  that  '  the  slave  trade  could  not  be  opposed  to  Chris- 
tianity and  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  seeing  that  it  was 
uniformly  supported  by  the  right  reverend  prelates/  '  But  the 
measure  of  the  political  iniquities  of  this  band  of  spiritual  lords 
is  not  yet  filled  up,  nor  will  it  be  until  the  day  when  the  voice 
of  an  awakened  and  indignant  people  shall  call  them  from  the 
high  places  they  have  scaled,  and  with  stern  rebuke  assign  them 
a  position  more  in  accordance  with  their  demerits.  That  the 
bishops  and  the  hosts  of  the  clergymen  who  are  sighing  for 
Episcopal  dignities  should  hate  and  oppose  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League  will  not  be  matter  of  surprise  to  those  who  have  studied 
the  history  of  priestcraft.  The  Anti-Corn-Law  League  is  the 
foe  of  aristocratic  injustice,  and  the  State  Church  is  the  creature 
and  tool  of  the  aristocracy/ 

"  We  doubt  not  that  the  munificent  contribution  made  in 
this  town  to  the  '  Great  League  Fund '  has  had  an  effect  the 
reverse  of  soothing  upon  the  nerves  of  the  bread-taxing  Vicar  of 
Rochdale.  When  men  refuse  at  all  hazards  to  pay  Church 
Rates,  and  yet  cheerfully  contribute  upwards  of  £2,000  to 
an  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  it  indicates  a  degree  of  alienation 
from  the  '  Political  Church '  which  must  shock  the  feelings  of 


1848.]        .  ON    GRAMMAR.  101 

every  well-paid  and  comfortable  dignitary  who  nestles  within  its 
ample  folds.  And  so  it  is  in  Rochdale." 

A  short  time  before  the  publication  of  "Common  Sense" 
was  discontinued,  in  September,  1843,  Mr.  Bright,  through  his 
attention  becoming  niore%  absorbed  with  the  objects  of  the  Anti- 
Corn-Law  League,  contributed  very  few  articles  to  the  "  Vicar's 
Lantern,"  and  the  last  number  of  this  publication  was  issued 
on  the  1st  December,  1843,  the  editor's  closing  words  being: — 
"  We  rejoice  that  amidst  the  dangers  and  difficulties  that  have 
beset  our  path  we  are  at  length  enabled  in  peaceful  triumph  to 
place  the  extinguisher  with  our  own  hand  upon  the  '  Vicar's 
Lantern/  " 

Our  readers  will  perceive  from  the  extracts  we  have  given 
that  the  articles  written  by  Mr.  Bright  manifest  much  literary 
ability;  and  no  doubt  they  contributed  considerably  to  bring  about 
many  changes  in  Church  matters  as  they  then  existed,  and  which 
appeared  to  the  writer  to  be  very  objectionable  from  a  Dissenter's 
point  of  view. 

Mr.  Bright,  many  years  ago,  in  awarding  prizes  to  the  suc- 
cessful competitors  in  the  classes  connected  with  the  Rochdale 
Working  Men's  Educational  Institute  (an  institution  which  has 
since  collapsed) ,  said  he  found  that  this  institution  gave  lessons 
in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  grammar  and  geography. 

"Well,"  he  added,  "I  have  great  respect  for  all  those  except  grammar. 
(Laughter. )  If  there  is  any  lad  here  who  is  engaged  in  learning  grammar,  I  will 
undertake  to  say  that  he  will  say  it  is  the  very  driest  and  most  unpleasant  study 
that  any  person  ever  put  himself  to.  (Laughter. )  When  I  was  at  school,  which  is  a 
long  time  ago,  we  learned  a  grammar  written  by  a  gentleman  who,  I  believe,  was  a 
member  of  the  religious  persuasion  to  which  I  belong,  and  who  was  a  native  of  the 
United  States  of  America— Lindley  Murray.  Lindley  Murray's  grammar  had  a 
great  reputation  then,  and  for  anything  I  know  has  yet ;  but  if  it  has,  I  pity  the  lads 
that  have  to  learn  it  as  I  had  to  learn  it — (laughter) — for  as  far  as  I  can  recollect— 
and  no  doubt  it  is  but  a  cloudy  sort  of  a  recollection  that  I  have — there  were  no  end 
of  rules,  and  no  end  of  examples — rules  within  rules,  and  exceptions  of  all  kinds, 
and  I  have  now  a  feeling  of  utter  confusion  of  my  mind  in  endeavouring  to  under- 
stand all  the  rules  of  Lindley  Murray's  grammar.  (Laughter.)  My  opinion  is  that 
grammar  may  be  very  easily  learned  without  all  that,  and  that  it  is  very  difficult  for 
any  person  who  reads  well-written  books,  and  understands  them,  not  to  acquire  a 
very  competent  knowledge  of  grammar,  without  finding  it  necessary  to  learn  all  the 
rules  in  that  celebrated  but  unhappy  book."  (Laughter.) 

Mr.  William  Logan,  of  Glasgow,  in  his  book  on  "The  Great 
Social  Evil,"  gives  a  glimpse  of  another  trait  in  Mr.  John 
Bright's  character.  "  In  my  missionary  efforts,  not  only  to 
reclaim  fallen  women,  but  to  try  and  benefit  the  deserving  poor, 
I  found  Mr.  John  Bright  (now  the  Right  Hon.  M.P.  for 
Birmingham)  ever  ready  to  lend,  especially  with  his  purse,  a 
helping  hand.  It  may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  a  few  days 
;i Her  my  arrival  in  Rochdale,  in  1840, 1  had  a  pleasant  interview 


102  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  .        [1840 

with  Mr.  Bright  at  his  counting-house.  At  that  time  I  was 
employed  by  a  Congregational  Church  in  the  town,  so  that  Mr. 
B  right's  co-operation  was  all  the  more  disinterested.  On  that 
occasion  he  remarked  that  I  would  find  plenty  of  work  in  the 
poorer  districts  of  the  town  ;  and  where.  I  met  with  cases  of  real 
distress  he  should  be  glad  to  supply  me  with  a  little  money  to 
give  temporary  relief  to  really  destitute  persons.  I  soon  found 
a  number  of  such  cases.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Bright  was  satisfied 
that  the  case  was  a  deserving  one,  he  at  once,  in  the  most 
unostentatious  manner,  furnished  the  means  of  relief — the  name 
of  the  generous  donor  being  concealed.  At  this  time  Mr.  Bright 
also  gave  a  discretionary  power  to  send  any  poor  boy  or  girl  to 
an  excellent  unsectarian  school  at  his  expense ;  and  not  a  few 
children,  whose  parents  could  not  or  would  not  pay,  were  in  this 
way  educated.  His  venerable  father  was  likewise  always  willing 
to  aid  the  destitute,  and  even  the  erring.  He  was  as  fine  a 
specimen  as  could  be  met  with  of  the  '  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom 
there  is  no  guile/  I  have  still  a  distinct  recollection  of  being 
asked  by  him  one  morning  to  call  on  a  family  that  I  heard  was 
not  very  deserving,  and  said  so.  The  genial  and  esteemed 
Quaker  quietly,  but  impressively,  remarked,  '  I  do  not  like  to  be 
jmposed  upon,  but  thou  must  remember,  when  visiting  the  poor, 
that  if  a  man  is  not  as  regular  in  his  habits  as  he  should  be,  he 
is  not  on  that  account  to  be  allowed  to  starve — much  less  his 
wife  and  helpless  innocent  children/  He  then  handed  me,  as 
he  had  often  done  before,  a  sum  of  money  to  be  given  prudently 
to  the  poor,  or  to  help  in  sending  some  poor  wanderer  home/'' 

An  instance  of  feigned  poverty  came  under  Mr.  Bright's 
notice.  On  a  Saturday  morning  a  stranger  presented  himself  at 
the  counting-house  of  Field-house  Mills,  and  told  Mr.  John 
Bright  that  he  had  found  employment  at  one  of  the  foundries 
in  Rochdale,  and  was  to  begin  work  on  the  following  Monday, 
but  had  nothing  for  his  present  support.  Mr.  Bright,  calling 
one  of  his  warehousemen,  gave  into  his  care  five  shillings,  and 
directed  him  to  accompany  the  applicant  to  the  foundry  named, 
and  if  his  story  were  correct  he  was  to  give  the  man  the  five 
shillings.  They  proceeded  together  four  or  five  Irandred  yards, 
when  the  vagrant  inquired  where  his  companion  was  going.  He 
replied,  that  he  was  going  to  the  foundry  to  make  inquiries.  The 
impostor,  finding  that  his  plan  of  deception  would  not  succeed, 
without  delay  ran  away  in  an  opposite  direction,  and  was  soon  out 
of  sight.  Mr.  Bright,  seeing  his  warehouseman  return  so  soon, 
inquired  the  reason,  and  on  learning  the  truth  was  amused. 

Many  trifling  incidents  have  occurred  which  have  brought 


mo.]      ,  SYMPATHY    FOB    THE    POOR.  103 

out  Mr.  John  Bright' s  .sympathy  for  his  fellow-men,  of  which 
the  following  is  an  instance  : — Passing  one  day  through  his 
mills  with  Mr.  Saniuel  Tweed  ale,  his  manager,  he  noticed  that  a 
young  woman  named  Sarah  Turner  was  looking  very  ill,  and 
desired  Mr.  Tweedale  to  inquire  if  she  had  proper  food.  The 
manager  replied  that  it  was  not  bodily  want  that  she  was  suf- 
fering from,  but  her  mind  was  ill  at  ease  concerning  her  brother, 
who  had  enlisted,  and  that  she  had  been  for  some  time  accu- 
mulating her  little  savings  for  the  purpose  of  buying  him  off ; 
that  she  had  once  broken  down  in  health,  and  was  just  recover- 
ing her  strength.  The  anxious  sister's  small  savings  were 
increased  to  the  desired  amount  by  a  generous  and  unseen  hand, 
whose  sympathy  took  the  form  of  substantial  benevolence,  and 
the  absent  brother  returned,  to  spend  his  days  in  peaceful 
industry,  instead  of  seeking  glory's  bubble  at  the  cannon's 
mouth. 


CHAPTER,    XI. 

ACTION    OF    THE    ANTI-CORN-LAW    LEAGUE. 

.  lie-turn  of  the  Distress — The  Action  in  the  House  of  Commons — Conferences  and 
Meetings  in  the  Country — Richard  Cobdeii  made  a  Member  of  Parliament — 
Hostility  in  the  House  to  him — The  Death  of  Mrs.  Bright — Cohden's  Advice — 
Horace  Twiss's  Opinion  of  Cobdeii — The  irrepressible  Manchester  Fellows — The 
Cause  of  the  Depression  of  the  Flannel  Trade. 

DURING  the  year  1840  there  was  much  to  discourage  the  men 
who  had  engaged  to  oppose  the  Corn  Laws,  and  who  were 
regarded  by  their  opponents  as  intruders  from  Manchester,  on 
a  mission  to  forward  their  own  interests.  In  spite  of  the  pre- 
vailing distress,  the  bad  harvests,  and  the  high  price  of  corn,  a 
host  of  pamphleteers  rushed  into  print  to  prove  that  the  repeal 
of  the  Corn  Laws  would  benefit  the  working  man  by  only  about 
the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  part  of  a  penny  on  the  price  of  a 
quartern  loaf,  and  therefore  it  was  good  for  the  health,  morals, 
education,  comfort,  and  happiness  of  the  labouring  classes  that 
there  should  be  a  high  price  of  corn  and  little  work,  with  which 
to  earn  the  small  wages  that  were  to  be  given  away  for  the 
dear  bread. 

From  a  return  compiled  by  persons  who  accompanied  the  enu- 
merators of  the  population  of  Rochdale  in  1841,  with  a  view  to 
present  a  record  to  the  House  of  Commons  of  the  condition  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Rochdale,  it  appeared  that  in  several  families 
of  seven  or  eight  members  there  were  only  two  beds,  the  weekly 
incomes  of  such  families  being  from  10s.  to  13s.  In  another 
family  of  four  members  there  was  one  bed,  and  the  earnings 
were  8s.  a  week.  In"  another  there  were  seven  persons  with 
three  beds,  and  the  earnings  did  not  exceed  10s.  Another  of 
four  pers<  :is  possessed  two  beds,  and  earned  only  5s.  a  week. 
There  were  also  found  families  of  seven  persons  with  twro  beds 
living  on  5s.  a  week;  of  three  persons  with  two  beds  and  Is.  3d. 
a  week ;  of  five  persons  with  two  beds  and  fis.  a  week  ;  two 
persons  with  one  bed  and  earnings  Is.  2d.  with  2s.  parochial 
relief.  In  all  these  cases  the  household  furniture  and  bedding 
were  scanty,  and  the  inmates  poorly  clad. 

On  the  3rd  of  April,  1840,  Mr.  Villiers  brought  a  motion 
into  the  House  of  Commons  in  favour  of  a  committee  to  consider 


1841.]  FIESTX  MEETING   OF   VILLIEKS   AND   BEIGHT.  105 

the  operation  of  the  Corn  Law  Act,  and  the  result  was  that  131 
were  in  its  favour,  and  227  voted  for  adjourning  it  sine  die,  so  that 
the  amendment  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  86.  The  following 
month  he  again  introduced  his  motion,  but  it  was  rejected  by  a 
majority  of  123.  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  on  the  llth  of  June,  1840, 
in  the  House  of  Lords  moved  that  it  be  expedient  to  consider  the 
laws  relating-  to  the  importation  of  foreign  corn.  Only  42  were 
in  favour  of  the  motion,  and  142  against  it. 

On  the  14th  of  April,  1841,  Mr.  Bright  formed  one  of  a 
deputation  from  Rochdale  at  a  Conference  in  the  League  Rooms, 
Market  Street,  Manchester,  on  the  subject  of  the  Corn  Laws. 
In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Corn 
Exchange,  presided  over  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Smith,  afterwards 
member  for  Stockport  for  many  years,  and  about  2,000  persons 
were  present.  Mr.  Cobden  was  one  of  the  speakers.  Mr. 
Bright,  in  moving  a  resolution,  declared  that  the  Corn  Laws 
were  the  greatest  iniquity  on  the  face  of  the  statute  book.  He 
had  proofs  of  this  in  his  own  native  town,  where  the  Corn 
Laws  were  causing  a  scarcity  of  food.  He  had  been  told  that  in 
Stockport  out  of  a  street  of  100  houses  99  were  empty,  and  he 
asked  what  had  become  of  the  inhabitants.  Some  of  them  had 
gone  to  America,  some  had  removed  into  lower- rented  houses, 
some  to  the  workhouse,  and  some  doubtless  to  their  graves. 

Mr.  Villiers,  in  reply  to  our  inquiry  as  to  where  he  firsl 
saw  Mr.  John  Bright,  stated: —  (l  I  think  it  was  in  1840-1, 
when  I  was  with  Mr.  Cobden  in  Manchester,  and  he  requested 
me  to  accompany  him  to  a  meeting,  as  I  should  then  hear  a 
young  man,  a  son  of  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  of  Rochdale,  who  would 
speak  on  the  subject  of  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and  who 
had  lately  shown  considerable  ability  in  some  religious  contro- 
versy in  his  own  town,  and  he  should  like  to  hear  what  I  thought 
of  him.  I  remember  that  upon  hearing  him  I  was  most  favour- 
ably impressed,  with  the  force  and  earnestness  with  which  he 
spoke,  and  strongly  urged  upon  Mr.  Cobden  the  advantage  it 
would  be  if  his  services  could  be  engaged  in  this  cause  in  which 
we  were  then  so  much  interested.  Soon  after  that  he  was  seen 
and  heard  (with  great  success)  on  the  same  platform  with  Mr. 
Cobden,  and  afterwards  became  one  of  the  most  prominent 
speakers  in  the  country  against  the  Corn  Laws." 

The  Budget  of  1841  was  made  the  occasion  of  a  great  party 
fight,  which  lasted  eight  nights,  and  which  terminated  in  the 
defeat  of  the  ministers  by  a  majority  of  thirty-six  votes.  In  the 
course  of  this  debate  Lord  Palmerston  showed  that  he  had  be- 
come completely  converted  to  Free  Trade.  In  reply  to  a  sarcastic 


106  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1841 

speech  from  Sir  Robert  Peel,  he  said  the  whole  history  of  parlia- 
mentary legislation  for  a  number  of  years  past  had  been  nothing 
but  the  destruction  of  monopolies.  "  The  Test  and  Corporation 
Acts,  the  Protestant  Monopoly  in  Parliament,  the  Borough- 
monger's  Monopoly,  had  successively  fallen.  The  monopolies  of 
corporators  and  that  of  the  East  India  Company  had  also  gone 
down.  We  were  now  pursuing  monopoly  into  the  last  stronghold 
— were  attacking  the  monopoly  of  trade."  He  concluded  by 
telling  his  opponents  that  although  they  might  then  resist  the 
measures  proposed  by  Government,  "  yet,  if  they  should  come 
into  office,  these  were  the  measures  which  a  just  regard  for  the 
finances  and  commerce  of  the  country  would  compel  themselves 
to  propose."  A  few  nights  later  a  vote  of  want  of  confidence 
was  proposed,  and  the  ministers  obtaining  a  majority  of  only  one, 
resolved  to  appeal  to  the  country.  The  dissolution  took  place 
early  in  June.  The  contest  was  fought  upon  the  decisive  ques- 
tion of  Free  Trade,  and  the  verdict  of  the  country  was  against  it. 
The  Members  of  the  Anti-Corn  Law  League  decided  to 
bring  forward  Mr.  Cobden  as  a  candidate  for  Stockport,  and- he 
was  returned  on  the  30th  of  June.  The  result  of  the  general 
election  was  a  majority  of  ninety  for  the  Conservative  party. 
Sir  Robert  Peel  became  prime  minister,  and  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  Lord  Aberdeen,  ,and  Sir  James  Graham  were 
members  of  the  cabinet.  The  new  Parliament  assembled  on  the 
19th  of  August,  and  in  the  royal  speech  it  was  called  upon  to 
direct  its  attention  to  "  the  revision  of  the  duties  affecting  the 
protection  of  the  country ;  to  consider  whether  some  of  these 
duties  were  not  so  trifling  in  amount  as  to  be  unproductive  to 
the  revenue,  while  they  were  vexatious  to  the  commerce ;  to 
further  examine  whether  the  principle  of  protection  upon  which 
other  of  those  duties  were  founded  was  not  carried  to  an  extent 
injurious  alike  to  the  income  of  the  State  and  the  interests  of  the 
people ;  and  above  all,  to  consider  the  laws  which  regulate  the 
trade  in  com."  The  majority  of  the  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  however,  decided  that  they  had  not  been  sent  there  to 
take  measures  for  the  freedom  of  commerce,  the  resuscitating  of 
trade,  or  the  mitigating  of  the  sufferings  of  millions  of  people.  In 
fact,  the  "  agricultural  interest "  boasted  of  having  returned  the 
Parliament ;  and  from  what  followed  in  the  sessions,  it  appeared 
that  the  boast  was  founded  on  facts.  When,  acting  in  concert,  a 
determined  majority  sent  forth  in  the  House  of  Commons  shouts 
of  derision  and  cries  of  disapprobation,  it  was  no  mean  chirrup. 
This  was  the  species  of  hostility  which  the  new  member  for 
Stockport  had  to  encounter  when  he  made  his  first  appearance 


1841.1  MRS.    BEIGHT'S    DEATH.  107 

in  Parliament.  The  moment  he  uttered  a  Free-trade  sentiment, 
the  crowded  monopolist  benches  attempted  to  sink  it  with  a 
storm  of  disapprobation.  The  name  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League  was  the  signal  for  laughter  loud  and  long-,  or  else  a 
tirade  against  that  "  presumptuous/'  "  audacious/'  "  inter- 
meddling/' "  factious/'  and  "  mischievous  "  association,  which 
prevented  the  great  body  of  the  people  from  enjoying  scarcity 
and  dearness  of  food,  and  protected  want  of  employment. 

Mr.  Villiers  informed  the  author  of  this  biography,  that  Mr. 
Cobden  consented  to  become  a  member  of  parliament  "  after 
some  hesitation  which  he  expressed  to  me  (Mr.  Villiers)  in  a 
letter  asking  my  advice,  and  which  I  gave  most  distinctly  in 
favour  of  his  doing  so,  if  he  could,  for  it  was  in  the  House  of 
Commons  where  our  real  opponents  were  in  all  their  force,  and 
where  the  fight  had  really  to  be  carried  on/' 

In  the  summer  months  of  this  year,  instead  of  bright  sun- 
shine to  mature  the  wheat  and  mellow  the  fruit,  dark  clouds 
chased  each  other  across  the  sky,  and  torrents  of  rain  drenched 
the  ground.  A  dark  and  gloomy  winter  followed ;  commerce 
was  depressed,  and  the  labouring  classes  suffered  severely. 

"  Shoals  of  artisans 

From  ill-requited  labour  turned  adrift, 
Sought  daily  bread  from  public  charity." 

Mr.  Bright's  anxieties  were  increased  by  forebodings  of 
sorrow  in  his  own  home,  for  the  decline  of  Mrs.  Bright's  health 
troubled  him,  and  they  removed  to  Leamington,  so  that  she 
might  be  benefited  by  that  more  salubrious  air,  but  his  suffering 
became  more  severe, 

' '  Because  too  surely  in  her  cheek  he  saw 
The  insidious  bloom  of  death  ;  and  then  her  smile 
And  innocent  mirth  excited  deeper  grief." 

The  stern  winter  of  1841  was  fast  approaching,  the  green 
of  the  fields  was  fading,  the  forest  darkening,  and  sere 
leaves  falling  before  their  time  ;  a  hoarser  murmur  came  from 
the  mountain  stream,  migratory  birds  were  Hocking,  and 
pluming  their  wings  for  their  long  flight  to  more  genial  climes, 
and  the  last  rose  of  summer  "  in  the  Sabbath  of  the  year/'  had 
just  sprung  from  the  clefts  of  its  hood,  bowed  its  head  and 
broken  the  stalk,  when  Mrs.  Bright's  soul  took  its  flight  to  the 
God  who  gave  it,  and  her  earthly  frame  was  buried  in  the  quiet 
haven  of  the  Rochdale  Friends'  Meeting  House.  There  is, 
perhaps,  no  circumstance  so  well  calculated  to  awaken  the 
fulness  of  tender  feelinp1  as  the  death  of  those  to  whom  the 


108  LITE    AND   TIMES    OP   JOHN    BRIGHT. 

heart  has  been  long  and  fondly  attached.  Not,  indeed,  in  the 
first  flow  and  bitterness  of  irrepressible  grief,  but  when  time  and 
the  memory  of  former  happiness  have  mellowed  anguish  into 
tender  regret.  Beneath  such  a  loss  he  was  bowed  down  with 
sorrow,  and  the  misery  of  the  poor  shared  the  sigh  which  the 
calamity  of  his  home  extorted.  The  last  night  of  her  life,  when 
attacked  by  the  hemorrhage  which  carried  her  off,  she  did  not 
forget  to  thank  the  doctor  for  his  kindness,  nor  to  request  her 
attendants  to  see  that  he  should  have  some  coffee ;  showing  the 
gentle  thoughtfulness  which  marked  her  character  through  her 
too  short  life. 

The  sad  event  and  what  followed  is  best  described  in  a  speech 
which  Mr.  Bright  delivered  at  Rochdale  : — 

"  He  best  can  paint  them  who  shall  feel  them  most." 

"  lu  this  beautiful  address  there  is  a  reference  to  services  which  you  are  kind  enough 
to  say  I  have  rendered  in  conjunction  with  the  illustrious  and  lamented  Mr.  Cobden. 
This  reminds  me  of  an  incident  which  had  something  to  do  with  my  after  career. 
In  the  year  1841  I  was  at  Leamington,  and  spent  several  months  there.  It  was  near 
the  middle  of  September  there  fell  upon  me  one  of  the  heaviest  blows  that  can  visit 
any  man.  I  found  myself  left  there  with  none  living  of  my  house  but  a  motherless 
child.  Mr.  Cobden  called  upon  me  the  day  after  that  event,  so  terrible  to  me,  and 
so  prostrating.  He  said,  after  some  conversation,  '  Don't  allow  this  grief,  great  as 
it  is.  to  weigh  you  down  too  much  ;  there  are  at  this  moment  in  thousands  of  homes 
in  this  country  wives  and  children  who  are  dying  of  hunger,  of  hunger  made  by  the 
law.  (Hear,  hear.)  If  you  will  come  along  with  me,  we  will  never  rest  till  we 
have  got  rid  of  the  Corn  Law.'  (Cheers.)  We  saw  the  colossal  injustice  which 
cast  its  shadow  over  every  part  of  the  nation,  and  we  thought  we  saw  the  true 
remedy  and  the  relief,  and  that  if  we  united  our  efforts,  as  you  know  we  did,  with 
the  efforts  of  hundreds  and  thousands  of  good  men  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  we 
should  be  able  to  bring  that  remedy  home,  and  to  afford  that  relief  to  the  starving 
people  of  this  country.  (Hear.)  I  recollect  well,  in  some  of  our  labours,  when  I 
looked  forward  to  the  day  (we  could  not  see  it,  but  we  knew  that  it  was  coming) 
when  that  injustice  would  be  removed,  and  that  law-made  hunger  would  be  ever 
after  prevented.  I  recollect  often  that  I  took  to  myself  something  of  prophecy  from 
the  lines  of  one  of  our  poets — when  that  day  shall  come,  I  thought: — 

'  Then  shall  misery's  sons  and  daughters 

In  their  lowly  dwellings  sing  ; 
Bounteous  as  the  Nile's  dark  waters, 

Undiscover'd  as  their  spring, 
We  will  scatter  o'er  the  land 
Plenty  with  a  secret  hand.'  " 

The  call  came  from  a  voice  which  was  as  potent  to  him  as  it 
was  destined  to  become  in  the  councils  of  the  country ;  and  he 
arose  from  his  sorrow,  and  gave  himself  to  labours  that  blessed 
mankind,  and  the  name  of  Cobden  and  Bright  became  household 
words  on  the  lips  of  the  people  of  England. 

Mr.  Bright's  sister,  Miss  Priscilla  Bright  (now  Mrs. 
McLaren),  presided  over  the  quiet  little  home  at  "  One  Ash," 
after  the  death  of  Mrs.  Bright,  and  gave  him  every  help  and 
sympathy  in  his  work,  not  only  from  affection  for  him,  but  also 
from  a  deep  interest  in  all  public  questions, 


1841.]  "ONLY   A    MANCHESTER    MAN!"  109 

Most  speakers,  even  although  they  have  beeu  in  the  habit 
for  years  of  addressing  large  provincial  audiences,  feel  a  degree 
of  nervousness  on  rising  in  the  House  of  Commons,  especially 
for  the  first  time.  This  may  be  attributed  to  the  natural 
diffidence  in  rising  before  such  an  august  assembly,  and  the 
critical  character  of  the  audience,  their  undoubted  intelligence, 
and  superiority  as  speakers.  Mr.  Cobden,  when  he  delivered  his 
maiden  speech  in  the  House,  felt  nervous  and  embarrassed,  and 
this  was  heightened  by  the  consciousness  of  his  being  leader 
of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  and  consequently  regarded  with 
suspicion.  The  jeering  aspect  of  his  opponents  was  expressive 
of  their  contempt,  and  it  was  said  that  his  style  was  only  fit  to 
influence  audiences  in  manufacturing  districts,  and  any  slight 
defect  in  his  speeches  was  pounced  upon  and  held  up  to 
derision.  Even  the  details  of  his  business  were  indecorously 
discussed,  and  an  attempt  made  to  degrade  the  position  of  a 
manufacturer.  The  old  monopolists  asked  who  he  was,  and  the 
young  ones  raising  their  eye-glasses  also  inquired,  "  Who  did 
you  say  he  was  ?  "  "  Oh,  only  a  Manchester  man.  He's  one  of 
those  who  belong  to  the — what  do  you  call  it  ? — to  the  what's- 
his-name  ? — that  provincial  thing  that  tried  to  make  a  noise  at 
the  election  about  cheap  bread.  Oh,  ah — the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League — I  mean.  Exactly.  I  daresay  he  has  some  ability, 
but  it  is  a  horrid  bore  to  be  pestered  with  these  Manchester 
fellows.  We  must  get  somebody  to  answer  him — what  do  you 
think  ?  There's  Ferrand,  let's  get  him  up.  He  has  a  magnifi- 
cent voice,  and  anybody  will  do  to  silence  these  Manchester 
men/'  So  Ferrand,  although  his  opinions  were  like  the  plants 
that  grow  upon  rocks,  that  stick  fast  though  they  have  no 
rooting,  was  got  up,  and  rewarded  with  cheers;  was  the  talk 
of  the  clubs,  and  the  admired  of  some  assemblies,  but  they 

"  Never  remember'd  the  wretched  onei 
That  starved  for  the  want  of  food." 

The  Manchester  fellows,  however,  refused  to  keep  silence,  and 
gradually  made  their  way  in  the  House,  notwithstanding  the 
determined  effort  to  put  them  down.  "Gratuitous  violence  in 
argument  betrays  a  conscious  weakness  of  the  cause,  and  is 
usually  a  signal  of  despair."  And  the  rule  applied  in  this  case, 
and  every  effort  failed  to  silence  Mr.  Cobden,  and  he  was 
propelled  forward  by  these  attempts.  He  made  his  way  not  by 
bullying  and  vulgarity,  but  by  clear,  pungent  common  sense, 
and  by  the  force  of  intellect  and  exquisite  tact.  He  only  spoke 
when  he  had  something  to  say,  and  his  remarks  were  put  in  the 


110  LIFE   AND  TIMES   OF  JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1841. 

tersest  way  at  the  fittest  opportunity.    In  later  years,  in  referring 
to  this  period,  Mr.  Cobden  said  : — 

"  When  I  went  up  to  Parliament  in  1841,  it  would  have  been  much  easier  and 
more  pleasant  to  many  minds,  and  a  much  more  agreeable  life,  if  I  had  at  once 
fallen  into  the  track,  and,  instead  of  instituting  au  independent  resistance  to 
Government  when  I  chose,  I  had  joined  the  governing  class,  and  become  one  of 
their  humble  servants.  But  the  very  first  day  I  weut  into  Parliament,  in  1841, 
when  the  lines  of  party  were  still  visible,  when  there  was  a  great  gulf  between  the 
two  great  parties  on  the  two  sides  of  the  House — when  Sir  Robert  Peel  had  his  390 
or  400  men,  and  Lord  John  Russell  his  270  or  280  men— the  very  first  time  I  got  up 
and  spoke  as  the  Member  for  Stockport,  I  declared  I  came  there  to  do  something — 
to  repeal  the  Corn  Laws,  and  I  would  know  neither  Whig  nor  Tory  until  that  work 
was  done." 

Mr.  Bright  in  another  speech  describes  being  in  the  gallery 
of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1811  when  Mr.  Cobden  made  his 
first  speech. 

"I  happened  to  sit,"  he  stated,  "close  to  a  gentleman,  not  now  living — Mr. 
Horace  Twiss — who  had  once  himself  been  a  member  of  the  House,  but  who  was 
then  occupied  in  the  gallery  writing  the  parliamentary  summary  of  the  proceedings, 
which  were  published  morning  after  morning  in  the  Times.  Mr.  Cobden  had  a 
certain  reputation  when  he  went  into  Parliament  from  the  course  he  had  taken  before 
the  public  in  connection  with  the  Corn  Law  out  of  doors.  There  was  great  interest 
about  his  first  speech  as  to  the  position  he  would  take  in  the  House.  •  Mr.  Horace 
Twiss  was  a  Tory  of  the  old  school.  He  appeared  to  have  the  greatest  possible 
horror  of  anybody  who  was  a  manufacturer  or  a  calico  printer  coming  down  into 
the  assembly  to  teach  our  senators  wisdom.  As  the  speech  went  on  I  watched  his 
countenance  and  heard  his  observations,  and  when  Mr.  Cobden  sat  down  he  threw 
it  off  with  a  careless  gesture  and  said,  'Nothing  in  him;  he  is  only  a  barker.' 
Horace  Twiss  consoled  himself  that  there  was  no  harm  to  be  done  to  the  established 
interests,  mainly  represented  in  that  House  by  the  eloquence  or  the  arguments  of 
the  member  for  Stockport.  Well,  now,  it  was  not  very  long  before  Mr.  Cobden 
found  himself  having  just  as  much  influence  in  that  House  as  he  had  had  at  meet- 
ings such  as  this.  I  believe  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  fact  that  some  of  Mr. 
Cobden's  speeches — one,  in  particular,  that  I  recoHect,  in  connection  with  the 
effect  of  protection  on  agriculture — had  such  an  effect  upon  the  mind  and  opinions 
of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  that  if  I  were  to  point  out  any  one  thing  that  mainly  brought 
Sir  Robert  Peel  to  be  a  Free  Trader  not  long  afterwards,  I  should  point  to  the 
speech  made  on  that  particular  night  by  Mr.  Cobdeu.  Well,  this  'barker'  of 
Horace  Twiss  became  a  great  power  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  a  great  power 
in  the  country.  Now,  I  had  the  good  fortune,  after  the  year  1841,  and  for  five 
years,  and,  in  fact,  for  something  longer  than  five  years,  to  be  most  intimately  and 
closely  associated  with  him  in  his  labour.  I  can  speak  of  his  industry  and  his 
sagacity,  of  the  incessant  correspondence  in  which  he  was  engaged,  I  can  speak  also 
of  the  speeches  he  delivered.  I  remember  the  beautiful  and  yet  homely  illustra- 
tions with  which  they  were  filled.  I  recollect  well  how  at  every  meeting  he 
attended  I  could  see  the  truth,  as  it  were,  spreading  from  his  lips  and  permeating 
the  minds  of  all  those  who  heard  him,  till  you  could  see  in  their  countenances  and 
eyes  that  they  had  got  hold  of  a  new  truth  that  they  would  keep  for  ever." 

In  these  days,  as  on  many  occasions  since,  much  palaver  was 
heard  in  the  House  of  Commons  about  the  time-hallowed 
institutions  and  approved  wisdom  of  our  ancestors,  when  at- 
tempts were  made  to  remove  monuments  of  their  folly.  Sir 
Matthew  Hale,  that  great  luminary  of  law,  after  having 
condemned  a  poor  woman  to  death  for  witchcraft,  took  occasion 
to  sneer  at  the  rash  innovators  who  were  then  advocating  a 


1841.]  ANCESTKAL   PRIDE.  Ill 

repeal  of  that  statute;  and  falling-  on  his  knees,  thanked  God 
for  being  enabled  to  uphold  one  of  the  safest  enactments  handed 
down  to  us  by  our  venerable  forefathers.  Bacon,  who  was  so 
far  beyond  his  age  in  all  matters  of  science,  was  not  less 
credulous  than  the  weakest  of  his  contemporaries,  and  published 
very  minute  directions  for  guarding  against  witches,  under 
which  imputation  many  scores  of  wretched  old  women  were 
burnt  in  the  reign  of  James  the  First.  The  worthy  Druids,  who 
sacrificed  human  victims  to  their  idols,  were  "our  illustrious 
ancestors." 

Denunciations  have  also  been  hurled  in  the  same  House 
by  the  supporters  of  the  slave-trade  against  those  who  would 
subvert  "  the  glorious  institutions  handed  down  to  us,"  and 
we  have  been  told  of  the  efficacy  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  the 
benefit  derived  from  wars,  the  danger  of  Popery,  and  in- 
numerable other  phantasms  and  delusions  which  poor  posterity 
will  be  bound  to  adopt  as  gospel,  if  the  seal  of  time  is  to  be 
always  acknowledged  as  the  signet  of  truth.  The  aristocracy 
at  that  time  regarded  manufacturers,  the  middle  class  and  the 
working  class,  as  if  they  were  an  inferior  race  of  beings.  A 
French  author  once  declared  that  he  would  believe  in  the 
intentions  of  nature  to  create  different  ranks  among  mankind, 
.when  he  saw  one  class  born  with  a  crown  upon  their  heads,  like 
a  peacock,  and  another  with  a  mark  of  servitude  across  their 
shoulders.  The  aristocracy  could  not  deny  that  the  other  portion 
of  humanity  bore  the  image  of  the  Deity,  and  had  "  the  limbs, 
the  thews,  the  stature,  bulk,  the  big  semblance  of  a  man/'  with 
his  spirit  and  intelligence,  but  it  might  be  said  with  some 
semblance  of  truth  that  those  who  were  favoured  with  high 
birth,  rank,  and  riches  are  often  of  puny  intellect,  as  if  nature 
had  previously  taken  their  brains  and  stamina  to  fill  her 
cornucopia. 

Throughout  the  years  1840  and  1841  Mr.  Bright  delivered 
speeches  against  the  Corn  Laws  in  many  of  the  important 
centres  of  England,  and  daily  raised  himself  in  the  estimation 
of  his  auditors  as  a  skilful  logician.  He  went  boldly  into  the 
agricultural  districts,  and  uttered  to  them  in  their  own  camp 
truths  which,  however  distasteful,  they  heard  patiently  and 
often  with  attention.  Mr.  Charles  Villiers,  a  gentleman  of 
ability,  was  chosen  leader  of  the  Free  Trade  party  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  He  was  a  man  of  aristocratic  family,  was  eloquent 
and  powerful  in  argument,  but  the  real  leaders  in  the  country 
were  Messrs.  Cobden  and  Bright.  All  this  time  Mr.  Bright  was 
thoroughly  active  in  the  cause,  and  sanguine  as  to  its  ultimate 


U'2  ,   LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (Mil. 

success.  "  Hope  of  a  crop  makes  the  husbandman  sow  his  seed ; 
hope  of  victory  makes  the  soldier  fight ;  and  a  true  hope  of  glory 
makes  the  Christian  vigorously  pursue  glory/' 

On  the  24th  of  August,  1841,  an  amendment  on  the 
ministerial  address,  in  answer  to  the  Queen's  Speech  (which 
recommended  a  revision  of  the  Corn  Laws),  was  carried  in  the 
House  of  Lords  by  168  to  95 — majority  72.  A  similar 
amendment  was  carried  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  same 
evening  by  a  majority  of  91.  Lord  John  Russell,  on  the  6th  of 
February,  1842,  moved  a  resolution  against  the  alteration  in  the 
Corn  Laws,  proposed  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  as  not  being  calculated 
to  remove  the  evils  of  the  former  law.  This  resolution  was  lost ; 
226  were  in  its  favour  and  349  against  it.  On  the  24th  of 
February,  1842,  Mr.  Villievs  brought  in  his  annual  motion  for 
the  total  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  but  he  was  again  defeated, 
the  majority  this  time  being  213.  On  the  25th  February, 
1842,  Mr.  Christopher  moved  an  amendment  for  increasing 
the  duties  proposed  by  Sir  Robert  Peel's  new  Corn  Law  Bill, 
bnt  the  amendment  was  rejected,  and  the  majority  numbered 
203. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  delegates  on  the  1  7th 
of  November,  1841,  in  Manchester,  amongst  other  resolutions 
unanimously  adopted,  there  was  one  recommending  that  distinct 
meetings  of  deputies  from  the  towns  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  the  various  staple  products,  and  from  other  districts  con- 
veniently situated  for  acting  together,  should  be  called,  and 
it  was  further  suggested  that  there  should  be  prepared  for 
publication  at  such  meetings  statements  of  facts  bearing 
upon  the  state  of  the  population  of  the  respective  districts. 
This  great  and  interesting  meeting,  perhaps  one  of  the  most 
important  ever  held  in  the  country  concerning  the  statistics 
of  manufacturing  depression  in  this  large  and  populous  dis- 
trict, was  held  in  the  Corn  Exchange,  Manchester,  on 
Thursday  morning,  December  16th,  1841.  Mr.  Robert  Hyde 
Greg  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  John  Bright,  in  presenting 
an  account  of  the  state  of  things  in  Rochdale,  observed  that 
although  the  deputies  had  come  together  to  consider  the  effect 
produced  on  the  cotton  trade  by  the  Corn  Laws,  still  he  did  not 
think  there  was  any  impropriety  in  laying  some  facts  connected 
with  the  flannel  trade  before  the  meeting.  They  were  all  bear- 
ing on  the  same  point;  and  therefore  without  any  further 
preface  he  would  read  to  the  meeting  a  statement  which  had 
been  drawn  up  at  the  recommendation  of  a  committee  in  Roch- 
dale, who  had  paid  especial  attention  to  the  subject. 


1841.]  THE   STATE    OP   TRADE   IN   ROCHDALE.  113 

"  Many  intelligent  manufacturers  suppose  that,  previous  to  the  passing  of  the 
American  tariff ,  nearly  one-third,  or  at  least  one-fourth,  of  the  flannel  made  in.  Roch- 
dale was  exported  to  the  United  States.  The  American  tariff  passed  in  May,  1828, 
by  105  to  94  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  by  26  to  21  in  the  Senate.  It  is 
remarkable  that  28  of  the  New  England  representatives  voted  against  it,  and  only 
15  for  it ;  and,  as  the  representatives  of  the  southern  states  opposed  it,  it  was  carried 
by  the  representatives  of  the  middle  or  manufacturing  states  and  the  western  or 
agricultural  states.  Mr.  Randolph  said  '  That  if  the  bill  had  its  true  name  it  should 
be  called  a  bill  to  rob  and  plunder  one-half  of  the  Union  for  the  benefit  of  the  other 
half.'  Mr.  Drayton  moved  to  amend  the  title  as  follows :— Strike  out  all  after 
'an  Act,'  and  insert  'to  increase  the  duties  on  certain  imports  for  the  purpose  of 
increasing  the  profits  of  certain  manufacturers,'  When  the  bill  passed,  the  New 
York  papers  said,  'The  expression  of  public  opinion  is  very  bitter  against  this 
measure,  and  the  shipowners  will  have  occasion  to  lament  it  more  than  any  other 
part  of  the  mercantile  community.'  The  consequences  of  this  tariff  upon  the  flannel 
trade  of  Rochdale  were  most  disastrous.  It  at  one  blow  annihilated  the  American 
trade  in  that  description  of  goods,  and  since  1828  the  export  of  flannels  to  the  United 
States  has  been  reduced  to  an  amount  quite  inconsiderable  in  comparison  with  that 
which  took  place  previously. 

"The  inevitable  effect  of  this  diminished  demand  was  scarcity  of  employment 
and  a  fall  of  wages.  Wages  had  remained  pretty  stationary  from  1820  to  1828 ; 
but  in  1829  they  fell  from  16  to  20  per  cent.,  and  employment  was  scarce.  No  new 
market  was  opened  to  take  off  the  goods  usually  made  for  America ;  weavers  were 
too  numerous  for  the  work  to  be  done ;  wages  continued  to  fall ;  and  in  1831  wages 
were  40  per  cent,  below  the  rates  paid  in  1828.  Great  numbers  of  sober,  industrious, 
and  valuable  operatives  emigrated  to  the  very  country  whose  food  we  refused  to 
take  in  payment  for  flannels,  and  whose  people  were  partly  compelled  to  make 
flannels  for  themselves.  Tjiese  operatives  would  have  remained  in  their  own 
country  to  add  to  its  population,  its  strength,  and  its  prosperity,  but  for  the  suicidal 
policy  of  the  landlord  government  of  England.  Distress  made  fearful  strides 
amongst  those  who  remained  at  home,  and,  had  it  not  been  that  the  cotton  trade 
extended  into  the  town  about  this  period,  taking  up  many  hands  from  the  woollen 
trade,  the  sufferings  of  the  operatives  must  have  been  greatly  aggravated.  To  such 
a  state  was  the  flannel  trade  reduced  that  many  looms  were  broken  up,  being  worth- 
less as  looms,  and  bought  to  be  used  as  props  in  the  coal  mines  of  the  neighbourhood. 
Owing  to  this  emigration,  and  the  consequent  diminished  number  of  hands,  and  the 
general  improvement  in  trade  as  provisions  became  cheaper,  there  was  a  slight 
improvement  in  the  flannel  trade  and  in  wages  in  1832.  In  1833  a  further  rise  took 
place,  provisions  still  falling  and  the  home  demand  improving,  and  up  to  1837  this 
advance  was  fully  maintained.  In  1838,  1839,  and  1840,  wages  gradually  declined, 
during  which  time  the  price  of  provisions  had  greatly  advanced,  and  it  may  be 
safely  affirmed  that  wages  in  1840  were  at  least  40  per  cent.,  and,  in  many 
instances,  above  50  per  cent.,  lower  than  in  1828 ;  and  many  were  unable  to  procure 
employment,  and  vast  numbers  had  only  an  irregular  and  precarious  employment. 

"That  a  deplorable  change  has  taken  place  in  the  condition  of  the  operatives 
employed  in  the  %  woollen  trade  at  Rochdale  within  the  past  fifty  years  is  admitted 
by  all  persons  acquainted  with  their  past  and  present  circumstances.  The  house  of 
the  woollen  weaver  was  almost  proverbial  for  a  degree  of  comfort  and  plenty,  such 
as  is  now  rarely  witnessed.  The  furniture  was  abundant,  always  sufficient,  not 
rarely  handsome.  A  good  chest  of  mahogany  drawers  as  a  family  wardrobe,  its 
excellent  polish  protected  by  a  large  cover  of  green  baize,  and  a  clock  in  a  large  and 
handsome  mahogany  case,  bespoke  a  degree  of  affluence  and  comfort  to  which 
their  dwellings  are  now  almost  entire  strangers.  Now  we  see  abject  poverty  on 
every  side.  Wages  so  low  that  many  men  with  full  work  are  compelled  to  apply 
to  the  parish  for  relief ;  their  houses  are  unfurnished,  possessing  neither  wardrobes 
nor  garments  ;  and  their  hunger-marked  countenances  bespeak  the  terrible  wrongs 
they  endure.  If  it  be  true  that  protection  to  landowners  gives  a  home  trade  so  good 
as  to  make  up  for  any  decrease  of  foreign  demand,  how  comes  it  that  the  home 
trade  has  never  yet  been  able  to  place  the  flannel  trade  on  its  former  footing,  and  to 
supply  the  customers  of  which  it  was  deprived  by  the  American  tariff  \  If  the 
landlord's  interest  has  purchased  one  piece  of  flannel  more  than  it  would  have 
purchased  without  the  Corn  Laws,  the  price  of  that  piece  was  first  stolen  by  the 
law  from  the  weaver  who  made  the  piece. 

"Minute  inquiries  show  that  for  fifteen  years  previous  to  1828  there  were 
twenty-eight  to  thirty  journeymen  cabinetmakers,  and  a  few  boys,  regularly  uml 


114  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHX   BRIGHT.  [1841 

fully  employed  in  Rochdale.  At  this  time  there  are  only  twelve  or  thirteen  journey- 
men aud  about  ten  hoys  in  the  trade,  and  these  have  not  had  full  and  regular 
employment  for  a  long  time  past.  The  population  of  the  town  and  neighbourhood 
has  greatly  increased  during  the  past  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  but  there  has  been  no 
increase  of  f  urniture,  clearly  proving  that  the  condition  of  the  people  is  much  worse, 
and  their  comforts  greatly  abridged. 

"  Travelling  Scotchmen. — No.  1  travels  to  Todmorden,  Saddleworth,  Shaw,  Lees, 
Oldham,  Heywood,  Wardle,  and  neighbourhood  of  Rochdale.  Has  travelled  part  of 
tliis  district  for  twenty  years,  dealing  with  many  parties  throughout  this  period : 
his  customers  have  gradually  become  poorer,  and  are  now  mostly  ruined  and  unable 
to  buy  clothing,  tea,  coffee,  &c. ,  as  formerly.  Six  years  ago  their  condition  was 
much  better  than  at  present.  Todmordeu  was  then  his  best  district — now  very 
much  worse.  Mills  there  have  worked  short  time  for  many  months.  In  his 
journeys  he  finds  many  houses  which  he  has  known  well  furnished  almost  stripped, 
the  furniture  having  gradually  been  disposed  of  to  provide  food.  Has  given  up  the 
Wardle  district,  the  people  being  reduced  to  poverty  so  abject  that  the  people  can 
pay  for  nothing.  Honest  customers  are  ashamed  to  meet  him,  and  skulk  away  to 
avoid  him  when  they  know  he  is  coming,  as  they  have  nothing  to  pay  for  what  they 
have  had  from  him.  This  is  a  common  occurrence  about  Middleton  and  that 
neighbourhood.  Many  travellers  have  given  up  the  trade  ;  their  once  good 
customers  now  impoverished,  their  purchases  very  small,  and  bad  debts  rendering 
the  trade  a  ruinous  one  to  those  engaged  in  it. 

"  Shopkeepers,  Provision  Dealers  (1). — The  quantity  of  meal  sold  in  proportion  to 
the  flour  is  much  greater  than  it  used  to  be  half-a-dozen  or  three  or  four  years  ago. 
Sells  much  less  of  cheese  and  sugar,  not  more  than  two-thirds  of  his  former  sale, 
and  not  more  than  half  the  tobacco.  The  quantity  of  malt  is  reduced  to  one-third 
of  his  sale  in  better  times ;  debts  cannot  be  paid ;  many  honest  and  industrious 
customers  have  debts  standing  over  till  the  times  mend. 

"  (2) — More  meal  in  proportion  to  flour  sold  now  than  a  few  years  ago.  His 
customers  buy  half-a-pound  or  a  pound  of  meal  at  once,  as  they  are  able.  Much 
less  tea  sold,  sugar  one-half  less,  tobacco  one-third  less,  new  butter  not  much 
bought,  old  cheaper,  often  now  used.  In  cheese  the  reduction  is  one-half,  bread 
sold  in  pennyworths  commonly,  all  common  articles  of  food  sold  now  in  very  small 
quantities,  debts  standing  over  to  better  times.  Only  sells  one  load  of  malt  where 
he  used  to  sell  four.  Boys  come  for  three-ha'porth  of  meal,  in  rags — family  of 
seven,  sober  and  industrious — utmost  wages  with  full  work,  11s.  to  12s.  per  week — 
father,  7s.  or  8s. ;  two  boys,  4s.,  setting  cards.  Only  one  bed  for  seven  persons; 
no  hope  of  improvement. 

"  (3) — Double  quantity  of  meal  and  coarse  flour  sold  in  proportion  to  the  whole 
quantity  of  bread.  Customers  who  used  to  buy  a  pound  of  sugar  now  buy  a  penny- 
worth, or  a  quarter  of  a  pound  for  twopence.  Tea  sold  in  quantities  as  small  as  half 
an  ounce  for  halfpenny.  Butter  as  low  as  a  halfpenny  or  penny.  Bacon,  Id.,  or  a 
quarter  of  a  pound  for  2d.  Four  or  five  in  a  family  send  for  half  an  oatcake,  worth 
halfpenny,  with  bits  and  scraps  of  bacon  halfpenny  or  penny  more.  Cheese  sells 
most  in  quantities  of  lib.  each.  Only  sells  half  as  much  meal  as  formerly,  and  of  a 
lower  quality.  Potatoes  halfpenny  or  penny  very  often.  At  breakfast  or  dinner 
hours  many  come  in  for  a  ha'porth  or  pennyworth  of  bread.  Debts  cannot  be 
collected.  Knows  that  many  of  his  customers  are  short  of  food.  Hears  many  a 
curse  as  the  destitute  part  with  their  last  coin  for  half  a  meal  for  themselves  and 
their  children.  Wishes  Sir  Robert  Peel  might  stand  in  his  shop  for  one  day,  and 
will  gladly  let  any  gentleman  do  so  who  doubts  any  part  of  his  statement. 

"  Butchers,  skinners,  and  tanners  estimate  that  four  years  ago  one  hundred  and 
eighty  beasts  were  killed  weekly  in  the  parish  of  Rochdale ;  now  not  more  than 
sixty-five  to  seventy  are  killed ;  sheep  and  pigs  much  fewer ;  poor  pieces  eagerly 
bought;  good  joints  difficult  of  sale;  customers  buy  Id.  or  2d.  worth  of  suet  or 
bits  of  steak,  cannot  buy  more.  The  condition  of  the  population  very  much  worse 
than  four  years  ago. 

' '  The  reports  of  the  Dispensary  exhibit  a  very  serious  increase  in  the  number  of 
applicants  for  medical  assistance.  In  1835  and  1836  the  applicants  were  1,809  ;  in 
1840  and  1811,  2,444 ;  including  only  eleven  months  of  this  year.  And  by  the  end 
of  the  year,  at  the  present  rate  of  applications,  they  will  have  amounted  to 
2,556. 

"  Tftt  Good  Samaritan  Society. — The  reports  show  a  great  increase  in  the  number 
of  destitute  families  visited  in  each  year  of  high  prices ;  in  three  years,  1835,  1836, 
and  1837,  the  whole  number  of  families  thus  visited  and  relieved  was  607 ;  amount, 


1841.]  THE    HOMES    OF    WORKING    MEN.  115 

£204  los.  Od.  Iii  three  years,  1838,  1839,  and  1840,  983  families;  amount, 
£304  18s.  Od.  Soup  given  to  the  poor  last  spring,  12,926  gallons. 

Poor  Rates. — Castleton  Township : — 

March,  1835  to  1836      ...  £1,269 

„      1836  to  1837      £1,147 

„      1837  to  1838       £1,358 

£3,774 

March,  1838  to  1839      £1,489 

„       1839  to  1840       £1,016 

„      1840  to  1841       £2,4(59 

: £5,574 

Increase  £1,800,  or  48  per  cent. ;  in  1836,  £1,147  ;  in  1841,  £2,469  ;  or  increase  115 
per  cent.  At  the  beginning  of  this  year  the  township  was  in  debt  £700,  now  it 
owes  £1,100. 

Persons  relieved,  September,  1835  to  1S37,  two  years      968 

„  „  „  1839  to  1841,  two i  years      1,688 

Difference  720,  or  74  per  cent,  increase. 

From  March  1836  to  1837,  twelve  months,  there  were  454  relieved,  and  the  three 
months  now  last  past,  September  to  December,  421  relieved,  as  many  within  33. 
Amount  expended  from  March  to  September,  1841,  £347,  or  at  the  rate  of  £2,694 
per  annum,  being  an  increase  over  the  amount  in  1835  of  134  per  cent. 

Poor  Rates, — Spotland  Township. 

1835  and  1836,  amount  expended     £4,638 

ia<$9  and  1840        „  „  ...        £6,332 


Difference '.        £1,694 

being  an  increase  in  the  dear  years  over  the  cheap  years  of  36  per  cent. 

In  1835  the  township  owed     £277 

The  present  debt  is       £790 

"Surgeons'  Opinion. — 'We,  the  undersigned,  are  of  opinion  that  owing  to  the 
high  price  of  food  and  the  want  of  employment  the  labouring  classes  in  the 
Borough  of  Eochdale  and  its  neighbourhood  are  now  suffering  great  and  increasing 
privations.  That  they  are,  in  great  numbers,  unable  to  obtain  wholesome  food  in 
sufficient  quantity  to  maintain  them  in  health  ;  and  that  thus  they  are  predisposed 
to  disease  and  rendered  unable  to  resist  its  attacks.  That  affections  and  diseases  of 
the  skin,  with  many  other  complaints,  are  caused  by  a  poor  supply  of  food  and  by 
innutritions  food ;  and  that  many  cases  of  appalling  distress  and  suffering  come 
almost  daily  under  our  notice.  In  these  respects  the  population  amongst  whom  we 
practise  are  in  a  much  worse  position  now  than  they  were  live  or  six  years  ago  ;  and 
that  for  three  years  past  their  condition  has  been  gradually  sinking,  and  we  never 
knew  them  in  so  bad  a  state  at  any  former  period. 

"<T.  H.  WARDLE  WORTH. 

"  'EoBT.  BARKER. 

"  *GEO.  MORRIS. 

"  '  WALTER  DUNLOP. 
"  '  KocMule,  Dec.  IWi,  1841.'  " 

Mr.  Bright  observed  : — 

"  We  saw  around  us  wide-spreading  distress.  Misery  was  seen  in  the  house  of 
every  poor  man.  Poor  men  he  was  ashamed  to  call  them,  but  that  was  the  term 
now  applied  to  every  working  man.  Misery  was  to  be  seen  on  his  very  threshold  : 
haggard  destitution  and  extreme  poverty  were  the  most  prominent  things  in  his 
family.  The  consequence  was  that  discontent  had  so  pervaded  the  country  that 
scarcely  any  working  man  would  lift  a  finger  in  defence  of  those  institutions  which 
Englishmen  were  wont  to  be  proud  of.  Neither  the  monarch  nor  the  aristocracy 
were  safe  under  such  a  state  of  things — a  state  of  things  that  would  blast  the  fairest 
prospects  and  destroy  the  most  powerful  nation  that  ever  existed." 

i  2 


116  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  |18U. 

Mr.  Bright  moved  the  following  resolution  : — 

"That  the  district  of  which  Manchester  is  the  centre,  engaged  in  the  various 
branches  of  the  cotton  trade  and  its  dependencies,  is  suffering  under  a  general 
depression,  the  duration  of  which  has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  Lancashire ;  that 
it  is  in  evidence  before  this  meeting  that  the  condition  of  the  surrounding  population, 
both  employer  and  operative,  is  greatly  deteriorated;  that  fixed  capital,  such  as 
buildings,  machinery,  &c. ,  hns  depreciated  in  value  nearly  one-half  since  1835 ; 
that  capitalists,  as  a  body,  have  loug^  ceased  to  obtain  a  profitable  return  for  their 
investments ;  that  bankruptcy  and  insolvency  have  alarmingly  increased  ;  that  the 
shopkeeper*  have  suffered  corresponding  reverses ;  that  the  reward  of  labour  has 
been  generally  diminished  :  that  great  numbers  of  skilful  and  deserving  workmen 
are  either  wholly  or  partially  unemployed ;  and  that  pauperism,  disease,  crime, 
and  mortality  have  made  fearful  inroads  amongst  the  poorer  classes  of  the  com- 
munity ;  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  deputies  now  assembled  from  the  various  towns 
of  Lancashire,  all  these  evils  are  experienced  at  the  present  moment  with  un- 
mitigated severity,  and  that  there  is  no  visible  prospect  of  any  amelioration  of  the 
distresses  of  this  great  community." 

It  was  seconded  by  Alderman  Brooks,  and  carried,  only  one  hand 
being  held  up  against  it. 

Mr.  Bright's  heart  yearned  towards  the  suffering  and  sorrow- 
ful, the  oppressed  and  helpless ;  for  penury  depresses  the  spirits 
as  it  emaciates  the  body.  Thousands  of  poor  people  were  forced 
to  break  up  their  homes  through  the  want  of  employment,  and 
lead  the  lives  of  mendicants. 

"  The  mother  whom  he  loves  shall  quit  her  hom«, 
An  aged  father  at  his  side  shall  roam  ; 
His  little  ones  shall  weeping  with  him  go, 
And  a  young  wife  participate  his  woe  ; 
Whilst  scorn' d  and  scowl'd  upon  by  every  face, 
They  pine  for  food,  and  beg  from  place  to  place." 

A  nation  cannot  be  prosperous  when  food  is  dear,  employment 
scarce,  and  wages  low.  Yet  at  this  time  as  many  as  500  car- 
riages were  to  be  seen  daily  in  Hyde  Park,  chiefly"  belonging  to 
the  landed  gentry,  which  formed  a  strange  contrast  with  the 
deplorable  condition  of  the  working  class.  During  this  bitter 
distress  Tom  Hood's  scathing  rhyme,  depicting  the  sufferings  of 
the  poor,  opportunely  reminded  the  influential  gentry  of  the 
appalling  disparity  between  the  price  of  bread  and  of  labour,  in 
his  lines : — 

"  O  God,  that  bread  should  be  so  dear, 
And  flesh  and  blood  so  cheap." 

Although  the  distress  was  so  widespread  all  over  the  country,  it 
had  been  the  practice  for  years  amongst  the  importers  of  butter 
when  unable  to  sell  at  a  profit  to  make  butter  into  sheep-grease 
by  pouring  tar  into  the  casks,  and  thus  they  avoided  paying  the 
heavy  duty  of  2R  per  lb.,  together  with  the  dues  and  freightage, 
amounting  to  4d.  per  lb.  A  return  made  to  the  House  of 
Commons  also  proved  that  since  the  enactment  of  the  sliding 


1841.]  THE   DESTRUCTION    OF   FOOD.  117 

scale  of  1828,  2,330  quarters  of  wheat,  63  quarters  of  barley, 
783  quarters  of  oats,  4  quarters  of  rye,  23  quarters  of  peas,  38 
quarters  of  beans,  43  quarters  of  Indian  corn,  and  26  cvvt.  of 
flour  had  been  abandoned  in  bond,  and  as  this  food  was  not 
worth  the  cost  of  keeping1,  it  was  destroyed  by  being  thrown  into 
the  Thames,  under  the  direction  of  Custom  House  officers. 


CHAPTER    Xll. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  ANTI-CORN-LAW  LEAGUE'S  AGITATION. 

John  Blight's  First  Speech  in  the  Metropolis — Increase  of  the  Distress — Tho 
Starving  Operatives— Increased  Emigration  to  America— Mr.  Gladstone's  First 
Interview  with  Mr.  Bright,  and  the  Opinion  he  Formed  of  him— Painful 
Interview  with  Sir  Robert  Peel — Feargus  O'Connor's  "Sacred  Month" — 
Visit  of  the  "Plug  Dragoons"  to  Rochdale,  and  John  Blight's  Advice  to 
them — A  Scene  Between  Bright  and  Feargus  O'Connor. 

MR.  BIUGHT'S  first  speech  in  the  metropolis,  delivered  with 
great  power  and  effect  at  the  assembly  of  Free  Trade  delegates 
held  on  the  8th  of  February,  1842,  in  the  large  room  of  the 
Crown  and  Anchor,  in  the  Strand,  under  the  presidency  of  Mr. 
Duncan  McLaren,  raised  him  in  the  estimation  of  his  hearers. 
His  name  forthwith  became  known  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  England,  and  his  orations  were  spread  over  the  land 
by  thousands.  There  were  about  600  persons  in  the  room.  Mr. 
Daniel  O'Connell  was  present  at  the  conference,  and  was  one  of 
the  speakers,  but  Mr.  Bright  compared  favourably  with  him,  and 
became  a  universal  favourite.  His  presence  was  hailed  on  all 
sides,  and  with  the  support  of  Villiers,  Cobden,  and  their 
friends,  branches  of  the  League  were  established  in  most  of 
the  large  towns  and  cities.  In  the  course  of  his  speech  at  the 
conference,  Mr.  Bright  said  he  came  from  a  neighbourhood 
where  the  question  was  looked  upon  as  one  of  life  and  death  by 
thousands  of  honest  men,  and.  if  in  that  room  there  were  any  of 
those  who  had  no  conception  of  the  state  of  things  to  which 
this  country  was  fast  hastening  under  these  mischievous 
laws,  he  should  like  them  to  go  with  him  into  the  streets  and 
lanes  where  he  could  take  them,  and  if  they  had  any  intellect, 
any  heart,  he  was  sure  they  would  go  away  fully  convinced  of 
the  necessity  for  the  total  and  immediate  repeal  of  this  law. 
He  had  a  resolution  to  propose,  but  before  doing  so  he  would, 
with  their  permission,  read  a  short  resolution  passed,  at  a 
meeting  held  in  Rochdale,  on  the  1st  of  February,  appoint- 
ing him  as  delegate  to  that  conference.  It  had  been  unani- 
mously resolved  at  the  meeting  held  at  Rochdale,  "That  the 
deputation  from  this  association  be  instructed  to  oppose  the  Corn 
Laws  as  a  cruel  oppression,  inflicting  grievous  evils  on  the  great 
bulk  of  our  population,  as  contrary  to  the  most  obvious  require- 


1812.]  EMIGRANTS.  Hfc 

m 

ments  of  morality  and  religion,  and  a  wrong  of  so  odious  a 
nature  as  to  make  it  imperatively  necess.iry  to  insist  on  its  total 
and  immediate  abolition/'  Mr.  Bright;  further  informed  those 
assembled  that  a  number  of  speeches  had  been  made  at  the  meet- 
ing in  Rochdale,  and  he  dared  not  go  back  to  his  native  town 
unless  he  had  acted  up  to  that  document,  such  was  the  feeling 
there  for  the  total  and  immediate  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws. 
In  the  neighbourhood  in  which  he  lived  the  trade  principally 
consisted  in  the  manufacture  of  flannel.  He  was  not  interested 
in  it  in  any  way,  but  he  knew  the  extent  to  which  the 
Corn  Laws  had  operated  against  that  trade.  There  were 
several  thousand  persons  who  lived  by  it  in  his  neighbour- 
hood, and  they,  in  consequence  of  the  operation  of  those 
laws,  were  driven  from  their  country.  In  consequence  of  the 
glaring  evils  of  those  laws  he  had  turned  his  attention  to  them 
day  and  night,  and  he  was  firmly  convinced  that  there  was  no 
point  of  view  in  which  they  could  be  considered  that  did  not 
show  their  evil  operation  and  call  for  their  total  and  immediate 
abolition. 

Years  of  suffering  had  greatly  sharpened  the  naturally 
shrewd  intellect  of  the  Lancashire  operatives,  and  they  knew  the 
cause  of  their  distress,  and  that  when  they  were  starving  the 
merchants  and  manufacturers  could  not  be  prosperous.  The  dis- 
tress throughout  the  country  in  1842  increased  the  tide  of 
emigration.  The  total  number  of  persons  who  emigrated 
from  England  during  the  year  ending  January  5th,  1842, 
was  72,104;  from  Scotland,  14,000;  Ireland,  32,428;  making 
a  total  of  118,592.  The  scenes  that  were  witnessed  at  the 
sea- ports  as  these  poor  emigrants  reluctantly  left  their  native 
land  were  heartrending,  for  many  were  so  poor  that  they  were 
unable  to  pay  for  the  passage  of  their  wives  and  families,  and 
had  to  leave  them  behind  until  they  should  procure  employment 
and  means  to  send  for  them. 

"  We  but  hear 

Of  the  survivors'  toil  in  their  new  land, 
Their  number  and  success,  but  who  can  number 
The  hearts  that  broke  in  silence,  of  that  malady. 
Which  calls  up  green  and  native  fields  to  view?  " 

At  this  time  the  pawnbrokers'  warehouses  were  full  of  goods, 
and  the  grocers,  although  greatly  reduced  in  number,  were  not 
doing  half  the  business.  The  poor  rates  in  Oldham  at  this 
period  were  four  times  the  amount  they  were  in  1839.  At 
Marsden,  near  Burnley,  out  of  5,000  inhabitants  2,000  were  out 
of  employment,  and  the  wages  had  been  considerably  reduced. 
Mills  were  closed  on  account  of  the  owners  being  unable  to  pay 


I -JO  LIFE   AM)    TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [18*2. 

the  poor-rate.  One  week  only  one  beast  was  killed  at  Accrington, 
although  the  population  numbered  10,000.  Some  of  the  poor 
people  were  so  famished  that  they  ate  a  diseased  calf.  Twenty 
years  previous  to  ihis  date,  when  the  inhabitants  were  not  moro 
than  5,000,  from  five  to  ten  beasts  were  killed  weekly  at  the 
same  town.  A  number  of  half-starved  families  at  Chorley  ate 
part  of  a  cow  which  had  died  from  disease. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Beith  stated,  at  a  public  meeting  at  Stirling, 
North  Britain,  that  a  young  man  in  that  town,  of  respectable 
parents,  was  observed  one  morning  to  pass  a  huxter's  shop,  at  the 
door  of  which  stood  a  measure  of  potatoes.  After  passing  the 
shop  a  little  way,  he  returned  and  took  one  of  the  potatoes  and 
went  away.  The  shopkeeper  allowed  him  to  go.  On  the  day 
after  the  young  man  returned  and  did  the  same  thing.  On  the 
third  day  he  took  another  potato,  and  on  the  fourth  day  five 
potatoes.  The  last  day  the  shopkeeper  had  a  police  officer  in 
attendance,  and  both  of  them  followed  the  young  man  home,  and 
there  they  found  an  aged  mother  and  two  sisters  dependent  upon 
him  for  support.  There  was  a  pot  upon  a  poor  fire,  and  upon  the 
shopkeeper  asking  the  mother  if  she  knew  where  her  son  got  the 
potatoes,  she  replied :  "  No,  I  was  afraid  to  ask."  Upon  taking 
off  the  lid  part  of  a  dead  dog  was  found  and  the  potatoes,  and  it 
was  this  that  the  family  intended  to  eat  that  day. 

Messrs.  Bright  and  Cobden  in  their  speeches  explained  to  the 
people  the  cause  of  their  suffering,  how  the  evil  was  to  be 
remedied — simplified,  in  fact,  principles  of  political  economy. 
How  could  Mr.  Bright  be  silent  when  trade  languished, 
when  the  dizzying  mill-wheel  was  compelled  to  rest,  and  the 
looms  were  deserted  ;  when  those  who  had  spent  busy  lives 
in  the  factories  were  becoming  emigrants  or  paupers,  of, 
urged  by  Lunger  and  want,  were  being  driven  to  the  com- 
mission of  crimes,  or  prematurely  to  their  graves.  He  could 
not  remain  indifferent  when  the  people  pined  for  bread,  and  had 
to  "beg  to  bury  their  dead;"  for  he  knew  well  that  God  had 
never  ordained  that  the  produce  of  the  earth  should  be  enjoyed 
exclusively  by  the  rich. 

In  1842  Mr.  Bright  was  a  member  of  a  deputation  to  Lord 
Ripon,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  Mr.  Gladstone, 
the  Vice-President;  and  this  was  the  first  time  Mr.  Bright  met 
his  future  Premier  and  colleague.  Lord  Ripon,  in  reply  to  an 
allusion  to  the  United  States,  remarked  that  the  Americans 
themselves  had  a  law  against  the  admission  of  Canadian  wheat. 
"  Yes/'  Mr.  Bright  rejoined,  "  and  the  carriers  of  that  measure 
quoted  your  example  as  a  precedent."  Mr.  Gladstone  anxiously 


1M2.]  ME.    GLADSTONE   FIRST    MEETS   MR.    BRIGHT.  121 

inquired  if  there  was  any  symptom  of  improvement  in  trade, 
and  was  informed  that  the  distress,  so  far  from  being  alleviated, 
was  greatly  aggravated.  Mr.  Gladstone  has  kindly  supplied  the 
following  account  of  this  event : — 

41  We  met  at  the  time  specified  in  your  book.  A  large  deputation  from  Lanca- 
shire came  to  Lord  Ripon,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade ;  I,  as  Vice-President, 
was  present.  They  sat  in  a  long  row  down  the  room  at  the  end.  Mr.  Bright  was,  I 
think,  almost  the  youngest  amongst  them.  He  is  the  only  one  of  them  all  whom  at 
this  distance  of  time  I  recollect.  I  was  much  struck  with  the  singular  combination 
of  business  and  energy  in  his  countenance." 

The  delegates  again  met  at  the  Crown  and  Anchor  Tavern,  in 
the  Strand,  on  the  9th  of  July,  and  about  noon  150  of  them 
proceeded  to  Downing  Street,  where  they  were  immediately 
introduced  to  Sir  Robert  Peel.  It  had  been  previously  arranged 
that  they  should  consecutively  lay  before  the  Premier  the 
melancholy  state  of  the  different  districts  of  the  country.  Mr. 
A.  P.  Taylor  was  the  chairman.  Deep,  indeed,  was  the  feeling 
produced  by  the  courteous,  yet  tirm,  warning  in  the  remarks 
made  by  Mr.  John  Ridgway.  Mr.  Brooks  followed,  and  he 
pourtrayed  the  misery  of  the  cold  and  foodless  children  that  he 
was  daily  called  to  witness  in  the  town  of  Manchester.  Sir 
Robert  Peel  was  very  much  agitated  and  ill  at  ease.  Nearly  the 
Avhole  of  the  time  his  eyes  were  downcast,  and  he  could  not 
keep  the  hand  steady  in  which  he  held  a  paper.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Lowe,  of  Forfar,  in  his  speech,  quoted  the  passage  of  Scripture, 
"  He  that  withholdeth  corn  the  people  shall  curse  him/'  and 
pictured  heartrending  scenes  that  had  taken  place  in  the  North. 
Sir  Robert  Peel  was  very  nervous,  and  with  one  hand  he  tried  to 
steady  the  other,  but  he  was  unable  to  keep  it  from  shaking,  and 
great  commiseration  was  felt  for  him.  At  length  he  promised 
to  bring  the  facts  and  statements  before  Her  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment, and  was  relieved  when  the  painful  interview  closed. 

The  Chartists  in  the  year  1842  were  busy  agitating  the 
development  of  Mr.  Feargus  O'Connor's  scheme,  "the  sacred 
month"  and  the  "national  holiday,"  which  was  to  inaugurate  an 
insurrection.  Mr.  F.  O'Connor  possessed  at  that  period,  and  for 
several  years  after,  a  great  and  dangerous  influence  over  the  manu- 
facturing operative  population.  So  sure  were  some  of  the  York- 
shire Chartists  of  a  successful  revolution,  that  under  O'Connor's 
guidance  at  Leeds  they  had  allotted  the  principal  mansions, 
demises,  and  estates  of  the  kingdom  in  the  wills  that  they  had 
made  preparatoiy  to  the  intended  revolution.  For  his  services 
he  modestly  took  to  himself,  by  anticipation,  the  estates  of  Earl 
Fitzwilliam  and  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  but,  of  course,  he  was 


r_>->  LIFE    AND    TIMKS    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1M2. 

only  to  hold  them  as  trustee  for  the  woolcombers  and  Yorkshire 
weavers.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  10th  of  August,  1842, 
information  was  received  in  Rochdale  that  a  mob  had  arrived  so 
near  as  Royton,  and  that  the  mills  at  that  village,  and  Shaw  and 
Crompton,  had  been  stopped  early  in  the  day ;  and  that  if  there 
was  any  delay  after  the  mandate  had  been  given  the  method  was  to 
knock  the  plug-  out  of  the  boiler,  which  emptied  itself  and  put  the 
tire  out  at  the  same  time.  A  messenger  arrived  at  Rochdale  in 
the  afternoon  for  a  magistrate,  when  Mr.  Wm.  Chadwick,  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Pha-nix  (superintendent  of  the  police),  rode  round 
by  Burnage,  Crompton,  Shaw,  and  Royton,  but  there  was  no 
serious  breach  of  the  peace.  The  next  morning,  Thursday,  the 
magistrates  met  at  the  Flying  Horse  Inn,  Packer  Street,  to 
swear  in  special  constables ;  the  old  pensioners  were  also  called 
out,  and  the  police  were  supplied  with  cutlasses.  About  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  mob  arrived  in  Oldham  Road.  Mr. 
James  Sutcliffe  and  Messrs.  Hoyle  and  James  Livsey  were  first 
summoned  to  turn  out  their  men  and  stop  their  mills,  which  they 
immediately  did,  as  it  would  have  been  unavailing  to  make  any 
attempt  to  resist  5,000  or  6,000  people.  Mr.  George  Ashworth 
(the  magistrate)  met  the  people  here  and  tried  to  stop  them  in 
their  course,  but  it  was  all  to  no  purpose.  They  faithfully 
promised  him  not  to  break  the  peace,  and  assured  him  that 
their  object  was  not  plunder.  They  were  willing  to  work,  they 
said,  and  all  they  wanted  was  a  fair  day's  wage  for  a  fair  day's 
work.  Mr.  James  Brierley  was  then  ordered  to  stop  his  mill. 
When  he  asked  his  visitors  what  their  object  was  in  stopping 
all  the  mills,  they  replied  that  they  wanted  the  wages  they 
had  in  1840.  Mill  after  mill  was  visited  on  the  line  of  route 
through  the  town,  and  the  plugs  drawn  without  resistance. 
When  the  mob  was  making  its  way  down  Drake  Street  it  had 
increased  to  at  least  15,000  persons.  They  were  led  by  women, 
eight  or  ten  abreast,  singing  lively  songs. 

The  shopkeepers  in  various  parts  of  the  town  threw  loaves 
to  the  crowd,  which  they  devoured  like  hungry  wolves.  Mr. 
John  B  right's  factory,  on  Cronkeyshav,  was  next  visited,  and 
the  workpeople  were  ordered  out  of  the  mills  and  the  machinery 
was  stopped.  A  large  number  of  the  mob  visited  the  residence 
of  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  senr.,  and  sang  songs.  He  sent  for  three 
skips  of  bread  and  distributed  it  amongst  the  people.  A  meeting 
was  next  held  on  Cronkeyshaw,  which  was  addressed  by  several 
individuals,  and  it  was  decided  to  hold  another  meeting  at  seven 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  to  lay  down  plans  for  their  future 
action.  A  party  was  then  dismissed  to  Whit  worth  to  stop 


THE    PLUG    DRAGOONS.  f>:i 

all  the  mills  in  that  part.  Another  patty  was  despatched  to 
Hooley  Clough  and  Heywood  for  the  same  purpose.  The  shops 
remained  closed  all  day.  Every  iron  foundry  where  men  were 
employed  received  a  visit  from  the  "  plug  dragoons,"  as  they 
were  called,  and  was  stopped  from  working1.  A  number  of  men 
working*  at  St.  Mary's  Church  were  -compelled  to  desist  as  the 
crowd  passed  through  Cheetham  Street.  Masons,  bricklayers, 
joiners,  mechanics,  and  others,  struck  work  and  joined  the 
procession  as  it  passed  from  mill  to  mill.  Several  gentlemen 
gave  them  money  very  liberally,  which,  in  all  cases,  was  spent 
on  bread  for  those  who  had  come  a  great  distance.  At  seven 
o'clock  in  the  evening-  the  meeting  was  held  near  Mr.  Bright' s 
old  factory.  The  speakers  were  Charles  Howarth,  a  mechanic 
named  Ashley,  two  strangers,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Livsey.  About 
7,000  persons  were  present,  one-fourth  of  whom  were  women. 
One  of  the  speakers  said  he  could  not  take  part  against  the 
manufacturers,  who  were  in  as  bad  a  condition  as  the  workmen. 
The  landowners  had  made  a  law  to  prevent  them  exchanging 
their  goods  for  corn,  whereby  they  were  as  much  under  the 
aristocratic  oppression  as  the  poorest  man  amongst  them.  He 
hoped  they  would  do  all  in  their  power  for  the  repeal  of  the 
Corn  Laws,  and  he  trusted  that  the  middle  classes  would  assist 
them  to  procure  the  Charter,  which  would  be  a  remedy  for  all 
the  evils  that  the  working  man  had  to  complain  of.  The  meet- 
ing was  adjourned  until  five  o'clock  the  next  morning,  when 
their  further  course  of  action  was  to  be  determined.  All  the 
speakers  implored  their  hearers  to  abstain  from  any  breach  of 
the  peace,  and  by  all  means  to  respect  the  rights  of  property. 
Next  morning  (Friday)  the  meeting  was  held  at  five  o'clock,  and 
was  opened  by  singing  a  hymn.  A  woman  addressed  the  gather- 
ing- in  a  very  animated  manner.  She  was  a  teetotaller,  and 
advised  them  to  shun  the  alehouse  and  protect  their  wives  and 
families.  By  six  o'clock  the  crowd  had  increased  to  4,000,  when 
the  meeting  broke  up,  and  a  large  number  present  marched  to 
Bacup. 

On  the  following  Wednesday  nearly  the  whole  of  the  mills 
resumed  work.  On  Thursday  morning  news  was  received  that 
a  mob  was  marching  from  Oldham  to  put  a  stop  to  the  mills 
that  had  recommenced  work.  The  special  constables  and  the 
military  and  the  magistrates  proceeded  forthwith  as  far  as  Buersil 
bridge,  for  the  purpose  of  stopping  their  further  progress. 
Groups  of  tens  and  twenties  came  straggling  on  the  road  from 
Oldham,  and  these  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  stop.  In  an  attempt 
of  this  kind  Mr.  George  Ashworth,  the  magistrate,  was  pulled 


121  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  184ft 

from  his  horse  by  a  person  endeavouring  to  push  his  way  by 
force  through  the  police.  Sergeant  Carswell  knocked  the  man 
down  with  his  truncheon,  and  he  was  escorted  by  the  military 
to  the  barracks.  A  scout  bringing  word  that  the  mob  from 
Oldham  had  taken  another  route,  and  was  on  its  way  to  Milnrow 
through  Shaw,  Messrs.  W.  Chadwick,  B.  Heape,  H.  Kelsall,  and 
C.  Royds  (magistrates),  accompanied  by  a  posse  of  police,  and  a 
troop  of  the  llth  Hussars  and  a  number  of  foot  soldiers,  pro- 
ceeded direct  to  Milnrow,  where  the  mob  had  just  arrived.  As 
they  had  turned  the  hands  out  of  two  mills  and  pulled  out  the 
plugs  the  Riot  Act  was  read,  and  an  attempt  made  to  disperse 
the  crowd  without  delay.  A  volley  of  stones  was  thrown  at  the 
police,  and  Mr.  W.  Chadwick  was  struck  on  the  head  with  a 
stone,  which  cut  his  hat  through  and  almost  laid  his  skull  bare. 
Sergeant  Carswcll  led  up  the  police  while  assailed  on  all  sides 
with  stones.  He  pursued  the  mob  until  it  left  the  high  road  for 
the  fields,  when  he  dismounted  his  horse  for  the  purpose  of 
pursuing  the  fugitives  on  foot.  The  military  and  police  returned 
to  Rochdale  at  12  o'clock. 

As  the  "  turn  outs "  had  assembled  at  a  meeting  on 
Cronkeyshaw,  and  turned  out  Mr.  Petrie's  hands  during  the 
noon  hour,  the  military  were  sent  in  pursuit,  and  overtook  the 
mob  at  Hanging  Road  factory,  where  they  were  stopping  the 
people  from  working.  The  infantry  was  headed  by  Messrs. 
John  Fenton,  Henry  Kelsall,  George  Ashworth,  and  Ben- 
jamin Heape.  The  bellman  was  sent  round  the  town  to  in- 
form the  inhabitants  that  the  Riot  Act  had  been  read,  and  to 
request  them  to  keep  within  doors,  as  the  military  would  clear 
the  streets.  This  was  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and 
before  five  the  dragoons  had  dispersed  the  great  mass  of  the 
people.  An  extra  number  of  special  constables  went  on  duty  at 
night.  On  Friday  morning  it  was  intended  to  hold  a  meeting 
on  Cronkeyshaw,  but  the  military  took  possession  of  the  ground 
and  the  "  plug-drawers "  did  not  put  in  an  appearance.  The 
mills  resumed  work  the  same  day,  but  many  of  the  workpeople 
were  absent.  The  manufacturers  refused  to  give  the  advance 
asked. 

After  one  of  the  meetings  on  Cronkeyshaw  Mr.  John 
Bright  addressed  a  large  number  of  persons  near  Greenbank 
Mill,  saying  that  it  was  a  great  mistake  to  resort  to  violence  by 
plug  drawing,  and  that  violence  would  not  serve  any  good  cause; 
that  the  strike  was  a  mistake  if  it  was  undertaken  for  a  political 
object,  and  he  hoped  they  would  keep  the  peace  while  the 
struggle  lasted.  They  were  prepared  to  open  their  mill  any  day 


1842.J  MR.    FEARGtJS   O'CONNOR.  125 

when  the  workpeople  were  ready  to  return  to  their  work.  On 
the  17th  of  August  Mr.  John  Bright  issued  an  address  to  the 
working  men  of  Rochdale,  in  which  he  slated  "you  are  suffering, 
you  have  long  suffered,  your  wages  for  many  years  declined,  and 
your  position  has  gradually  and  steadily  become  worse.  Your 
sufferings  have  naturally  produced  discontent,  and  you  have 
turned  eagerly  to  almost  any  scheme  which  gave  hope  of  relief. 

.  .  An  advance  of  wages  to  the  rate  paid  in  1840,  and  ten 
hours  labour  per  day,  were  the  demands  you  were  urged  to 
make.  But  when  the  turning  out  in  this  district  was  com- 
pleted, and  you  had  become  excited,  these  demands  were 
abandoned,  and  you  were  urged  to  refuse  to  work  until  the 
Charter  became  the  law.  Many  of  you  know  full  well  that 
neither  Act  of  Parliament  nor  act  of  multitude  can  keep  up 
wages.  You  know  that  trade  has  long  been  bad,  and  that  with 
a  bad  trade  wages  cannot  rise."  Mr.  Bright  concluded  by 
recommending  the  dissatisfied  operatives  to  return  to  their 
employment,  and  it  had  more  effect  than  the  repressive  measures 
adopted  by  the  local  authorities,  for  in  a  day  or  two  work  was 
resumed. 

In  several  other  large  towns  there  were  similar  gatherings 
of  operatives,  who  destroyed  machinery,  and  prevented,  their 
fellow-labourers  from  working.  A  proclamation  against  such 
disturbances  was  issued  on  the  14th  of  August,  and  troops  from 
London,  including  the  guards,  were  sent  to  Manchester.  Lives 
were  lost,  and  many  persons  were  wounded  in  Preston,  Burslem, 
and  Manchester,  in  the  collision  between  the  military  and  the 
rioters,  and  the  railway  communications  were  threatened.  There 
was  great  excitement  in  Macclesfield,  Stockport,  Bolton,  Dudley, 
and  Huddersfield. 

On  one  occasion  when  Bright  and  Cobden  were  waiting  at 
one  of  the  side  stations  on  the  London  and  North-Western 
Railway,  Mr.  Feargus  O'Connor,  who  had  two  days  previously 
abused  the  two  eminent  members  of  the  League  and  their 
cause,  walked  into  the  same  station.  Mr.  Bright  at  once 
accosted  O'Connor,  and  dissected  his  fallacies  to  his  face  so 
thoroughly  and  with  such  freedom,  that  the  chartist  was  greatly 
relieved  when  the  train  did  appear  and  enabled  him  to  escape 
the  crushing  arguments  of  his  opponents.  Some  time  afterwards, 
when  the  League  was  making  rapid  strides,  a  number  of  the 
leading  chartists  sought  to  cling  to  the  skirts  of  its  garment, 
but  Bright  and  Cobden  very  wisely  kept  their  aim  free  from 
entanglement  with  other  public  questions. 

It  was  again  autumn,  and  the  fairest  flowers  were  beginning 


l-.V,  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (1842. 

!'»  wither  ;  the  deep  green  of  vegetation  was  passing  away  into 
ilic  sere  and  yellow  leaf,  and  nature  was  donning  her  russet 
robe.  A  train  of  sad  associations  were  renewed 

"lu  looking  on  the  happy  autumn  fields, 
And  thinking  of  the  days  that  are  no  more." 

But  the  twelve  months'  hard  work  in  trying  to  mitigate  the 
sufferings  of  the  poor  had  absorbed  much  of  Mr.  Bright'a 
attention,  and  his  labours,  instead  of  relaxing,  went  on  in- 
creasing. 

The  members  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  held  a  special 
meeting  on  the  18th  of  May,  1842,  in  NewalFs  Buildings,  Man- 
chester, for  the  purpose  of  receiving  a  report  from  the  council  re- 
specting the  course  of  agitation  to  be  adopted.  Mr.  Robert  Hyde 
(h-eg  presided.  It  was  agreed  that  England  and  Wales  should 
be  mapped  into  twelve  districts,  and  that  such  a  plan  should  be 
extended  into  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  that  the  lecturers  of  the 
League  should  instruct  the  people  on  the  subject  of  the  evils  of 
the  Corn  Laws.  Mr.  Bright  reminded  those  present  that  three 
years  had  elapsed  since  the  League  had  been  formed,  and  though 
at  first  they  seemed  to  have  made  little  or  no  progress,  now 
they  might  say  that  they  had  made  considerable  progress. 
The  League  were  well  prepared  for  taking  the  field.  Their 
funds  were  larger  than  they  had  ever  been  before,  for  they 
had  more  money  in  hand  than  had  ever  been  spent  in  any 
two  years  since  the  commencement  of  the  struggle. 

Mr.  Bright,  on  the  5th  of  July,  1842,  was  present  at  the 
National  Anti-Corn-Law  Conference,  which  was  held  at  Herbert's 
Hotel,  Palace  Yard,  London,  Avhich  met  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
into  consideration  the  distress  of  the  country.  Mr.  A.  P.  Taylor, 
of  London,  presided.  Mr.  Bright  informed  those  present  that 
the  distress  was  universal,  and  if  they  went  to  Scotland  they 
found  Forfar,  Glasgow,  and  Paisley  in  desolation.  If  they  came 
farther  south,  they  would  hear  from  the  delegates  from  New- 
castle that  almost  the  whole  of  the  working  population  were  out 
of  employment,  and  were  living  on  the  charity  given  out  by  the 
town  council.  He  had  received  a  letter  from  Shields,  in  which 
it  was  stated  that  the  trade  was  almost  annihilated.  In  Lanca- 
shire many  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  were  subsisting  upon 
charity.  Bolton  and  Stockport  were  in  a  state  of  desolation.  In 
Leeds  it  was  worse  still.  There  were  there  30,000  or  40,000 
persons  existing  upon  charity.  If  they  went  to  Sheffield,  he 
believed  they  would  find  that  the  men  were  not  possessed  of  one 
quarter  of  the  comfort  they  had  three  years  ago — men  as  able  as 


1842.]  THE    ANTI-CORX-LAW    LEAGUE    AGITATES.  127 

any  living-,  yet  they  were  driven  to  the  last  state  of  distress.  It 
was  the  same  in  Derbyshire.  Farther  south,  in  the  agri- 
cultural counties  of  England,  the  poor  rates  at  that  moment 
were  rapidly  on  the  increase.  If  they  went  to  Somersetshire, 
they  would  find  that  20,000  or  30,000  persons  were  out  of 
employment  who  a  short  time  previous  were  in  comparative 
comfort.  In  Ireland  they  found  that  the  famine  was  stalking 
through  the  land,  and  that  riots  were  taking  place,  and  that  men 
were  killed  by  the  police  because  they  endeavoured  to  obtain 
food.  How,  then,  could  they  sit  calmly  by  ?  Humanity,  if 
nothing  more,  would  call  them  from  their  homes ;  but  there  was 
a  feeling  of  pity ;  their  own  safety  and  the  safety  of  the  country 
were  at  stake.  The  time  had  come  when  justice  and  mercy  must 
take  the  place  of  cruelty  and  oppression,  and  if  the  Government 
still  refused  to  hearken,  he  for  one  trembled  for  the  result. 

On  the  29th  of  July,  the  delegates  met  again  at  Herbert's 
Hotel,  in  Palace  Yard,  and  Mr.  A.  P.  Taylor  presided.  Mr. 
John  Bright,  in  his  address,  remarked  that  the  remedy  they 
asked  at  the  hands  of  the  Government  was  one  that  must  be 
granted,  and  he  trusted  that  it  would  be  granted  before  it  was 
too  late,  and  before  the  malady  had  gone  too  far  to  be  remedied. 
The  delay  of  this  one  act  of  justice  was  but  adding  to  the  score 
of  their  long  career  of  misgovernment,  and  when  the  day  of 
final  reckoning  came  it  would  be  found  a  heavy  account  to 
settle.  Mr.  Hume,  Mr.  Villiers,  Mr.  Cobden,  and  Mr.  O'Connell, 
also  addressed  the  meeting. 

At  a  meeting  at  Newall's  Buildings,  on  the  6th  of  October, 
Mr.  Bright,  in  referring  to  the  existing  distress,  said  this  was 
the  state  of  things  they  found  at  the  close  of  one  of  the  most 
productive  and  glorious  summers  within  living  memory;  and 
the  distress  was  produced  almost,  if  not  wholly,  by  the  Corn 
Laws. 

Bread  being  at  a  very  high  rate,  the  labouring  classes  had  little 
or  nothing  left  to  expend  on  other  commodities,  and  after  cases 
of  illness  the  doctors  themselves  declared  that  it  was  often  verv 
difficult  to  rally  a  constitution  thus  ill-fed;  that  they  gave  them 
tonics  when  in  reality  no  other  medicine  was  required  than  a  slice 
of  beef  or  mutton  per  day.  Mr.  John  Bright,  in  conjunction 
with  Mr.  Richard  Cobden  and  other  gentlemen  who  boldly  came 
forward  to  oppose  the  deadly  Corn  Laws,  instilled  courage  into  the 
minds  of  the  starving  people ;  for  if  they  had  been  left  in  their 
despondency  the  result  would  probably  have  been  the  death  of 
hundreds  from  want  of  proper  food.  In  the  dark  a  glimmering 
light  is  often  sufficient  for  the  pilot  to  steer  his  course  by. 


US  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  f!842. 

Trivial  incidents  noticed  by  Mr.  Brig-lit  encouraged  him  in  his 
labours,  and  assured  him  that  they  would  end  in  success. 

"  Oh,  my  Conservative  friends !  who  still  especially  name  and 
struggle  to  approve  yourselves  Conservative/'  Carlyle  wrote, 
"  would  to  heaven  I  could  persuade  you  of  this  world-old  fact — 
than  which  fate  is  not  surer — that  Truth  and  Justice  alone  are 
capable  of  being  conserved  and  preserved !  ....  If  1 
were  the  Conservative  party  of  England — which  is  another  bold 
figure  of  speech — I  would  not  for  £100,000  an  hour  allow  these 
Corn  Laws  to  continue Do  you  know  what  ques- 
tions— not  as  to  Corn  Laws  and  sliding  scales  alone — they  are 
forcing  every  reflective  Englishman  to  ask  himself — questions 
insoluble  or  hitherto  unsolved — deeper  than  any  of  our  logic 
plummets  hitherto  will  sound — questions  deep  enough,  which  it 
were  better  we  did  not  name,  even  in  thought  ?  There  are 
various  things  that  must  be  begun,  let  them  end  where  they 
can." 

Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden  addressed  the  League's  weekly 
meeting,  held  in  Manchester,  on  the  3rd  of  November,  1812, 
under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  George  Wilson.  On  the  10th  of 
the  same  month  another  meeting  in  the  Manchester  League 
Rooms  took  place,  to  inquire  into  the  sta,te  of  the  £50,000 
fund  the  League  was  attempting  to  raise.  Mr.  Bright  and  his 
friend,  Mr.  Cobden,  were  two  of  the  six  speakers.  On  the  17th 
of  November,  accompanied  by  Mr.  R.  R.  R.  Moore,  they  visited 
the  ancient  town  of  Coventry,  the  birthplace  of  Bright's  fore- 
fathers, and  noted  for  its  legend  of  Lady  Godiva,  who  abolished 
an  oppressive  tax  upon  the  town,  "and  built  herself  an  ever- 
lasting name."  A  meeting  was  held  in  the  evening  of  the  date 
of  their  arrival,  and  Mr.  Bright  entertained  the  attentive  audience 
with  logical  arguments  against  Sir  R.  Peel's  sliding  scale 
measure,  which  was  passed  that  year,  and  in  favour  of  the  total 
repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CONTINUED  KAID  AGAINST  THE  COEN  LAWS. 

Visits  to  Huddersfield,  Manchester,  Kendal,  Nottingham,  Holmflrth,  Preston, 
Wolverhainpton,  Dudley,  Stourbridge,  Birmingham,  Stirling,  Glasgow,  Hawick, 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Lancaster,  Edinburgh,  Dundee,  Perth,  and  Ashton — Erec- 
tion of  the  Free  Trade  Hall,  Manchester. 

THE  first  of  a  series  of  soirees  in  Yorkshire  was  held  at  the 
cloth-manufacturing  town  of  Huddersfield,  in  the  Philosophical 
Hall,  on  the  18th  of  November,  a  month  noted  for  its  gloom — 
when  trees  are  stripped  of  all  their  beauty,  and  birds  sit  shiver- 
ing, "  a  dull  despondent  flock ; "  but  the  people  on  this  occasion 
were  animated,  and  assembled  in  great  numbers  to  listen  to  Mr. 
Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden.  In  four  days  both  gentlemen  had 
returned  to  Manchester,  and  were  present  at  a  meeting  of 
merchants,  spinners,  manufacturers,  and  tradespeople,  which  was 
held  in  the  Town  Hall,  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  R.  Hyde 
Greg.  Thirty-six  gentlemen  were  appointed  to  canvass  for 
subscriptions  for  the  £50,000  fund.  Mr.  Bright  informed  those 
present  that  at  that  time  meetings  had  been  arranged  for  every 
day  in  the  month,  and  that  every  day  brought  in  statements  of 
others  that  were  being  appointed.  On  behalf  of  his  father, 
himself,  and  brothers,  he  presented  a  subscription  of  £300,  and 
promised  to  give  further  sums  if  it  was  needed.  A  few  days 
after  Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  another  meeting  of  the  League, 
and  gave  an  account  of  the  meetings  that  he  had  attended  at 
Coventry,  Liverpool,  and  other  towns.  He  said  that  on  the  21st 
of  November  he  was  at  a  meeting  at  Accrington,  which  consisted 
of  at  least  500  persons,  and  that  the  room  was  packed  for  two 
hours,  and  that  he  never  was  in  a  place  so  much  like  an  oven 
before.  The  meeting  in  the  Sheffield  Music  Hall  was  the  largest 
ever  held  in  the  hall  of  that  town. 

On  the  29th  of  November,  Mr.  Bright  visited  the  old 
manufacturing  town  of  Kendal,  and  the  white  houses  covered 
with  blue  slates  attracted  his  attention.  He  received  an  enthu- 
siastic greeting  in  the  evening,  at  a  meeting  held  in  the 
Whitehall  Assembly  Room,  and  his  speech  was  listened  to  with 
marked  attention.  On  the  1st  of  "December  he  was  again  in 


130  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1842L 

Manchester  at  a  meeting  of  the  League,  and  he  and  Mr. 
Cobden  gave  an  account  of  their  labours.  The  evening  after, 
Mr.  Bright  was  at  a  large  meeting  at  the  seaport  town  of 
Sunderland,  which  was  held  in  the  Athenaeum,  and  on  the  12th 
of  the  same  month  he  returned  to  his  native  town,  and  a  large 
number  of  persons  assembled  in  the  Theatre,  Toad  Lane.  Mr. 
John  Fenton,  the  late  member  for  the  borough,  was  the  chairman, 
and  Dr.  Bowring,  M.P.,  Mr.  Cobden,  and  Mr.  Bright  were  the 
speakers.  The  latter  gave  an  account  of  the  meetings  he  had 
attended  at  Kendal,  Carlisle,  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Sunderland, 
South  Shields,  and  Darlington.  It  was  midnight  before  the 
meeting  broke  up,  and  j§l,695  6s.  6d.  were  subscribed  to  the 
funds  of  the  League.  The  liberality  of  this  gathering,  as 
well  as  the  others  in  the  various  towns,  surprised  Mr.  Bright,  and 
the  formidable  amount  contributed  gave  the  protectionists  a 
good  idea  of  the  strength  of  the  power  which  was  arrayed 
against  them. 

"  Single  sands  have  little  weight, 
Many  make  a  drawing  freight." 

The  following  evening  Mr.  Bright  was  at  Nottingham. 
Here  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Independent  Chapel,  Friar's 
Lane,  and  so  important  was  the  event  that  twelve  reporters 
were  present.  Mr.  Alderman  Heard  presided.  Mr.  Wm.  Biggs, 
the  Mayor  of  Leicester,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Wakefield,  Mayor  of 
Nottingham,  also  addressed  the  meeting  with  Mr.  Bright,  and 
£997  were  subscribed. 

Mr.  Bright  next  travelled  to  Holmfirth,  and  an  audience  of 
about  1,000  assembled  in  the  Town  Hall  on  the  15th  of 
December,  and  for  nearly  two  hours  he  entertained  them  with 
his  speech.  Four  days  after,  he  accompanied  Mr.  Cobden  and 
Colonel  Thompson  to  the  fashionable  town  of  Preston,  the 
birthplace  of  Arkwright,  who  invented  the  power-loom.  A 
meeting  was  held  in  the  Theatre.  At  the  front  of  the  stage  an 
artificial  canal  had  been  made,  on  which  a  small  vessel  kept 
making  her  trips  during  the  evening.  The  building  was  crowded, 
chiefly  by  operatives  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  who 
listened  very  attentively  to  the  distinguished  trio  from  the 
League.  The  metropolis  of  South  Staffordshire,  Wolverhampton, 
was  visited  by  Mr.  Bright  on  the  23rd  of  December,  and  a 
meeting  was  held  in  the  Music  Hall.  The  audience  was  chiefly 
composed  of  mechanics,  many  of  whose  homes  were  at  that  time 
scenes  of  want  and  distress. 

On  the  28th  of  December  he  was  again  in  Manchester,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  League  which  was  held  in  the  Corn  Exchange, 


1843.]  AT   MANCHESTER.  131 

and  in  the  course  of  a  speech,  five  columns  in  length,  he 
remarked : — 

"I  assure  you  that  wherever  we  go,  at  every  meeting  we  address,  for  my 
own  share,  I  hide  my  diminished  head.  I  am  humiliated  at  the  manner  in  which  I 
am  treated  at  these  meetings — (Applause) — they  look  upon  persons  who  come  from 
the  Anti-Com-Law  League  as  the  very  deliverers  of  the  commerce  of  the  country 
from  the  shackles  in  which  it  has  been  so  long  enthralled.  (Cheers.)  And  thus 
we  see  that  a  responsibility  lies  upon  us.  The  League  has  risen  from  a  very  small 
beginning.  Tt  had  a  great  truth  in  hand,  however,  and  that  truth  has  grown  aud 
spread  till  it  will  soon  be  admitted  by  the  whole  population  of  this  empire.  .  .  . 
The  time  is  now  come  when  we  must  no  longer  look  upon  this  infamous  law  as  a 
mistake  on  the  part  of  the  aristocracy  and  the  landowners— it  was  no  mistake  of  the 
law-makers,  it  was  no  accident,  chance  had  nothing  to  do  with  it — it  was  a  crime, 
a  crime  of  the  deepest  dye  against  the  rights  of  industry  and  against  the  well-being 
of  the  British  people,  and 

'  Not  all  that  heralds  rake  from  coffin'd  clay, 
Nor  florid  prose,  nor  honied  lies  of  rhyme 
Can  blazon  evil  deeds,  or  consecrate  a  crime.'  " 

The  meeting  rose  en  masse  and  cheered  lustily,  and  the  ladies 
waved  their  handkerchiefs. 

The  day  after,  Mr.  Bright  was  at  a  meeting  in  Dudley, 
Staffordshire,  at  the  Independent  Chapel,  and  he  told  his  audience 
that  it  was  astonishing  that  for  twenty-seven  years  the  people 
should  have  suffered  the  Corn  Laws ;  and  more  astonishing  that 
now  he  should  have  come  nearly  100  miles  to  talk  to  people 
about  a  law  which  should  have  caused  them  not  to  give  sleep  to 
their  eyes,  nor  slumber  to  their  eyelids,  till  they  had  caused  it  to 
be  repealed.  It  was  a  law  enacted  expressly  to  make  a  scarcity 
of  food,  and  if  it  did  not  do  this  it  did  not  answer  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  made. 

Mr.  Bright  continued  his  journey  in  the  mineral  districts  of 
Staffordshire,  even  in  this  roughest  month  of  the  year,  when 
snow  "  comes  down  at  once  in  hoar  antiquity/'  and  was  next  at 
the  populous  town  of  Stourbridge,  at  a  mi  eting  at  the  British 
School  Room,  High  Street,  on  the  night  of  the  30th  of  Decem- 
ber. Mr.  Robert  Scott,  M.P.,  presided. 

An  Anti-Corn-Law  Festival  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall, 
Birmingham,  on  the  3rd  of  January,  1843,  presided  over  by  Mr. 
Schofield,  M.P.  Mr.  Bright  was  present,  and  he  said  that  he 
had  the  authority  of  the  chairman  to  say  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Birmingham  had  not  for  several  years  past  found  themselves  in  a 
more  prosperous  condition  than  the  rest  of  their  fellow-country- 
men, and  every  manufacturer  had  found  himself  gradually  sinking 
from  a  state  of  independence  and  prosperity  to  the  very  opposite 
condition ;  and  that  there  were  industrious,  sober,  honest  working 
men  in  Birmingham,  formerly  in  constant  employment  well  paid, 
who  now  had  precarious  employment  at  reduced  wages.  In  Lan- 
j  2 


132  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OP  JOHN  BRIGHT.  (1843. 

cashire  they  thought  that  the  people  of  Birmingham  had  gone  to 
sleep  ;  yet  he  had  it  in  his  memory  that  in  former  years  the  men 
of  Birmingham  had  done  something;  and  he  remembered  the 
time  when  every  post  which  reached  them  in  the  North  was 
looked  to  with  exciting  interest ;  but  now  what  was  going  on 
in  the  town  of  Birmingham.  He  asked  whether  there  had  been 
a  rise  in  the  price  of  manufactured  goods  in  proportion  to  the 
rise  of  the  price  of  bread.  He  could  speak  from  experience 
that  the  prices  of  goods  in  Manchester  were  lower  in  the 
twelve  months  just  past  than  they  had  been  for  many  years 
previously.  It  was  the  same  in  Staffordshire  Potteries  and 
the  iron  districts,  where  a  ton  of  straw  cost  as  much  as  a  ton 
of  iron.  Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Alderman  Brooks,  of  Manchester, 
addressed  the  same  meeting. 

Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Cobden,  and  Colonel  Thompson  next  visited 
the  city  of  Stirling,  which  commands  a  fine  view  of  the  Gram- 
pian range — Ben  Lomond,  Ben  Venue,  Ben  Ledi,  Ben  Voirlich, 
and  the  winding  of  the  Forth  through  fertile  land.  In  the 
evening  of  the  day  of  their  arrival  a  meeting  was  held,  and 
the  attendance  was  considered  by  the  residents  the  largest 
that  had  assembled  for  twenty-seven  years.  From  Stirling 
they  went  to  the  commercial  metropolis  of  Scotland — Glas- 
gow— to  a  meeting  of  the  Young  Men's  Free  Trade  Associa- 
tion, and  Mr.  Bright  afterwards  declared  "  that  a  more  magnifi- 
cent meeting,  I  think,  I  scarcely  ever  beheld/''  Next  they 
travelled  to  the  manufacturing  town  of  Ha  wick,  in  Roxburghshire, 
and  about  500  persons  assembled  to  listen  to  their  addresses. 
From  Hawick  they  went  on  to  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  the  great 
emporium  of  coals.  Special  trains  brought  large  numbers  of 
persons  from  Sunderland  and  North  and  South  Shields,  so 
anxious  were  the  people  in  that  part  of  the  countiy  to  hear 
them.  Sir  John  Fife,  formerly  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  officiated 
as  chairman.  "When  I  look  abroad  over  the  face  of  this 
island/'  said  Mr.  Bright,  "  and  see  all  that  Providence  has  given 
us,  and  all  that  we  have  the  power  to  accomplish,  and  behold 
such  masses  of  misery  where  there  ought  to  be  gladness  and 
joy,  pleasure  and  delight,  I  really  wonder  how  it  is,  if  there  be 
judgment  in  heaven,  that  it  does  not  come  down  upon  us  who 
have  neglected  the  duty  imposed  upon  us."  Mr.  W.  L.  Larle 
Metcalf,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  Wawn,  M.P.,  as  well  as  Mr.  Cobden 
and  Colonel  Thompson,  addressed  the  meeting. 

On  the  10th  of  January,  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Moore  arrived 
at  the  ancient  town  of  Lancaster,  and  so  large  was  the  attendance 
at  the  Music  Hall  that  two  meetings  had  to  be  held  to  inve  the 


1843.]  IN    SCOTLAND.  133 

inhabitants  an  opportunity  of  listening  to  the  distinguished 
members  of  the  League. 

Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Cobden,  and  Col.  Thompson  arrived  on  the 
12th  of  January  at  "  the  modern  Athens/'  the  capital  of  Scotland 
— Edinburgh,  the  birthplace  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  Henry 
Brougham.  A  soiree  in  the  evening  was  held  in  the  Waterloo 
Rooms,  and  the  audience,  after  listening  to  the  speeches,  con- 
tributed £600  to  the  funds  of  the  League.  The  Scotsman,  in 
describing  Mr.  Bright  at  the  time,  states  : — "  He  seems  a  man 
nearly  of  the  same  age  as  Mr.  Cobden,  or  rather  younger,  and 
is  full  of  fire  and  vivacity,  with  no  small  share  of  depth  and 
power/' 

On  the  23rd  of  January  they  travelled  to  the  seaport  and 
manufacturing  town  of  Dundee,  and  a  meeting  was  held  at 
the  Royal  Circus,  Meadowside.  2,000  persons  listened  to  their 
speeches.  The  inhabitants  of  the  historic  city  of  Perth,  long 
the  residence  of  Scottish  kings,  and  where  Knox  preached  his 
first  sermon,  had  next  the  opportunity  of  listening  to  Mr. 
Bright  and  his  colleagues.  Although  only  an  hour's  notice 
was  given  calling  the  meeting,  300  persons  assembled  in  the 
Council  Chamber,  and  municipal  honours  were  conferred  upon 
Mr.  Cobden. 

Mr.  Bright  was  again  in  Manchester  on  the  27th  of  January 
at  a  meeting  in  the  Corn  Exchange,  and,  in  alluding  to  the 
presence  of  twenty-nine  ministers  of  religion  at  the  Edinburgh 
meeting,  he  said  : — 

"  They  believe  that  the  Corn  Law  is  a  law  operating  constantly,  incessantly,  and 
most  powerfully  to  destroy  the  labours  which  they  are  engaged  in  bringing  to  per- 
fection amongst  their  people,  and  therefore  they  come  forward,  unanimously  almost, 
throughout  Scotland,  to  raise  their  voice  against  the  longer  continuance  of  this  law. 
I  would  say  of  these  men,  as  was  said  of  some  preachers  of  the  olden  time : — 

'  No  servile  doctrines  such  as  power  approves, 
They  to  the  poor  and  broken-hearted  taught. 
With  truths  which  tyrants  hate  and  conscience  loves, 
They  winged  and  barbed  the  arrows  of  their  thought. 
Sin  m  high  places  was  the  mark  they  sought.' 

(Cheers.)  .  .  .  "We  had  a  meeting  at  Dunfermline,  a  meeting  composed  almost 
entirely  of  weavers ;  and  there  was  a  most  unanimous  opinion  there  expressed  in 
condemnation  of  the  Corn  Laws.  We  went  to  Leith  also,  and  there  we  found  an 
enthusiastic  reception  from  many  who  have  hitherto  been  scarcely  convinced  that 
our  course  was  wise  or  our  object  just.  We  went  from  thence  to  Kirkaldy  ;  but  on 
the  way,  after  crossing  the  Firth  from  Edinburgh,  on  our  landing,  the  whole 
population  turned  out  to  meet  us,  with  a  band  of  music,  as  if  they  had  intended  that 
we  should  make  a  sort  of  triumphant  entry  into  their  country.  (Hear,  hear,  and 
cheers.)  .  .  .  It  is  customary  for  a  man,  or  a  nation,  to  look  back  to  a  long 
line  of  ancestry,  and  to  say  what  their  forefathers  have  been ;  and  it  may  be  no 
ignoble  boast  that  they  had  forefathers  who  did  many  good  things ;  but  I  would 
ask  you  to  consider  the  responsibility  which  lies  upon  you,  not  for  the  present 
generation  of  men,  women,  and  children  whom  you  see  round  you,  but  for  the 
generation  yet  unborn,  to  seek  to  overthrow  this  great  monopoly,  :md  all  other 
monopolies,  and  to  remember  from  whom  these  monopolies  spring,  and  then  the 


134  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1843. 

reputation  of  what  you  have  done  will  go  on  to  the  end  of  time,  co-extensive  with 
thu  blessings  that  you  have  secured  to  future  generations,  to  unborn  millions 
who  would  bless  the  hour  when  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  of  this  country 
succeeded  in  putting  its  foot  upon  the  neck  of  the  hideous,  most  detestable,  and 
wicked  monopoly.  (Cheers.)  I  have  done — it  may  be  thought  that  I  have  spoken 
strongly,  and  so  I  may  have  done,  but  it  is  because  I  feel  strongly.  It  is  from  no 
natural  and  uncontrollable  impetuosity  of  temper  that  I  thus  express  myself — it  is 
because  I  have  for  years  past  studied  this  question ;  I  have  looked  it  through,  I  was 
about  to  say,  in  its  length  and  breadth,  but  that  no  mortal  man  has  ever  yet 
fathomed  the  depth  of  the  wickedness  of  the  Corn  Laws;  and  it  is  because  my 
convictions  are  strong,  and  my  mind  fully  made  up  on  this  question,  that  I  speak 
with  a  force  and  a  freedom  which  becomes  a  man  in  earnest,  upon  a  matter  which 
he  believes  to  be  of  momentous  and  vital  importance  to  his  country  and  his  kind." 

The  whole  assembly  rose  and  cheered  enthusiastically. 

On  the  29th  of  January  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Town 
Hall,  Ashton.  The  tickets  for  the  tea-party  and  meeting  were 
first  sold  at  one  shilling  each,  but  so  great  was  the  demand 
that,  on  the  appointed  day,  ten  shillings  was  given  readily  for 
a  ticket.  Mr.  C.  Hindley,  M.P.,  presided,  and  Mr.  J.  Brotherton, 
M.P.,  was  also  one  of  the  speakers.  Mr.  Bright  illustrated 
the  conduct  of  the  monopolists  by  referring  to  the  monkey, 
and  showed  the  waste  that  the  Corn  Laws  occasioned. 


haps  you  have  seen  a  zoological  garden,  and  you  might  have  taken  notice 
jnkeys  there.    Monkeys  generally  have  a  can  of  porridge  each  to  feed  from ; 


"Perhat 
of  the  mor 

but  I  ask  you,  did  ever  you  see  a  monkey  begin  with  his  own  can  ?  never ;  he  com- 
mences with  solemn  grimace,  and  stealthily  winds  his  long  arms  over  the  shoulder 
of  his  fellow -monkey,  slipping  his  fingers  into  the  can  that  belongs  to  his  neighbour, 
and  commences  licking  the  produce  of  his  mischief  with  delight — this  is  protection, 
or  robbery — by  which  dignity  is  supported.  But  the  evil  does  not  cease  with  this 
simple  abstraction.  The  monkey  does  not  put  into  his  mouth  all  that  he  has 
abstracted  from  his  neighbour's  can  ;  no  inconsiderable  portion  drops  by  the  way, 
and  is  wasted.  Every  monkey  follows  the  same  practice  and  robs  his  neighbour,  so 
that  none  receives  a  benefit ;  whilst  a  large  portion  of  their  food  is  spilt  on  the 
ground  from  their  fingers  in  its  conveyance  to  their  mouths.  So  it  is  with  the 
advocates  of  the  Corn  Laws ;  like  the  monkeys,  they  are  not  content  with  their  own 
— they  are  never  at  rest  while  they  can  take  something  from  somebody  else,  and  in 
the  end  they  will  all  be  losers." 

For  years  the  League  found  it  difficult  to  accommodate  the 
immense  number  of  persons  who  were  in  the  habit  of  attending 
their  meetings  in  Manchester,  hence  a  building  was  erected  in 
St.  Peter's  Field,  the  site  of  the  Peterloo  massacre,  and  it  was 
completed  in  January,  1843.  The  dimensions  were  135  feet 
by  105,  and  the  height  of  the  walls  27  feet,  and  it  was  ap- 
propriately named  "  The  Free  Trade  Hall/'  On  the  30th  of 
January  the  first  great  meeting  took  place  within  its  walls,  and 
although  the  hall  is  the  largest  in  the  kingdom,  with  the 
exception  of  the  great  feudal  structure  at  Westminster,  still  it 
was  crowded.  7,000  persons,  it  was  calculated,  were  present. 
.Mr.  Mark  Philips  was  in  the  chair.  Dr.  Bowring,  M.P.,  first 
addressed  the  immense  gathering;  Mr.  G.  Wilson  followed, 
reading  the  subscriptions  towards  the  £50,000  fund,  whicb 


1843.]  SUBSCEIPTIONS   TO   THE   LEAGUE   FUND.  135 

amounted  to  £40,460.  Mr.  Taylor,  of  London,  was  the  next 
speaker,  and  then  followed  Mr.  Alderman  Brooks,  Mr.  John 
Bright,  Mr.  R.  R.  E.  Moore,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pearson,  of  Ebley, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Massie,  and  Col.  Thompson.  Before  the  meeting 
closed  the  fund  was  increased  to  j§42,000. 

On  the  1st  of  February  a  banquet  was  held  in  the  Free  Trade 
Hall,  Manchester,  and  3,800  persons  were  present.  Mr.  Mark 
Philips,  M.P.,  was  in  the  chair.  Mr.  T.  M.  Gibson,  Col. 
Thompson,  Mr.  Daniel  O'Connell,  M.P.,  Dr.  Bowring,  M.P., 
and  Mr.  W.  Aldam,  M.P.,  delivered  addresses.  The  audience 
incessantly  called  upon  Mr.  Bright  to  speak  to  them,  and  upon 
rising  at  last  he  was  lustily  cheered.  In  referring  to  the 
number  of  people  out  of  employment  that  had  paraded  the 
streets  of  the  towns  in  procession,  he  said  : — 

"We  have  seen  them  worked  up  into  frenzy — frenzy  not  arising  from  the  love 
of  violence,  but  from  the  impossibility  of  further  endurance  of  suffering ;  we  have 
seen  them  in  the  possession  of  our  towns ;  we  have  had  our  property  in  their  hands, 
our  lives  in  their  hands.  (Hear,  hear.)  Neither  military  nor  the  police  were  of 
any  use  to  put  them  down,  inasmuch  as  both  were  wearied,  so  that  they  were 
almost  impotent  to  resist  what  might  be  brought  against  them ;  yet  not  one  sixpence 
worth  of  damage  was  done  in  some  of  those  towns,  and  if  ever  I  cared  for  that 
population  amongst  whom  I  am  living,  since  last  August,  I  care  more  now  for  them. 
(Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  I  venerate  that  population.  (Cheers.)  I  hold  myself  in 
some  degree  the  representative  of  them.  (Tremendous  cheers.)  And  any  man  may 
who  has  any  capital  by  which  he  employs  any  of  them.  I  hold  that  man,  as  the 
representative  of  those  whom  he  employs,  is  bound  to  use  his  influence  to  save  them 
from  the  ruin  which  the  blind  and  slavish  aristocracy  of  this  country  are  very 
rapidly  bringing  upon  them."  (Cheers.) 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  LEAGUE  AND  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 

The  Results  of  Various  Resolutions — Lord  Brougham's  Attack  on  Mr.  Bright,  and 
the  latter's  Reply — A  Meeting  in  the  Strand— Cobden  defended  by  Members  of 
the  League— Drury  Lane  Theatre  Rented  for  Weekly  Meetings — Bright  at 
Bristol,  Tiverton,  Gloucester,  and  Cheltenham. 

WHILE  the  agitation  was  rapidly  gaining  adherents  through- 
out the  country,  the  cause  was  making  but  slow  progress  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  for  the  landlords  of  the  soil  were  formidable 
in  the  House  in  numbers,  and  they  were  blinded  by  their  own 
apparent  interest,  mistaking  immediate  profit  to  themselves  as 
the  best  means  of  promoting  the  general  well-being,  and  they 
never  hesitated  to  prevent  the  poor  from  buying  their  food  in 
the  cheapest  market.  Our  advantages  from  position,  from 
coal-mines,  and  from  the  industry,  skill,  and  energy  of  the  people, 
are  so  considerable  that  were  it  not  for  unwise  laws  England, 
for  ages  to  come,  might  continue  to  be  the  great  workshop 
and  emporium  of  the  world.  There  was  nothing  appalling  in 
the  situation,  except  the  want  of  wisdom  in  the  rulers  and 
of  sympathy  for 

"  The  lonely  poor ; 

Search,  for  their  worth,  some  gentle  heart  wrung-proof , 

Meek,  patient,  kind,  and,  were  its  trials  fewer, 

Belike  less  happy — Stand  no  more  aloof." 

Sir  Robert  Peel  stated  in  Parliament  on  the  3rd  of  February 
that  his  experience  of  the  Corn  Law  had  not  been  such  as  to 
induce  him  to  propose  farther  changes  at  present.  He  had 
heard  nothing  to  induce  him  to  prefer  a  fixed  duty  to  a  sliding 
scale. 

Lord  Howick,  on  the  17th  of  February,  1843,  moved  for  a 
committee  on  the  commercial  policy  of  the  country.  It  was 
refused  by  a  majority  of  115. 

On  the  3rd  of  February  a  meeting  of  ministers  of  religion 
was  held  in  the  Manchester  Town  Hall,  to  consider  the  bearing 
of  the  Com  Laws  upon  the  physical,  moral,  and  religious  con- 
dition of  the  people.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Burns  was  the  chairman, 
and  there  were  about  300  ministers  present.  In  the  evening  a 
banquet  was  held  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall,  and  Mr.  John  Brooks 
officiated  as  chairman.  The  speakers  were  Messrs.  John  Bright, 


1843.1  SIR   EGBERT    PEEL   AND    COBDEN.  137 

J.    S.    Buckingham,    Torrens   McCullagh,    Rev.    T.    Spencer, 
W.  F.  C.  Wright,  and  James  Wilson. 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  February  a  meeting  of 
deputies  was  held  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall,  Manchester.  Mr.  G. 
Wilson  was  in  the  chair,  and  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  John  Bright 
it  was  decided  "  that  the  council  of  the  National  Anti-Corn-Law 
League  forthwith  adjourn,  and  that  it  shall  summon  a  con- 
ference of  deputies  from  the  country  at  such  times  as  it  may 
deem  expedient."  In  the  evening  a  closely-packed  meeting  was 
held  in  the  hall,  at  which  were  about  8,000  persons.  Mr. 
Bright  also  addressed  this  meeting,  having  spoken  for  five 
successive  evenings. 

On  the  13th  February,  1843,  Lord  Howick  moved  for  a 
committee  of  the  whole  House  to  consider  the  reference  in  the 
Queen's  speech  to  the  long-continued  depression  of  the  manu- 
facturing industry.  The  debate  was  continued  nightly  until 
the  17th,  when  the  motion  was  rejected  by  306  to  191  votes. 
Mr.  Cobden  taunted  the  Ministers  with  being  free  traders  only 
in  the  abstract.  A  scene  followed,  and  Mr.  Cobden  told  Sir 
Robert  Peel  that  he  held  the  Premier  personally  responsible  for 
the  lamentable  and  dangerous  state  of  affairs.  Sir  R.  Peel 
interpreted  the  remarks  as  an  incentive  to  attacks  upon  his  life. 
Mr.  Cobden  also  commented  on  the  attack  made  by  Lord 
Brougham  on  the  members  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League, 
characterising  the  language  of  his  lordship  as  "the  ebullition 
of  an  ill-regulated  intellect  rather  than  the  offspring  of  a 
malicious  spirit/'  Sir  R.  Peel  rose  in  an  excited  state  and 
accused  Mr.  Cobden  of  holding  him  individually  and  personally 
responsible  for  the  distress  of  the  country.  He  had  said  so 
before  at  the  Conference  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League. 
"  But,"  added  Sir  Robert  Peel,  while  the  House  cheered,  ' '  be 
the  consequence  of  these  insinuations  what  they  may — (a  long 
burst  of  cheers)  — never  will  I  be  influenced  by  menaces  such  as 
these — (another  burst  of  cheers) — to  hold  language,  or  adopt  a 
course  which  I  consider  in  the  slightest  degree  inconsistent  with 
my  public  duty."  (Cheers.)  Mr.  Cobden  said  he  did  not  say 
«  personally."— Sir  Robert  Peel:  "You  did— you  did."  Mr. 
Cobden  had  great  difficulty  to  explain  that  what  he  meant  was 
that  the  right  hon.  gentleman  was  responsible  in  virtue  of  his 
office.  Sir  R.  Peel  was  highly  indignant,  and  displayed  an 
angry  feeling,  but  "  anger,"  it  is  said,  "  is  like  the  waves  of  a 
troubled  sea ;  when  it  is  corrected  with  a  gentle  reply,  as  with  a 
smooth  strand,  it  retires,  and  leaves  nothing  behind  but  froth  and 
shells — no  permanent  injury." 


138  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   HEIGHT.  [1848. 

On  the  15th  of  February  Lord  Brougham  sent  a  letter  to 
Mr.  John  Bright,  complaining  of  an  article  in  the  "  Anti-Bread- 
Tax  Circular/'  which,  he  stated,  contained  audacious  falsehoods 
concerning  his  conduct  with  respect  to  a  deputation  from  the 
League. 

Mr.  John  Bright,  in  the  course  of  a  long  letter  addressed 
from  Rochdale,  February  16th,  replied  : — 

"  Now  it  is  somewhat  strange  that  if  thou  art  a  sincere  friend  of  the  Corn  Law 
Repeal,  thou  shouldest  have  chosen  from  the  armour  of  the  Quarterly  Review  the 
weapons  wherewith  to  inflict  this  friendly  wound  upon  the  only  existing  body  by 
whom  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Law  is  likely  to  be  brought  about.  We  have  enemies 
who  attack  us  often  enough,  and  bitterly  enough,  and  we  are  not  especially  grateful 
to  our  professing  friends  when  they  throw  at  us  slander  of  the  Quarterly  and  the 
rest  of  its  tribe.  The  allusion  to  the  late  riots  is  a  direct  insinuation  against  the 
League,  worthy  only  of  its  bitterest  foe,  and  it  is  well  known  that  the  agent  of  the 
Government  did  his  utmost  to  implicate  the  League  in  those  unhappy  transactions  ; 
and  it  is  as  well  known  that  he  utterly  and  ridiculously  failed.  I  need  no  great 
sagacity  to  tell  who  were  the  real  cause  of  those  outbreaks.  If  the  people  would  die 
quietly,  there  would  be  a  chance  of  '  preserving  the  famine  law ; '  but  happily  they 
will  not ;  and  they  who  maintain  that  accursed  law  may  and  must  take  the 
responsibility  of  the  dangers  and  evils  which  spring  from  it.  In  reflecting  upon  the 
ungenerous  attack  upon  the  League,  I  might  refer  thee  to  passages  in  thy  own  career. 
I  have  read  thy  speeches,  admired  and  studied  them ;  nay,  I  have  almost  venerated 
the  man  who  spoke  them.  I  find  in  them  passages  as  fierce,  and  impetuous,  and 
exciting  as  any  I  have  read  in  the  speeches  of  the  League.  I  ask  thee  to  look 
back ;  the  past  might  be  forgotten  if  they  were  not  written.  For  myself,  I  have 
only  to  say_  that,  were  my  words  as  a  fiery  bolt,  they  should  not  be  withheld  against 
the  vast  iniquity  the  League  is  pledged  to  exterminate.  It  is  not  my  place  to  excuse 
or  to  justify  what  may  appear  in  the  circular ;  but  I  will  say  that  if  a  man,  what- 
ever be  his  station  in  society,  dare  to  launch  his  calumnies  at  the  League,  he  will 
ever  find  me  ready  to  repel  his  attacks.  In  this  country  there  is  no  sacred  enclosure 
from  which  a  man  may  shoot  his  poisoned  darts  and  be  himself  secure  from 
attack.  The  League  was  pursuing  its  labours — labours  acknowledged  by  thyself  to 
be  meritorious — when  thou  charged  them  with  heavy  sins — may  I  not  say  with 
atrocious  crimes  ?  And  when  they  turn  round  and  repel  the  charge,  and  say  a  few 
severe  things  upon  thee,  at  least  as  true  as  what  thou  said'st  of  them,  thou  art  ruffled, 
and  denouncest  the  pains  and  penalties  of  the  House  of  Lords  against  them.  I  wish 
thy  speech  had  been  unspoken,  much  more  for  thy  sake  than  for  that  of  the  League. 
We  have  outgrown  such  unjust  and  absurd  charges  as  it  contains.  We  do  not  wish 
to  make  enemies ;  but  we  are  too  well  assured  of  our  duty,  and  the  excellence  of  our 
object,  to  submit  to  attacks  which  no  one  can  justify." 

Lord  Brougham  replied : — 

"  It  would  be  far  better  policy,  and  far  more  praiseworthy  conduct,  to  separate 
yourself  from  such  unworthy  associates — I  mean  better  policy  for  the  cause.  I  beg 
to  assure  you  that  I  impute  no  wrong  motives  to  you,  but  I  perceive  that  your  mind 
is  wholly  inflamed  with  party  spirit,  and  that  you  are  thus  prevented  from  exercising 
your  calm  judgment." 

Mr.  Bright  answered  this  letter  in  scathing  terms,  and 
Lord  Brougham  discontinued  his  correspondence. 

On  the  22nd  of  February,  a  meeting  of  the  friends  and 
supporters  of  the  National  Anti-Corn-Law  League  was  held  in 
the  assembly-room  of  the  Crown  and  Anchor  Tavern,  Strand, 
London,  in  furtherance  of  the  objects  of  the  League.  The 
room  was  not  sufficiently  large  to  accommodate  all  who  sought 


1843.3  LAHGE    GATHEKINGS   AT   LEEDS.  139 

admittance.  Mr.  Hamer  Stansfield,  of  Leeds,  was  the  chairman. 
Mr.  R.  Cobden  was  the  first  speaker,  and  was  followed  by  Mr. 
Bright. 

"A  year  ago,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "he  had  been  in  the  metropolis,  and  in  that 
very  room  he  had  pointed  out  what  was  about  to  happen  in  the  manufacturing 
districts.  In  July  last  he  was,  again  in  London  as  a  member  of  the  League,  and 
there  they  had  told  the  Government,  and  many  members  of  Parliament,  and  the  public 
in  general,  the  fearful  state  of  the  country,  and  now  he  was  come  again  to  tell  them 
that  the  country  was  no  better  than  it  was  then  ;  and  if  it  was  no  better,  it  must  be 
much  worse,  for  there  were  no  such  things  as  stagnation  in  a  nation's  condition. 
(Hear,  hear.)  Last  summer  he  had  asked  Sir  Thomas  Acland  what  he  thought  of 
the  matter,  and  his  reply  was  that  he  did  not  think  that  the  Corn  Laws  should  be 
maintained  for  ever.  He  asked  Sir  Thomas  how  long  it  would  be  before  he  supposed 
the  Corn  Laws  would  be  given  up,  and  Sir  Thomas  replied  '  when  the  population 
should  have  increased  to  somewhat  more  than  it  was  at  present,  in  ten  years  perhaps 
the  people  might  amount  to  three  or  four  millions  more,  and  then  no  science,  no 
skill,  no  industry,  applied  to  agriculture,  would  be  capable  of  enabling  it  to  supply  a 
sufficiency  of  food  for  the  country ; '  in  short,  he  said  '  that  the  Corn  Laws  would  be 
repealed  whenever  the  pressure  became  too  strong.'  (Cheers.)  He*  asked  Sir 
Thomas  if  the  pressure  was  not  strong  enough  then,  when  thousands  were  starving 
to  death,  but  Sir  Thomas's  carriage  was  waiting  at  the  door,  and  he  could  not  wait 
any  longer,  and  so  they  left  him."  (Laughter.) 

Sir  Thomas  had  evidently  an  elastic  conscience,  for  his 
conduct  said: — 

"  I  see  the  right,  and  approve  it  too ; 
Condemn  the  wrong,  and  yet  the  wrong  pursue." 

A  meeting  was  held  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall,  on  the  23rd  of 
February,  to  repudiate  the  charges  made  in  the  Legislature 
against  the  League,  and  more  particularly  against  Mr.  R.  Cobden. 
It  was  calculated  that  10,000  persons  were  present.  Mr.  G. 
Wilson  was  the  chairman,  and  he  informed  those  present  that 
the  meeting  had  been  called  for  the  purpose  of  repelling  the 
unmanly  attacks  that  had  been  made  upon  the  character  of  its 
members,  and  especially  upon  that  distinguished,  most  able,  and 
unequalled  champion  of  their  cause,  Mr.  R.  Cobden.  The 
audience  here  cheered  lustily,  and  waved  their  hats  and  hand- 
kerchiefs for  several  minutes.  Mr.  Henry  Ash  worth,  Mr.  Thomas 
Bazley,  junr.,  Sir  Tliomas  Potter,  Mr.  Benjamin  Pearson,  and 
Mr.  Alderman  Callender  addressed  the  meeting. 

"  "What  are  we  to  think  of  the  majority  of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  as 
they  style  themselves?"  said  Mr.  Bright,  who  was  the  next  speaker.  "I  confess 
that  I  feel  sensations  of  deepest  humility  when  I  sit  in  the  gallery  of  the  House  of 
Commons  and  look  upon  them.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  see  them  all  conscience-stricken, 
and  acknowledging,  both  in  their  looks  and  conduct,  that  they  are  guilty  of  support- 
ing a  law  which  they  feel  to  be  unjust.  (Hear,  hear.)  But  what  shall  we  say  of 
him  who  is  the  leader  of  that  band  of  men  who  shrinks  from  the  just  responsibility 
which  has  been  laid  upon  him?  Did  he  not  for  ten  years  boast  that  he  was 
building  up  a  great  party?  Did  he  not  cry  '  register,  register,  register,'  and  did  not 
his  followers  follow  out  that  advice  ?  and  did  they  not  at  last  force  themselves  into 
the  councils  of  the  Queen?  (Cheers,  and  cries:  'They  did.')  ...  I  believe 
Mr.  Cobden  to  be  a  very  intelligent  and  honest  man ;  I  believe  that  he  will  act  with 
a  single  eye  to  the  good  of  his  country ;  I  believe  that  he  is  firmly  convinced  of  the 


140  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  11W. 

truth  of  the  great  principle  of  which  he  is  so  distinguished  an  advocate ;  and  sur- 
rounded as  he  is  by  men  as  enthusiastic  as  himself  aud  as  anxious  that  these 
measures  should  be  carried  out,  and  seconded  by  the  thousands  which  I  see  in  this 
hall— and  the  seven  or  eight  thousand  here  are  but  the  representatives  of  the 
millions  without  these  walls — I  cannot  suppose  that  the  triumph  of  those  principles 
is  far  distant;  and  when  it  is  accomplished,  for  whatever  we  may  have  done,  for 
whatever  sacrifices  we  may  have  made,  I  believe  we  shall  be  amply  repaid  in  the 
marvellous  change  which,  in  a  few  years,  will  take  place  in  the  moral  aspect  of  the 
country."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  concluded  by  moving  an  address  to  Mr.  R. 
Cobden.  Mr.,  William  Rawson  seconded  the  motion.  The 
Rev.  C.  Baker,  of  Stockport,  Mr.  Alderman  Brooks,  and  Mr. 
Morris  spoke  in  its  favour,  and  the  meeting  carried  the  motion 
unanimously. 

On  the  16th  of  March,  Mr.  Bright  and  Colonel  Thompson 
visited  the  ancient  city  of  Bristol,  "  the  mistress  of  the  Severn 
sea/'  with  its  streets  of  masts,  "  and  pennants  from  all  nations  of 
the  earth. "  On  the  evening  of  that  date  a  soiree  was  held  in  the 
Public  Rooms,  Broadmead.  The  gathering  was  large  and 
enthusiastic.  Two  years  previous  to  that  date  Mr.  Bright  had 
addressed  the  inhabitants  on  the  same  subject. 

The  members  of  the  League  finding  they  could  not  obtain  a 
room  in  London  sufficiently  large  to  accommodate  their  meetings, 
rented  Drury  Lane  Theatre  in  which  to  hold  their  weekly 
meetings  for  a  time.  On  the  20th  of  March  the  first  weekly 
meeting  was  held  in  this  theati'e.  Mr.  G.  Wilson  occupied  the 
chair.  Mr.  Ewart,  Mr.  R.  Cobden,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  were 
the  speakers.  In  the  course  of  a  lengthy  speech,  Mr.  Bright 
said : — 

"What  was  the  state  of  the  population  of  this  country?  It  was  so  bad  that 
when  he  had  been  abroad  he  had  been  ashamed  to  acknowledge  that  he  was 
an  Englishman.  It  was  said  of  the  celebrated  writer,  Mr.  Dickens,  that  he 
had  described  low  life  so  well  that  he  must  have  lived  in  a  workhouse.  The  reply 
was  that  he  had  lived  in  England,  which  was  one  great  workhouse.  (Hear,  hear.) 
The  country  was  filled  with  paupers,  and  we  were  now  devouring  each  other.  In 
Leeds  there  were  40,000  persons  subsisting  on  charity.  A  friend  of  his  was  then 
in  the  room  who  told  him  that  in  Sheffield  there  were  no  less  than  12,000  paupers, 
and  that  there  were  as  many  more  who  were  as  badly  off  as  paupers.  (A  voice : 
'Worse.')  These  towns  were  desolated,  and  did  they  think  that  when  the 
manufacturing  districts  were  involved  in  ruin  that  London  could  be  safe  ?  Are  the 
labouring  population  of  Dorsetshire  any  better  than  others '(  Why,  every  man  was 
a  pauper,  and  the  number  was  not  diminishing.  The  return  from  which  he  had 
quoted  was  made  two  years  ago,  and  since  then  the  number  of  paupers  had  in- 
creased." 

Mr.  Bright  and  Colonel  Thompson  next  day  went  down  to 
the  pleasantly-situated  town  of  Tiverton.  They  spoke  at  a 
meeting  in  the  Theatre.  Amongst  the  large  audience  there  was 
a  number  of  farmers,  who  responded  most  heartily  to  the  senti- 
ments of  the  speakers.  Mr.  Tatley,  the  mayor,  a  landed  pro- 
prietor, officiated  as  chairman.  From  Tiverton  they  went  to 


1843.1  AT    GLOUCESTEE.  141 

Bamstaple,  which  is  situated  in  a  broad  and  fertile  vale  on  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  river  Taw,  and  on  the  22nd  of  March  they 
addressed  a  meeting  in  the  Guildhall,  which  was  crowded.  The 
day  after,  they  presented  themselves  at  Exeter,  a  city  which 
"  takes  homage  from  the  gazing  hills  around/''  A  meeting  was 
held  at  the  Royal  Subscription  Rooms,  and  the  large  audience 
applauded  the  sentiments  expressed  by  both  speakers. 

On  the  24th  of  March  they  were  in  the  city  of  Gloucester, 
where  George  Whitfield,  and  Raikes  the  establisher  of  Sunday- 
schools,  first  saw  the  light.  The  Shire-hall  was  the  place  of 
meeting,  and  the  workpeople  present  were  chiefly  those  employed 
in  the  manufacture  of  shawls,  pin-making,  bell  manufacture, 
and  edge  tools,  and  there  were  also  a  few  farmers  and  agri- 
cultural labourers,  who  cultivated  the  fertile  plain  surrounding 
this  city. 

Cheltenham,  with  its  fine  fruitful  vale,  sheltered  by  the 
immense  amphitheatre  formed  by  the  Cotswold  hills,  was  next 
visited  by  Mr.  Bright  on  the  25th  of  March,  and  he  delivered  a 
speech  to  the  inhabitants. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

BBIGHT'S  FIRST  ELECTION  CONTEST  IN  DURHAM. 

Bright  at  Taunton — Discussing  with  a  Clergyman  at  Davenport — Journey  to  Lis- 
keard,  Manchester,  and  Plymouth — Bright  suggested  as  .1  Candidate  for  Sheffield 
— Bright  on  Phonography — The  old  Reporting  System — Bright  at  the  Weekly 
London.Meeting,  and  a  Gathering  of  London  Merchants  and  Bankers— Visit  to 
Macclesfield,  High  Wycombe,  Dorset,  Lincoln,  Huntingdon,  and  Norwich. 

EARLY  in  April  (1843),  when  spring  had  "put  a  spirit  of 
youth  in  everything/'  Mr.  Bright  took  a  run  down  to  Notting- 
ham, to  give  friendly  assistance  to  a  Free  Trader  who  had 
offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for  a  vacant  seat  in  Parliament 
for  that  town ;  and  while  there  he  received  intelligence  that  an 
election  was  about  to  take  place  at  Durham,  and  that  if  a  Free 
Trade  candidate  was  brought  forward  the  probability  was  that 
the  majority  of  the  electors  would  record  their  votes  in  his 
favour.  Mr.  Bright  thus  described  the  event  at  a  public  meeting 
in  London  afterwards : — 

"  He  (Mr.  Bright)  went  to  Durham,  not  with  the  remotest  intention  of  becoming 
a  candidate  himself,  but  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  any  person  as  a  candidate 
who  might  be  in  the  field,  and  who  was  favourable  to  the  views  held  by  the 
members  of  the  League.  However,  from  some  indecision  amongst  the  Liberals 
and  Free  Trade  electors,  there  was  no  one  in  the  neighbourhood  who  seemed  likely 
to  unite  the  suffrages  of  all  the  friends  of  Free  Trade  so  as  to  insure  success. 
There  were  many  excellent  friends  in  the  League  who  strongly  advised  him  to 
stand ;  some  very  intelligent,  sober-minded,  well-informed  men  believed  there 
was  a  good  chance  of  success,  and  all  of  them  were  of  opinion  that  they  could 
fight  a  very  respectable  battle.  He  was  in  a  difficulty,  and.  did  not  know  how 
to  proceed.  It  was  impossible  that  he  could  have  any  advice  from  those  with 
whom  he  usually  acted,  the  election  being  fixed  for  so  early  a  day.  He  proceeded 
therefore  to  issue  an  address  to  the  electors,  which  was  posted  on  the  walls 
of  the  city  of  Durham  early  on  the  Monday  morning,  and  at  eight  o'clock 
the  same  morning  he  and  his  friends  began  to  canvass,  and  they  canvassed  until 
eleven,  when  the  nomination  took  place.  It  was  said  that  nearly  every  elector 
in  the  city  was  present  at  the  nomination,  and  at  the  conclusion,  when  the  show 
of  hands  was  taken,  there  were  about  fifteen  hands,  certainly  not  more  than  twenty, 
held  up  for  his  opponent  (Lord  Dungannon),  and  apparently  every  other  hand  in 
that  vast  assembly  was  held  up  in  his  (Blight's)  favour.  Now  that  was  a  fair 
election  for  the  city  of  Durham.  It  was  an  election  as  good  as  they  would  have 
had  if  they  had  had  the  ballot.  These  men  held  up  their  hands  in  the  crowd, 
and  none  could  tell  whose  they  were.  Had  they  voted  as  they  had  held  up  their 
hands,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  probably  not  fifty  electors  in  that  city  would 
have  recorded  their  votes  for  his  opponent.  Now  when  they  considered  that 
Durham  was  a  cathedral  city,  and  that  the  proposer  of  his  opponent  was  a  gen- 
tleman of  very  high  character,  of  extraordinary  ability,  and  of  very  great  in- 
fluence ;  when  they  considered  moreover  that  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry  had  an 
enormous,  and  he  would  say  a  most  unconstitutional,  interest  in  that  borough ; 
that  he  had  for  many  years  maintained  and  employed  a  large  number  of  the 
freemen  of  the  city  of  Durham,  it  was  said  (and  no  one  doubted  it),  for  the  express 
purpose  of  exerting  influence  in  the  election  of  members  for  the  city ;  when  it  was 


1843.]  SPEECHES    AT    DURHAM.  143 

considered  that  on  this  occasion  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry  was  able  to  poll  not 
fewer  than  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  freemen  as  certainly  as  if  he  could  go  and 
write  his  name  in  the  poll  book  and  put  a  hundred  votes  opposite  it ;  if,  in  addition 
to  this,  it  was  remembered  that  his  opponent  had  on  former  occasions  represented 
the  city,  and  that  notwithstanding  all  this,  he  (Mr.  Bright)  had  polled  more 
votes  than  any  Liberal  candidate  had  polled  before  in  the  city  of  Durham  since 
the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill ;  that  he  had  polled  406  against  his  opponent's 
507 ;  and  that  a  great  number  of  those  who  voted  for  his  opponent  professed  them- 
selves to  be  Free  Traders,  and  had  only  engaged  to  support  him  because,  as  they 
stated,  they  felt  confident  that  no  opponent  of  his  would  be  in  the  field;  when, 
further,  it  was  remembered  that  the  whole  expenses  he  (Mr.  Bright)  had  incurred 
did  not  exceed  £50  or  £60,  and  that  not  a  farthing  had  been  expended  for  drink,  not 
a  farthing  in  bribes,  not  a  farthing  which  he  could  not  expose  to  his  opponent,  or 
any  other  person ;  he  did  think  that,  considering  all  these  things,  the  result  was  not 
to  be  considered  in  the  light  of  a  defeat,  but  as  affording  hope  of  a  not  very  distant 
triumph." 

Mr.  Prebendary  Townsend  was  the  gentleman  who  had 
nominated  Lord  Dungannon  at  the  Durham  election,  and  Mr. 
Bright,  in  addressing  the  electors,  said  : — 

"You  are  aware  that  under  the  Tithe  Commutation  Act  the  revenues  of  the 
clergy,  in  tithe,  are  increased  in  amount  according  as  food  rises  in  price,  and  fall  in 
amount  as  food  falls  in  price ;  that  an  average  is  taken  every  seven  years,  and  that 
upon  that  seven  years'  average  the  tithe  rent  charge  is  fixed.  .  .  Now,  I  repeat 
that  I  do  not  blame  the  clergy  for  this.  It  is  a  misfortune  for  which  they  are  not 
to  be  accounted  guilty,  but  still  I  hold  it  is  a  most  unhappy  circumstance  that  any 
body  of  men  holding  their  position  in  society — assuming  sacred  functions — pro- 
fessing themselves  the  ministers  of  the  purest  system  of  morality  and  religion  ever 
taught  upon  earth — men  who  call  upon  you  to  leave  the  grovelling  things  of  earth, 
and  all  the  miserable  dross  and  tinsel  by  which  you  are  surrounded — to  direct  your 
thoughts  to  higher  and  holier  objects — to  carry  your  aspirations  towards  heaven 
rather  than  stoop  to  the  things  below — I  say  it  is  a  misfortune  that  by  a  law  made 
by  the  Parliament  of  this  country  this  body  of  men,  especially  appointed  to  take 
charge  of  the  flock,  should,  instead  of  being  the  shepherds,  appear  to  all  men's  eyes 
as  the  shearers  of  the  flock — (great  cheering) — and  that  their  enormous  influence 
should,  in  almost  all  the  parishes  of  England,  be  bound  up  in  the  conservation  of 
the  most  odious,  the  most  unjust,  the  most  oppressive,  and  the  most  destructive 
enactment  which  was  ever  recorded  upon  the  statute-book  of  this  or  any  other 
country."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden,  on  the  morning  of  the  8th  of 
April,  arrived  at  Taunton,  a  town  of  great  antiquity,  situated  in 
the  vale  of  Taunton  Dean,  which  is  proverbial  for  the  fertility  of 
its  soil  and  its  temperate  climate.  The  distinguished  members 
of  the  League  were  met  at  the  station  by  a  band  and  hundreds 
of  admirers,  and  were  escorted  to  the  Assize  Hall,  which  was 
soon  crowded  by  1,500  persons.  There  was  a  large  number  of 
farmers  present.  Mr.  Cobden,  on  rising,  was  received  with  cool 
respect,  and  it  was  plainly  visible  upon  their  faces  that  the 
audience  was  doubtful.  Every  remark  was  well  weighed,  and 
gradually  the  icy-coldness  and  suspicion  pictured  on  the  upturned 
faces  disappeared  as  Cobden  unfolded  his  subject.  At  last  his 
statements  were  confirmed  by  a  timid  "hear,  hear;"  but  these 
expressions  grew  robust,  and  were  ultimately  uttered  with  strong 
emphasis.  Mr.  Bright  next  rose,  and  he  drove  the  facts  home 


144  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BEIGHT.  [1843. 

so  well  that  enthusiasm  pervaded  the  meeting  and  found  vent  in 
cheers,  and  at  last  the  audience  seemed  to  be  thoroughly  in 
i'avour  of  the  principles  of  the  League. 

Mr.  Bright  next,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Moore,  went  on  to 
Davenport,  and  there,  at  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants,  a  clergy- 
man opposed  them.  Mr.  Bright  thus  alludes  to  the  event : — 

"  He  was  not  fond  of  such  discussions,  because  he  had  found  that  men  who  had 
attended  them  were  generally  more  occupied  in  getting  up  arguments  in  favour  of 
their  own  theories  than  endeavouring  to  discover  the  truth  in  those  of  their 
opponents.  The  Conservative  Association's  champion  was  not  engaged  in  com- 
mercial matters,  but  was  a  clergyman  of  the  Established  Church,  and  still  did  not 
feel  it  out  of  the  line  of  his  sacred  duties  to  step  forward  on  this  question.  The 
exhibition  was  altogether  highly  amusing.  For  two  hours  did  this  gentleman  hold 
forth  in  favour  of  scarcity  by  law.  He  propounded  doctrines  which  were  altogether 
new,  he  argued  that  scarcity  did  not  cause  distress ;  and  the  reply  made  to  him  in 
answer  to  his  views  was,  that  if  that  were  so  he  had  no  need  to  fear  the  repeal  of 
the  Corn  Laws,  for  that  abundance  would  not  cause  cheapness.  The  men  who 
went  there  prepared  to  vote  in  favour  of  the  Com  Laws  voted  against  them,  and 
not  more  than  one  in  fifty  held  up  their  hands  in  favour  of  the  Corn  Laws." 

The  next  meeting  attended  by  Mr.  Bright  was  at  the 
Guildhall,  Liskeard,  when  seven  hundred  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Eastern  Division  of  Cornwall  listened  to  him.  The  pleasant 
town  of  Wakefield  was  reached  by  him  on  the  21st  of  April,  and 
at  a  meeting  in  the  Music  Hall  saloon  he  said  : — 

"  I  might  draw  a  sad  picture  of  the  suffering  of  millions  of  your  countrymen.  I 
might  tell  you  of  blighted  hopes  and  ruined  prospects.  I  might  take  you  to  desolate 
homes  of  multitudes  whom  the  Corn  Laws  have  cursed  with  unutterable  wretched- 
ness. I  might  point  you  to  the  calamities  which  overhang  our  blessed  but  afflicted 
country,  and  implore  you  to  help  us  in  the  great  and  arduous  struggle.  (Cheers.) 
The  League  claims  your  help  with  the  utmost  confidence  that  you  will  not  be  found 
wanting ;  may  I  yet,  as  its  representative,  here  call  upon  you  to  arouse  yourselves  ? 
I  ask  it  on  no  grounds  of  personal  interest,  for  to  you  the  matter  is  as  deeply 
momentous  as  to  me,  and  conscious  of  your  responsibility  I  ask  you  for  the  sake  of 
millions  upon  whose  neck  is  the  iron  heel  of  monopoly ;  I  demand  it  by  the  memory 
of  those  whom  a  law-made  famine  has  destroyed.  And  trusting  in  the  sympathy  of 
our  common  nature,  I  know  that  I  do  not  call  upon  you  in  vain." 

The  audience  here  rose  and  cheered  lustily. 
•  About  4,000  persons  assembled  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall, 
Manchester,  on  the  evening  of  the  18th  of  April,  to  pay  a 
tribute  of  respect  to  Mr.  R.  Cobden.  Mr.  Alderman  Brooks 
presided.  Messrs.  R.  R.  R.  Moore,  Edward  W.  Watkin,  and 
Joseph  Brotherton,  M.P.,  addressed  the  meeting.  Mr.  Robert 
Niel,  a  working  man,  presented  to  Mr.  R.  Cobden  an  address 
bearing  11,372  signatures  of  residents  of  Manchester  and 
neighbourhood.  Mr.  R.  Cobden  responded.  Mr.  Lawrence 
Heyworth,  Mr.  Thomas  Bazley,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  delivered 
speeches. 

"We  go  here  and  there,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "determined  to  engage  with  our 
opponents,  but  no  combatants  can  we  find.  Occasionally  they  come  to  our 
meetings  and  commence  taking  notes  very  vigorously,  but  they  generally  give  it  up 


1843.J         SUGGESTED   AS  A  CANDIDATE    FOE   SHEFFIELD.  145 

in  despair,  and  when  you  turn  your  eye  to  the  spot,  expecting  an  antagonist,  lo ! 
you  find  that  he  has  vanished — (laughter) — not  perhaps  into  thin  air,  for  they  are 
sometimes  pretty  bulky,  but  into  open  air,  being  very  faint."  (Laughter.) 

On  the  24th  of  April,  Mr.  Bright  arrived  at  Plymouth,  from 
the  shores  of  which  sailed  the  "May  Flower"  235  years 
previously,  conveying  the  "  Pilgrim  Fathers"  to  the  New  World. 
About  1,500  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  seaport  assembled  in  the 
Theatre  to  listen  to  Mr.  Bright,  who  met  with  an  enthusiastic 
reception. 

In  May,  1843,  it  was  rumoured  that  Mr.  Ward,  one  of  the 
representatives  of  Sheffield,  who  was  the  successor  of  Mr.  J.  S. 
Buckingham,  was  likely  to  retire  to  private  life,  and  Mr.  Bright 
was  mentioned  in  a  leader  in  the  Sheffield  Independent  newspaper 
as  a  suitable  candidate.  "  Mr.  Bright' s  services  in  the  agitation 
of  the  League,"  it  went  on  to  state,  "  have  been  most  valuable. 
He  has  these  further  qualifications,  that,  being  perfectly  con- 
versant with  trade,  he  is  on  that  account  the  more  suitable 
member  for  a  manufacturing  town,  and  he  would  be  found 
decided  in  the  defence  of  those  civil  and  religious  liberties  which 
are  now  threatened  with  invasion." 

During  this  year  (1843),  Mr.  Joseph  Pitman  delivered  a 
lecture  on  Phonography  in  the  Theatre,  Toad  Lane,  Rochdale. 
Mr.  John  Bright,  being  the  chairman,  remarked  : — 

"  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  I  am  greatly  astonished  at  what  I  have  seen 
to-night.  Two  years  ago  I  read  an  account  of  a  lecture  on  phonography  in  a  York 
newspaper,  but  could  make  nothing  of  it.  I  thought  it  was  entirely  visionary.  I 
think  no  person  can  have  been  at  this  lecture  without  being  convinced  that  all  that 
has  been  promised  by  this  art  can  easily  be  performed  ;  and  that  it  is  so  exceedingly 
simple  as  to  be  easily  learned  by  everyone  of  ordinary  capacity  ;  and  if  it  be  learned 
by  a  very  large  number  of  the  people,  the  public  benefits  to  be  derived  from  it  are 
entirely  incalculable.  It  may  be  said  also  that  to  make  it  very  valuable  it  is. 
necessary  that  great  multitudes  should  learn  it.  Shorthands  are  of  very  little  use 
if  they  are  only  known  to  a  select  few,  for  men  are  not  writing  always  to  the  same 
persons,  and  if  ever  it  is  to  come  into  general  use  it  must,  I  think,  be  by  very  large 
multitudes  learning  it ;  and  I  see  no  reason  why  in  this  town  we  should  not  have  a 
class  of  four  or  five  hundred  or  more.  If  five  hundred  knew  it  well,  and  used  it, 
many  thousands  would  be  forced  to  learn  and  practice  it  from  necessity.  In  this 
age,  when  we  are  talking  so  much  about  education — when  we  ought  to  be  doing  so 
much  more  than  we  are — this  art  appears  to  rne  likely  to  tend  to  increase  the  love  of 
reading  and  writing  and  of  education  generally ;  and  it  seems  to  have  sprung  up  at 
a  time  when,  like  many  other  improvements,  it  was  most  needed,  and  when,  in  all 
probability,  it  will  be  seized  upon  with  the  greatest  avidity.  I  may  say  for  myself 
that  I  am  extremely  obliged  personally  to  the  inventor  and  to  his  brother,  who  has 
come  amongst  us  and  given  us  these  lectures.  I  shall  be  glad  if  this  town,  which  on 
many  occasions  has  stood  foremost  amongst  the  towns  of  Lancashire  on  some 
other  questions,  should  not  be  behind  in  one  so  important  as  this." 

Although  Mr.  Bright  at  that  period  of  his  public  career  had 
a  foresight  of  the  great  usefulness  of  phonography,  he  had  no 
idea  that  it  would  be  so  greatly  employed  in  recording  his  public 
utterances,  and  we  may  add  that  during  his  life  he  has  seen 


146  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1843. 

more  reporters  congregated  together  than  any  other  public  man, 
for  it  has  been  no  uncommon  circumstance  for  fifty  or  sixty  to 
attend  public  meetings  when  it  has  been  known  that  he  would 
1)0  present.  From  an  early  period,  it  has  been  the  ambition  of 
phonographcrs  to  record  his  speeches  on  account  of  his  celebrity, 
and  he  is  one  amongst  the  few  who  can  be  reported  verbatim,  as 
he  speaks  so  grammatically  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  alter  a 
single  word,  for  his  "accents  flow  with  artless  ease."  His 
statements  are  clear,  and  in  vigorous  language,  and  invariably 
cast  in  a  simple  and  single  mould.  Up  to  the  year  1849,  Mr. 
Bright  thought  that  the  Manchester  reporters  transcribed  his 
speeches  with  greater  accuracy  than  the  Parliamentary  reporters, 
for  in  that  year  he  said  to  Mr.  Stokes,  the  then  correspondent 
of  the  London  Daily  News,  who  was  stationed  in  Manchester : 
"  I  always  find  that  I  am  reported  much  more  correctly  in 
Manchester  than  in  London/'  This  might  arise  from  the  habit 
in  the  "  gallery  "  in  those  days  of  partially  ignoring  stenography, 
and  condensing  the  speaker's  words  in  a  style  less  pleasing  to 
himself  than  to  the  reporter.  Even  prior  to  the  year  1844  the 
London  daily  press  showed  the  importance  of  printing  Bright's 
and  Cobden's  speeches  the  day  after  the  delivery ;  for  reporters 
attended  the  meetings  in  Manchester.  Sometimes  these  meet- 
ings were  held  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  at  half-past 
four  the  reporters  would  drive  to  the  railway  station,  and  as 
the  rolling  and  swaying  express  or  "  special "  train  travelled  to 
the  metropolis  they  transcribed  their  notes  during  the  five 
hours'  journey,  and  after  another  drive  through  London  streets 
to  the  newspaper  offices  they  continued  copying  for  three  hours 
more,  winding  up  with  a  correction  of  proofs — twelve  hours  of 
almost  incessant  skilled  work,  with  only  the  briefest  pauses  for 
refreshments.  On  these  occasions  it  was  customary  for  one  or 
two  reporters  to  represent  each  paper,  and  the  lengthy  reports  of 
Bright's  and  Cobdeu's  speeches  that  appeared  in  each  paper  were 
somewhat  marvellous.  But  of  course  since  that  date  great 
changes  have  taken  place  in  furnishing  newspapers  at  a  distance 
with  reports.  The  telegraph  has  gradually  superseded  the 
"special  engine/'  as  a  means  of  express  reporting,  and,  more 
than  all,  the  increased  necessity  of  early  publication  compels 
the  work  to  be  subdivided  amongst  half-a-dozen  hands,  and 
linished  in  two  or  three  hours,  which  formerly  was  given  to  one 
or  two  reporters  to  finish  in  twelve  hours. 

The  weekly  meeting  of  the  Anti -Corn-Law  League  was  held 
at  Drury  Lane  Theatre  on  the  26th  of  April,  and,  notwith- 
standing the  attractions  of  the  holiday  season  at  that  time  of  the 


1843.]  THE   LEAGUE'S    WEEKLY   LONDON    MEETING.  147 

year,  the  buikling  was  crowded,  and  a  large  number  of  persons 
were  unable  to  gain  admittance.  Mr.  George  Wilson  was  the 
chairman.  The  llev.  Thomas  Spencer  and  Mr.  Ewart  spoke  on 
the  subject  of  the  Corn  Laws.  Mr.  J.  Bright  followed, 
remarking : — 

"  He  found  from  statistics,  which  he  believed  could  be  relied  upon,  that  up  to  the 
year  1820  the  average  duration  of  human  life  had  been  progressively  and  con- 
stantly increasing,  but  from  1820  up  to  1843  it  had  been  diminishing.  If  there  were 
no  figures  to  disprove  this,  and  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  present  more  perfect 
system  of  registration  would  place  the  fact  in  even  a  more  striking  light  before 
them,  still  it  would  be  easy  to  understand  that  such  a  state  of  things  must  ensue 
from  a  law  which  diminished  the  supply  of  food  to  the  people,  pressing  a  great 
portion  of  them  constantly  down  to  deeper  and  deeper  suffering,  and  contracting 
their  means  of  subsistence,  while  their  numbers  were  decreasing.  (Cheers.) 


classes  ?  Some  of  them  doubtless  had  suffered  much  during  the  last  five  years  from 
the  failing  trade  and  declining  prosperity  of  the  country,  but  by  far  the  greater  part 
of  the  early  deaths  inflicted  by  the  Corn  Laws  fell  upon  the  poorest  class.  (Hear, 
hear.)  It  had  been  proved  from  accurate  reports  that  in  some  districts  of 
Manchester  and  Leeds  570  children  out  of  1,000  who  were  born  died  before  they 
were  five  years  of  age.  Amongst  the  aristocracy  and  persons  of  comfortable  circum- 
stances, about  70  out  of  1,000  died  before  reaching  that  age,  and  here  there 
were  500  children  born  to  life  and  happiness,  born  to  give  comfort  to  their  parents, 
and  strength,  power,  and  prosperity  to  the  country,  swept  to  an  untimely  grave  by 
causes  in  no  small  degree  to  be  attributed  to  the  operation  of  these  oppressive  laws. 
(Cries  of  '  Shame.')  If  there  was  anything  more  appalling  than  this  it  was  not  in 
his  imagination  to  conceive.  (Cheers.)  If  in  Leeds  and  Manchester  there  was  this 
terrible  destruction  of  population,  what  was  the  case  in  Ireland?  There  the 
population  increased  at  a  much  slower  rate,  because  there  was  a  much  larger 
portion  steeped  in  the  deepest  poverty,  and  the  destruction  of  human  life  went  on 
more  rapidly.  All  who  had  travelled  in  the  south  and  south-west  of  Ireland  knew 
what  was  the  terrible  condition  of  the  peasantry.  There  in  London  their  appear- 
ance might  be  less  familiar  to  the  inhabitants,  but  he  (Mr.  Bright)  knew  that  when 
they  came  over  to  Liverpool  to  procure  work  at  the  harvest  in  the  north  of 
England  they  seemed  scarcely  men.  Persons  not  more  than  twenty-five  years  or 
thirty  years  of  age  appeared  poor  decrepit  creatures,  as  old  as  others  at  sixty  or 
seventy.  How  could  it  be  otherwise?  They  were  bom  in  the  greatest  possible 
degree  of  wretchedness ;  they  had  never  had  enough  of  good  and  substantial  diet, 
nor  even  enough  of  the  poor  diet  on  which  they  subsisted.  They  had  never  been 
well  clothed  or  sheltered :  they  had  no  sunshine  in  their  hearts,  ami  grew  .up  to  be 
stunted  and  dwarfish  and  miserable.  .  .  .  He  had  been  in  the  town  of  Sheffield 
last  week :  it  was  one  of  the  towns  which  had  not  done  all  its  duty.  He  had  been 
present  at  a  meeting  where  1,000  or  1,200  were  assembled  in  the  Music  Hall.  He 
had  spoken  to  them  with  a  severity  which  they  might  have  resented  had  it  not  been 
deserved.  He  had  told  them  that  they  were  unworthy  of  commercial  freedom,  and 
restoration  of  their  prosperity,  so  long  as  they  slumbered  for  weeks  or  months  with- 
out having  a  meeting  against  the  corn  law.  There  was  not  a  more  ingenious  or  in- 
tellectual population  than  that  of  Sheffield  in  the  world,  and  yet  their  manufactories 
were  brought  to  a  stoppage.  They  saw  thousands  of  the  ingenious  artisans  of  the 
town  employed  in -wheeling  earth  on  the  roads  for  the  miserable  pittance  which  is 
doled  out  to  them  from  the  poor  rates.  Seven  or  eight  years  ago  not  one  in  a  thou- 
sand of  the  population  of  Sheffield  was  a  pauper,  but  now  the  proportion  was  one 
in  nine."  (Cnes  of  "  Shame.") 

On  the  first  of  May,  the  favourite  month  of  the  year,  when 
"each  hedge  is  covered  thick  with  green,"  a  time  associated  with 
the  Maypole  and  laughing,  romping  children,  and  unreflecting 
joy,  Mr.  Bright  was  compelled  to  be  at  the  manufacturing  town 


148  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BHIGHT. 

of  Macclesfield,  at  a  meeting  in  the  School  Room  in  Foul  Street, 
to  speak  on  behalf  of  cheap  bread  for  the  people,  whose  condition 
betokened  the  contrary  to  happiness. 

The  merchants,  bankers,  and  citizens  of  London,  held  a 
meeting1  in  the  flail  of  Commerce,  Threadneedle  Street,  London, 
on  the  8th  of  May,  to  consider  the  question  of  the  Corn  Laws. 
The  spacious  hall  was  crowded,  Mr.  G.  Wilson  in  the  chair. 
Mr.  John  Bright  was  the  first  speaker,  and  Mr.  Richard  Cobden 
followed.  When  the  chairman  took  the  sense  of  the  meeting  as 
to  whether  it  was  altogether  favourable  or  not  to  the  total  and 
immediate  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  the  vast  assembly  rose  as  one 
man,  with  the  cry  of  "  all/'  and  the  enthusiasm  that  prevailed 
was  perfectly  indescribable. 

A  meeting  of  deputies  from  various  parts  of  the  country 
commenced  on  the  9th  of  May,  in  Herbert's  Hotel,  Palace  Yard, 
London.  Mr.  P.  A.  Taylor  was  the  chairman,  Mr.  John  Bright 
was  the  first  speaker,  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Smith  of  Sheffield, 
and  Colonel  Thompson.  The  conference  was  continued  the  next 
day,  and  addresses  were  delivered  by  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Derby, 
Mr.  Plunt,  of  Leeds,  Mr.  Dixon,  of  Carlisle,  and  Mr.  Scott,  of 
Montrose.  The  conference  was  prolonged  for  several  days  and 
was  again  addressed  by  Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Cobden,  and  other 
gentlemen. 

On  the  llth  of  May  a  meeting  was  held  at  the  pretty  town 
of  High  Wycombe,  and  Mr.  R.  Lucas  was  the  chairman.  Mr. 
John  Bright  spoke  for  an  hour  and  a-half. 

()u  the  13th  of  May  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Moore  went  down 
to  Dorset.  A  meeting  was  held  in  a  field  called  Salisbury 
Field  close  to  the  town,  and  about  3,000  persons  were  present, 
about  1,000  of  whom  were  farmers.  Mr.  Henry  Barrand  Farnall 
was  voted  chairman.  Mr.  Bright  addressed  the  gathering  for 
an  hour  and  a-half,  and  he  was  frequently  cheered.  The  meeting 
was  commenced  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  lasted 
until  half-past  seven  in  the  evening,  and  the  resolution  against 
the  Corn  Laws  was  carried,  only  about  200  hands  being  held 
up  against  it.  Mr.  Bright  afterwards  spent  three  hours  at  the 
King's  Arms,  Dorset,  with  about  forty  farmers,  with  whom  he 
had  a  long  conversation.  He  was  at  the  populous  watering- 
place  of  Weymouth  on  the  16th  of  May,  and  in  a  large  room 
called  Burden's  Store  he  addressed  the  inhabitants.  It  was 
stated  that  it  was  the  largest  meeting  that  had  been  held  ever 
since  the  days  of  the  Reform  Bill. 

A  few  days  after  Mr.  Bright  was  back  again  in  London,  and 
on  the  18th  of  May  a  second  meeting  of  bankers,  merchants, 


1843.]       BRIGHT  AT  LINCOLN,  HUNTINGDON,  AND  NORWICH.  149 

and  the  traders  of  the  city  was  held  in  the  Hall  of  Commerce, 
which  was  crowded.  Mr.  G.  Wilson  was  again  in  the  chair, 
Mr.  Villiers  was  present  this  time  and  was  the  first  speaker,  Mr. 
Ward,  M.P.,  followed,  and  then  came  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Moore. 

On  the  19th  of  May,  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden  went 
through  the  "  wide  vale  of  Trent, "  and  visited  the  quiet  city 
of  Lincoln,  and  a  meeting  was  held  in  Shepherd  Square.  It 
was  the  annual  hiring  day  of  servants  and  agricultural  labourers, 
and  the  assemblage  was  composed  of  about  300  persons,  chiefly 
farmers,  agricultural  labourers,  and  the  quiet  citizens.  Mr. 
Hitchen  was  the  chairman.  Mr.  Bright  was  the  first  to  speak, 
and  Mr.  Cobden  followed.  The  audience  at  first  seemed  very 
reserved,  but  they  warmed  into  enthusiasm  as  the  speakers 
unravelled  their  views  on  the  question,  and  at  the  conclusion 
it  was  evident  which  way  the  judgment  of  the  audience  was 
leaning.  A  motion  having  been  submitted  in  favour  of  abolish- 
ing the  Corn  Laws,  an  amendment  was  proposed  by  Mr.  Moore, 
of  Redburn,  a  farmer,  in  favour  of  Protection ;  the  result  was 
that  five-sixths  of  those  present  voted  for  the  original  motion. 

On  the  17th  of  June  a  meeting  was  held  on  the  common 
at  Huntingdon,  and  about  3,000  peisons  were  present,  a  large 
number  of  them  being  farmers  and  neighbouring  squires.  Mr. 
Cobden  had  promised  to  be  present,  but  as  he  was  unwell  at 
the  time,  Mr.  Bright  took  the  train  from  Manchester  to  speak 
instead  of  his  absent  friend.  Mr.  Burt  was  the  chairman,  and 
it  was  well  known  by  Mr.  Bright  that  that  district  was  the 
hotbed  of  Protectionists,  but  he  spoke  out  in  scathing  terms, 
and  was  well  supported  by  Mr.  R.  R.  R.  Moore.  The  show  of 
hands  was  declared  by  the  chairman  to  be  in  favour  of  protection, 
and  so  the  meeting  ended. 

The  city  of  Norwich,  long  famous  for  its  woollen,  worsted, 
and  silk  manufactures,  and  in  moi'e  modern  times  for  its  iron 
and  brass  foundries,  breweries,  snuff  mills,  mustard  mills,  and 
corn  mills,  was  reached  on  the  30th  of  June  by  Mr.  Bright, 
and  he  stated  to  the  audience  that  assembled  in  St.  Andrew's 
Hall  to  listen  to  him,  "  that  it  was  with  shame  that  he  stood 
forward — he  would  not  say  for  how  many  times — perhaps  for 
the  five-hundredth  time,  to  speak  on  this  question.  He  was 
ashamed  of  his  fellow-countrymen  who,  for  twenty-eight  years, 
had  permitted  on  the  statute  book  a  law  so  unnatural  and  so 
inhuman  as  the  Corn  Law  was  described  to  be." 

The  day  following  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Moore  spoke  to  a 
number  of  farmers  in  the  same  hall,  who  listened  with  attention, 
and  applauded. 


CHARTER  XVI. 

BRIGHT'S  SECOND  ELECTION  CONTEST  AT  DURHAM. 

Petitions  Presented  against  the  Return  of  Lord  Duugannou— -Bright  Threatened  at 
Alnwick— The  Result  of  the  Inquiry  into  the  Durham  Election — Bright's 
Address  to  the  Electors,  and  Canvass  of  the  Town— The  Scene  at  the 
Nomination — The  Election — Immense  Meeting  in  the  Market-Place — The  Decla- 
ration of  the  Poll— Mr.  Bright  Chaired — Congratulatory  Addresses  from  all 
parts  of  the  Country. 

SOON  after  the  Durham  election  it  was  discovered  that  Mr. 
Bright's  opponent  had  been  returned  by  bribery,  and  petitions 
were  presented  against  Lord  Dungannon's  return.  On  the  4th 
of  Jnly  Mr.  Bright  issued  an  address  to  the  electors  of  Durham, 
in  which  he  stated  : — 

"  At  the  last  election  you  had  to  choose  between  two  candidates— the  one  repre- 
senting monopoly  in  the  shape  of  dear  bread,  dear  sugar,  dear  coffee,  and  low 
wages  for  a  great  deal  of  work,  with  great  difficulty  in  getting  work  at  all ;  the 
other  being  the  advocate  of  natural  and  fair  prices  for  bread,  sugar,  and  coffee — 
for  free  trade,  by  which  the  employment  would  be  abundant,  and  for  good  wages 
for  the  multitude,  which  can  only  be  had  when  employment  is  abundant.  The  free- 
trader promises  no  head  money ;  he  never  said  to  you  of  himself,  or  through  his 
agent,  '  You  may  as  well  have  your  sovereign.  Vote  for  me.'  The  monopolist  had  a 
majority  of  votes,  and  was  declared  your  representative.  He  shows  his  respect  for 
you  by  paying  you  for  your  support  for  him.  You  favour  him  with  your  votes ;  he 
repays  the  favour  in  gold.  Will  you  wonder  if  he  should  regard  the  repre- 
sentation of  Durham  as  for  his  benefit  and  exaltation  rather  than  yours  ?  He  votes 
for  monopoly  in  your  name.  Your  voice  in  Parliament  through  him  is  given  for 
refusing  votes  to  your  fellow-countrymen,  who  are  complaining  of  being  neglected 
and  oppressed  by  the  Grovernmeut.  .  .  .  Are  they  your  friends  who  make  laws 
which  have  well-nigh  destroyed  the  once  flourishing  trade  of  the  Tyne  and  the 
Wear ;  which  have  laid  up  your  ships  to  rot,  and  have  caused  your  ingenious  and 
industrious  operatives  to  be  without  employment,  without  wages,  and  even  without 
food?  Freemen  of  Durham,  are  you  men?  Have  you  the  heads  and  hearts  of 
men?  Have  you  families,  wives,  and  children,  and  will  you  labour  for  the  in- 
satiable monopolists  ?  Have  you  suffered,  have  you  seen  the  suffering  of  others  ? 
have  you  read  of  the  starvation  which  monopoly,  which  the  accursed  Corn  Law  has 
inflicted  upon  multitudes  of  your  countrymen  ?  You  have  felt,  you  have  seen,  you 
have  heard  of  this  !  I  charge  you,  then,  to  raise  your  voice,  and  to  give  your  votes 
in  favour  of  justice  and  free  trade,  and  to  spurn  from  you  the  men  who  would  ask 
you  to  barter  your  power  to  do  good  for  yourselves,  your  families,  and  your 
countrymen,  for  the  paltry  sum  of  os.  a  year.  You  have  the  power  now  to  save 
your  borough ;  you  can  restore  it  to  purity  and  usefulness  to  your  country ;  you 
can  prove  that  in  all  that  has  hitherto  taken  place,  you  have  been  '  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning.'  The  rich  may  be  base  enough  to  tempt  you.  May  you 
teach  them  that  honour,  virtue,  and  independence  reside  with  the  people." 

On  the  6th  of  July  Mr.  Bright  was  at  a  meeting  in  the  Corn 
Exchange,  Winchester,  and  1,100  of  the  inhabitants  were  pre- 
sent. The  day  following  an  open-air  meeting  was  held  near  the 
Corn  Exchange,  and  about  2,000  residents  listened  to  his  speech, 


1843.]  THREATENED    AT  ALNWICK.  151 

amongst  whom  were  many  farmers;.  Mr.  Robert  Owen,  the 
founder  of  Socialism,  interrupted  the  meeting  by  trying  to  graft 
on  to  the  subject  of  Free-trade,  his  pet  scheme — a  new  state  of 
society.  The  meeting,  however,  refused  to  receive  his  extraneous 
matter,  and  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden,  who  also  spoke,  were 
applauded.  The  indifference  exhibited  towards  Bright  and 
Cobden  at  first  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  district  changed  into 
the  warmest  affection,  their  distrust  into  confidence  and  assur- 
ance, and  their  timidity  into  courage  and  ardour. 

Mr.  Bright  was  accompanied  by  Mr.  A.  Prentice  to  the 
beautifully-situated  town  of  Kelso,  on  the  7th  of  July,  and  they 
addressed  the  inhabitants  in  the  Secession  Church. 

Early  in  July  the  Free-traders  of  Alnwick  invited  Mr. 
Bright  to  attend  a  meeting  in  their  town,  which  they  fixed  for 
the  8th  of  that  month.  The  Newcastle  Journal,  which  had  been 
established  under  the  immediate  auspices  of  the  Duke  of  North- 
umberland and  Mr.  Matthew  Bell,  the  Conservative  member  for 
South  Northumberland,  became  wroth,  and  thus  counselled  its 
readers  on  the  1st  of  July  : — "  It  is  stated  that  Mr.  Bright,  the 
Anti-Corn-Law  agitator,  is  expected  to  visit  the  wool  fair,  which 
will  be  held  at  Alnwick  shortly,  in  order  to  scatter  the  seeds  of 
disaffection  in  that  quarter.  Should  he  make  his  appearance, 
which  is  not  improbable,  it  is  to  be  hoped  there  may  be  found 
some  stalwart  yeomen  to  treat  the  disaffected  vagabond  as  he 
deserves/''' 

The  meeting  was  held  on  the  day  appointed  in  Alnwick 
Town  Hall,  and  so  crowded  was  the  building  that  a  large 
number  of  persons  could  not  gain  admittance.  The  district 
farmers  had  turned  up  at  the  meeting  in  large  numbers. 
Mr.  Durling,  of  Helton,  was  the  chairman.  Mr.  Bright,  un- 
daunted, appeared  in  their  midst,  and  his  speech  produced  a 
powerful  effect  on  the  audience,  for  their  countenances  indicated 
the  working  of  their  feelings.  At  his  words  a  calm  came  over 
every  face,  and  all  was  hushed.  "  The  stalwart  yeomen/' 
instead  of  being  wroth,  were  spell-bound,  and  at  last,  instead  of 
giving  vent  to  discordant  sound,  lustily  cheered,  for  they  found 
he  was  truly  a  man  of  the  people.  His  origin  tranquillised  his 
auditors,  his  eloquence  carried  them  away,  and  his  honesty  and 
moral  earnestness  won  for  him  their  sympathy  and  respect.  The 
physical  classes  ever  look  with  double  confidence  upon  a  leader 
who  represents  in  his  own  person  the  qualities  upon  which  they 
rely.  In  his  face  he  has  been  equally  fortunate  ;  it  is  extremely 
comely.  The  features  are  at  once  soft  and  manly  ;  the  glow 
of  health  and  sanguine  temperament  is  diffused  over  the  whole 


1.V2  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGfHT.  [1843. 

countenance,  which  is  national  in  the  outline,  and  beaming  with 
national  emotion.  The  open  expression  is  confiding  and  in- 
viting, and  the  bright  blue  eyes  the  most  kindly  and  honest- 
looking  that  can  be  conceived. 

On  the  1  Oth  of  July  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  lecture-room, 
Nelson  Street,  Newcastle,  and  1,200  persons  were  present.  Mr. 
T.  M.  Greenhow  occupied  the  chair. 

"  He  had  been  lately  at  Kelso,"  said  Mr.  Bright  in  the  course  of  his  speech  on 
this  occasion,  "and  there  also  he  learnt  there  were  many  who  could  not  obtain 
employment,  by  means  of  which  to  gain  subsistence,  and  the  same  state  of  things 
was  to  be  seen  almost  in  every  place  they  could  turn  to  ;  and  all  this  was  effected 
by  the  spirit  of  monopoly  falling  upon  them,  not  like  the  dew  of  heaven,  but 
operating  as  the  means  of  preventing  them  obtaining  food  and  clothing  for  them- 
selves and  their  families,  and  education  for  their  children ;  and  all  this  fearfully 

increasing  for  the  last  five  years He  had  no  idea  of  the  maintenance  of 

Kings,  Lords,  and  Commons  unless  they  were  of  some  use  to  the  country,  and  ren- 
dered some  return  for  the  expense  they  cost  the  country  ;  but  people  had  themselves 
to  blame  for  what  the  aristocracy  had  become.  They  had  spoiled  them  by  the 
vilest,  the  meanest  worship.  They  had  praised  them  for  their  fine,  small,  white 
hands,  their  finely-formed  ears,  their  noble,  intellectual  foreheads,  and  spoke  of  them 
otherwise  as  if  they  were  altogether  above  the  common  run  of  God's  creatures. 
They  had  poured  this  incense  upon  them  until  the  aristocracy  almost  believed  them- 
selves what  they  were  called.  The  people  had  knelt  to  them  as  spaniels,  and  as 
spaniels  had  been  treated  in  return." 

Nearly  all  of  the  electors  of  the  seaport  town  of  North 
Shields  crowded  the  assembly  rooms  of  that  borough  on  the 
llth  of  July  to  listen  to  Mr.  Bright,  and  a  number  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Tynemouth  were  also  present. 

On  the  12th  of  July  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Polytechnic 
Hall,  in  the  Athenseum,  Sunderland.  Mr.  Andrew  White,  the 
mayor,  presided.  Mr.  Bright's  speech  was  lengthy,  and  he 
said  : — 

"  I  lately  met  four  Irishmen  between  Rochdale  and  Manchester,  and  they  are 
the  only  four  Irish  harvesters  I  have  seen  this  year,  although  our  roads  used  to  be 
crowded  with  them  in  former  years.  I  almost  shuddered  to  look  at  them — men  so 
habited  never  were  seen  before  ;  our  ancestors  who  covered  themselves  with  skins 
or  painted  their  bodies  were  little  worse  off  than  these  men.  Their  countenances 
bespoke  the  extent  of  starvation  they  endured;  their  limbs  were  shrunk— they 
were  not  men,  but  skeletons  walking  abroad,  exciting  the  pity  of  the  people.  It  is  a 
notorious  fact  that  these  men  are  old  at  thirty  and  thirty-five,  and  such  a  population 
is  not  to  be  found  in  any  country  in  Europe."  (Hear,  hear.) 

The  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  merits  of  the 
Durham  election  petition  commenced  their  inquiry  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  12th  day  of  July.  Lord  Ashley  was 
the  chairman.  The  counsel  for  the  petitioners  were  Mr. 
Cockburn,  Mr.  Serjeant  Wrangham,  and  Mr.  Wordsworth ; 
and  for  the  sitting  member,  Mr.  Austin  and  Mr.  Kingslake. 
Mr.  Cockburn  informed  the  committee  that  there  were  two 
petitions ;  one  containing,  in  the  usual  form,  a  general  allegation 
of  bribery,  and  the  other  setting  forth  in  addition  to  the  general 


1(84.]  LORD    DUNGANNON    UNSEATED.  163 

allegation,  that  Lord  Dungannon  was  by  himself  and  his  agents 
guilty  of  bribery  and  corrupt  practices.  That  the  bribery 
took  place  011  the  8th  and  9th  of  May,  in  consequence  of 
corrupt  arrangements  entered  into  previous  to  the  election.  The 
constituency  consisted  of  1,100  persons,  and  making  allowance  for 
seven  double  entries,  and  forty-five  persons  who  were  either  dead 
or  had  become  disqualified,  the  actual  constituency  amounted  to 
1,054.  Of  this  number  600  were  freemen,  and  454  house- 
holders. The  freemen  were  persons  of  humble  condition,  and 
were  peculiarly  open  to  the  species  of  corruption  which  was 
practised  upon  them  on  this  and  former  occasions.  A  practice 
prevailed  in  Durham  of  paying  head-money.  This  was  the  kind 
of  bribery  adopted  in  the  present  instance.  The  committee, 
after  two  days'  inquiry,  declared  that  the  election  of  Lord 
Dungannon  to  serve  in  Parliament  was  void ;  that  he  had  been 
guilty  of  bribery  through  his  agents,  by  payment  of  sums 
of  money  to  a  large  number  of  electors,  but  that  Lord  Dun- 
gannon had  not  been  cognisant  of  the  acts  of  his  agents. 

Mr.  Bright  was  prevailed  upon  to  offer  himself  again  as  a 
candidate,  for  it  had  become  a  general  conclusion  that  as  he 
belonged  to  the  commercial  class,  and  had  a  clear  head  and  ready 
tongue,  he  would  be  a  most  valuable  acquisition  to  the  Free- 
trade  ranks  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

Mr.  Villiers  states  in  a  letter  to  the  author  of  this  work, 
that  he  was  consulted  by  Mr.  Cobden  as  to  the  advisability  of 
Mr.  Bright  at  that  time  becoming  a  member  of  Parliament,  and 
that  Mr.  Cobden  expressed  himself  as  strongly  of  opinion  that  Mr. 
Bright  would, "  from  his  peculiar  and  effective  style  of  speaking 
at  public  meetings,  do  the  cause  more  good  by  remaining  out 
than  by  enteririg  Parliament.  This,  however,  was  not  my  (Mr 
Villiers's)  own  opinion,  for  I  thought  that  Mr.  Bright's  plain 
and  hard  hitting  way  of  speaking  was  as  much  required  there  as 
elsewhere — an  opinion,  I  need  not  say,  that  was  fully  confirmed, 
for  I  believe  nobody  can  realise  in  these  days  the  amount  of  feeling 
and  animosity  that  was  excited  by  the  Anti-Corn-Law  agitation, 
and  the  ferocity — of  this  spirit — in  the  House  in  which  the 
change  was  opposed,  not  only  by  the  proprietary  classes,  but  by 
all  those  who  socially  and  politically  were  in  sympathy  with 
them.  I  am  afraid  it  must  be  admitted  that  but  for  the 
enormous  funds  contributed  to  support  the  agitation,  and  the 
famine  in  Ireland,  some  years  would  have  elapsed  before  our 
object  would  have  been  attained." 

Mr.  Bright  issued  his  Address  to  the  Durham  electors  on  the 
15th  of  July,  1843;  and  arrived  at  Durham  on  the  17th  of  July> 


154  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1843. 

and  commenced  an  active  canvass,  in  which  he  was  accompanied 
by  several  resident  gentlemen.  He  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Purvis, 
Queen's  counsel,  who  was  supported  by  the  Conservative 
ministry.  On  the  evening-  of  the  17th  of  July,  Mr.  Bright 
addressed  the  electors  from  the  window  of  the  City  Tavern, 
and  about  5,000  of  the  citizens  assembled  in  the  market-place  to 
listen  to  him.  Mr.  John  Henderson  was  the  chairman. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "you  will  indulge  me  if  I  am  not  heard  very 
distinctly,  for  I  have  been  so  hard- worked  during  the  last  fortnight  that  I  find  it 
almost  impossible  to  speak,  I  am  so  hoarse.  ...  I  am  the  political  friend  of 
the  working  classes,  and  of  the  freemen  of  this  borough.  I  have  not  a  sympathy 
in  common  with  any  lord  in  this  neighbourhood.  I  have  not  a  single  wish  for  the 
great  exaltation,  or  the  great  riches  or  enriching  of  any  nobleman  or  squire.  I  have  an 
unchanging  sympathy  with  those  who  form  the  largest  portion  of  my  countrymen, 
and  the  largest  portion  of  this  numerous  meeting,  whose  only  property,  I  repeat,  is 
their  labour,  and  whose  only  income  is  their  wages.  (Cheers.)  I  am  a  working 
man  as  much  as  you.  My  father  was  as  poor  as  any  man  in  the  crowd  ;  he  was  of 
your  own  body  entirely.  He  boasts  not — nor  do  I — of  birth,  nor  of  great  family 
distinction.  What  he  has  made  he  has  made  by  his  own  industry  and  successful 
commerce.  What  I  have  came  from  him,  and  from  my  own  exertions.  I  have  no 
interest  in  the  extravagance  of  government ;  I  have  no  interest  in  receiving  appoint- 
ments under  any  government ;  I  have  no  interest  in  pandering  to  the  views  of  any 
government;  I  have  nothing  to  gain  by  being  the  tool  of  any  party.  (Cheers.)  I 
come  here  before  you  as  the  friend  of  my  own  class  and  order  (cheers),  as  one  of 
the  people ;  as  one  who  would,  on  all  occasions,  be  the  firm  defender  of  all  your 
rights,  and  asserter  of  all  those  privileges  to  which  you  are  justly  entitled." 
(Cheers.) 

Mr.  R.  R.  R.  Moore  also  addressed  the  electors  on  behalf  of 
his  friend,  Mr.  Bright. 

As  the  weather  was  wet  on  the  19th  of  July,  Mr.  Bright 
addressed  a  number  of  the  electors  at  the  City  Tavern. 
On  the  evening  of  the  21st  of  July  he  again  spoke  to  a  large 
number  of  the  electors,  and  it  was  evident  that  he  was  becoming 
a  great  favourite  amongst  them. 

On  Saturday  evening,  July  22nd,  he  delivered  a  speech  from 
the  balcony  of  Thwaits's  Waterloo  Hotel  to  the  country  people. 
"  His  speech  lacked  none  of  .the  spirit,  point,  and  strength  for 
which  his  orations  have  been  so  remarkably  distinguished," 
wrote  a  correspondent  who  was  present. 

The  following  Monday,  the  23rd  of  July,  was  the  day  of 
nomination.  The  hustings  were  erected  in  front  of  the  Town 
Hall.  At  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  Mr.  Bright  met  his 
friends  at  Thwaits's  Hotel,  and  they  accompanied  him  to  tlv. 
Town  Hall  at  half-past  ten.  As  he  entered  the  hall,  he  was 
heartily  cheered,  and  the  cheering  was  re-echoed  by  the  immense 
crowd  that  was  gathered  outside.  At  a  quarter  to  eleven  Mr. 
Purvis,  escorted  by  a  band  of  music  and  a  rather  meagre  number  of 
friends,  arrived,  but  his  reception  was  not  complimentary.  -  At 
the  hour  appointed — eleven  o'clock — the  mayor,  Mr.  Robert 


1843.]  NOMINATION    AT    DURHAM.  155 

Haggett,  as  returning  officer,  directed  the  town  clerk,  Mr.  John 
Hutchinson,  to  read  the  writ,  precept,  &c.,  and  this  formal  cere- 
mony was  gone  through  in  the  Town  Hall.  The  crowd  round 
the  hustings  filled  two-thirds  of  the  market  place,  and  all  the 
windows  and  balconies  commanding  a  view  of  the  hustings  were 
occupied  by  ladies.  At  half -past  eleven  the  two  candidates  and 
their  friends  appeared  on  the  hustings,  but  Mr.  Bright  was  the 
greatest  favourite,  and  his  reception  was  most  enthusiastic.  Mr. 
John  Henderson  nominated  Mr.  John  Bright  as  a  fit  and  proper 
person  to  represent  the  old  city  of  Durham  in  Parliament. 
"We  shall  send  Mr.  Bright  to  Parliament  as  the  champion  of 
Free-trade/''  said  Mr.  Henderson,  "  and  when  history  records,  as 
she  will  most  assuredly  do,  the  abolition  of  these  wicked  and 
unjust  laws,  which  have  so  long  robbed  you  of  your  natural 
rights — not  for  the  benefit  of  the  Government  of  your  country, 
but  for  the  benefit  of  a  class — (cheers  and  hear,  hear) — she  will 
record  at  the  same  time  that  the  men  of  the  good  old  city  of 
Durham  came  forward  boldly,  and  set  a  glorious  example  to  the 
other  constituencies  of  the  kingdom."  (Great  cheering.)  Mr. 
"William  Shields  seconded  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Bright. 

Mr.  John  Wetherall  next  came  forward  and  nominated  Mr. 
Purvis.  Mr.  John  Forester  was  the  seconder. 

Mr.  John  Bright  then  delivered  a  lengthy  speech,  which 
extended  over  four  columns  and  three  quarters. 

"  It  must  not  be  supposed,  because  I  wish  to  represent  the  interest  of  the  many, 
that  I  am  hostile  to  the  interest  of  the  few.  But  is  it  not  perfectly  certain  that  if 
the  foundation  of  the  most  magnificent  building  be  destroyed  and  undermined,  that 
the  whole  fabric  itself  is  in  danger  ?  Is  it  not  certain,  also,  that  the  vast  body  of 
the  people  who  form  the  foundation  of  the  social  fabric,  if  they  are  suffering,  if  they 
are  trampled  upon,  if  they  are  degraded,  if  they  are  discontented,  if  '  their  hands  are 
against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hands  are  against  them,'  if  they  do  notflourish  as 
well,  reasonably  speaking,  as  the  classes  who  are  above  them,  because  they  are  richer 
and  more  powerful,  then  are  those  classes  as  much  in  danger  as  the  working  classes 
themselves.  (Cheers.)  There  never  was  a  revolution  in  any  country  which  destroyed 
the  great  body  of  the  people.  (Hear,  hear.)  There  have  been  convulsions  of  a  most 
dire  character,  which  have  overturned  old-established  monarchies,  and  have  hurled 
thrones  and  sceptres  to  the  dust.  There  have  been  revolutions  which  have  brought 
down  most  powerful  aristocracies,  and  swept  them  from  the  face  of  the  earth  for 
ever,  but  never  was  there  a  revolution  yet  which  destroyed  the  people.  (Hear,  hear.) 
And  whatever  may  come  as  a  consequence  of  the  state  of  things  in  this  country,  of 
this  we  may  rest  assured,  that  the  common  people,  that  the  great  bulk  of  our 
countrymen,  will  remain  and  survive  the  shock,  though  it  may  be  that  the  crown, 
and  the  aristocracy,  and  the  Church,  may  be  levelled  with  the  dust,  and  rise  no 
more.  (Cheers.)  In  seeking  to  represent  the  working  classes,  and  in  standing  up 
for  their  rights  and  liberties,  I  hold  that  I  am  also  defending  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  middle  and  richer  classes  of  society.  Doing  justice  to  one  class  cannot  inflict 
injustice  on  any  other  class,  and  '  just  ice  and  impartiality  to  all'  is  what  all  have  a 
right  to  from  Government.  And  we  have  a  right  to  clamour ;  and  so  long  as  I 
have  breath,  so  long  as  I  hare  physical  power,  so  long  as  I  have  intellect,  and  so 
fong  as  I  have  memory  and  voice  to  express  opinion,  so  long  will  I  clamour  against 
the  oppression  which  I  see  to  exist,  and  in  favour  of  the  rig_hts  of  the  great  body  of 
the  people.  (Long  and  continued  cheering.)  .  .  .  What  is  the  condition  in  which 


I'.i;  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1848. 

we  are  ?  I  have  already  spoken  of  Ireland.  You  know  that  hundreds  of  thousand!: 
meet  there,  week  after  week,  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  to  proclaim  to  all  the 
world  the  tyranny  under  which  they  suffer.  You  know  that  in  South  Wales,  at  this 
moment,  there  is  an  insurrection  of  the  most  extraordinary  character  going  on,  and 
that  the  Government  is  sending,  day  after  day,  soldiers  and  artillery  amongst  the 
innocent  inhabitants  of  that  momentous  country  for  the  purpose  of  putting  down 
the  insurrection  thereby  raised  and  carried  on.  (Hear,  hear.)  You  know  that  in 
the  Staffordshire  iron  works  almost  all  the  workmen  are  now  out  from  want  of 
employment  and  want  of  wages,  and  in  attempting  to  resist  the  inevitable  reduction 
of  wages  which  must  follow  restriction  upon  trade.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  You 
know  that  in  August  last  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  rose  in  peaceful  insurrection  to 
proclaim  to  the  world,  and  in  face  of  heaven,  the  wrongs  of  an  insulted  and 
oppressed  people.  (Cheers.)  I  know  that  my  own  neighbourhood  is  unsettled  and 
uncomfortable.  I  know  that  in  your  own  city  your  families  are  suffering.  Yes. 
I  have  been  to  your  cottages  and  seen  their  condition.  Thanks  to  my  canvass  of 
Durham,  I  have  been  able  to  see  the  condition  of  many  honest  and  independent — or 
ought  to  be  independent — and  industrious  artisans.  I  have  seen  even  freemen  of 
your  city  sitting,  looking  disconsolate  and  sad.  Their  hands  were  ready  to  labour ; 
their  skill  was  ready  to  produce  all  that  their  trade  demanded.  They  were  as  honest 
and  industrious  as  any  man  in  this  assembly,  but  no  man  hired  them.  (Hear,  hear.) 
They  were  in  a  state  of  involuntary  idleness,  and  were  driving  fast  to  the  point  of 
pauperism.  I  have  seen  their  wives,  too,  with  their  three  or  four  children  about  them 
— one  in  the  cradle,  one  at  the  breast.  I  have  seen  their  countenances,  and  I  have 
seen  the  signs  of  their  sufferings.  I  have  seen  the  emblems  and  symbols  of  affliction 
such  as  I  did  not  expect  to  see  in  this  city.  Ay  !  and  I  have  seen  those  little  chil- 
dren who  at  not  a  distant  day  will  be  the  men  and  women  of  this  city  of 
Durham;  I  have  seen  their  poor  little  wan  faces  and  anxious  looks,  as  if  the 
furrows  of  old  age  were  coming  upon  them  before  they  had  escaped  from  the  age  of 
childhood.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  have  seen  all  this  in  this  city,  and  I  have  seen  far  more 
in  the  neighbourhood  from  which  I  have  come.  You  have  seen,  in  all  probability, 
people  from  my  neighbourhood  walking  your  streets  and  begging  for  that  bread 
which  the  Corn  Laws  would  not  allow  them  to  earn. 

'  Bread-taxed  weaver,  all  can  see 

What  that  tax  hath  done  for  thee, 

And  thy  children,  vilely  led, 

Singing  hymns  for  shameful  bread, 

Till  the  stones  of  every  street 

Know  their  little  naked  feet. ' 

(Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  This  is  what  the  Corn  Law  does  for  the  weavers  of  my 
neighbourhood,  and  for  the  weavers  and  artisans  of  yours."  (Hear,  hear,  and 
cheers.) 

Mr.  Purvis  next  addressed  the  electors.  The  show  of  hands 
by  an  immense  majority  was  in  favour  of  Mr.  Bright.  Mr. 
John  Tiplady,  Mr.  Purvis's  solicitor,  demanded  a  poll.  The 
next  day  (Tuesday)  was  appointed  the  day  of  election.  At 
eight  o'clock  on  the  Tuesday  morning-  voting  began  with  vigour, 
and  Mr.  Bright's  admirers  at  once  took  a  decided  lead,  which 
they  kept  up.  No  exertion  was  spared  on  either  side,  and  at 
no  previous  election  did  the  voters  on  the  side  of  the  Liberals 
display  more  anxiety  and  interest.  Between  three  and  four 
the  excitement  became  intense.  A  few  minutes  after  four  Mr. 
Bright  entered  the  Town  Hall,  and  cheer  after  cheer  rent  the 
air,  and  hats  and  handkerchiefs  were  waved  with  vigour  and 
pleasure.  The  market  place  was  crowded  beyond  all  precedent, 
and  when  Mr.  Bright  again  mounted  the  hustings  he  was 
greeted  with  an  outburst  of  cheering  and  enthusiasm  which 
seemed  almost  irrepressible. 


18W.]  VICTORIOUS.  157 

"  I  have  mot  with  muo.li  more  civility,  or  rather,  much  less  incivility,  than  I 
anticipated,  where  party  feeling  ran  so  high,"  said  Mr.  Bright  to  the  electors.  "  I 
have  to  thank  even  those  who  are  opposed  to  me  for  their  kind  looks,  and  their 
shaking  of  hands,  and  their  lighted-up  countenances,  when  they  told  me  that  they 
wished  to  give  me  their  support,  though  they  dared  not,  and  added  that  we  might 
meet  again.  I  say  you  have  manfully  done  your  duty,  not  because  you  have  chosen 
me,  but  because  you  have  preferred  the  great  and  sacred  principles  to  the 
advocacy  of  which  some  large  portion  of  my  life  has  been  devoted.  (Cheers.)  I 
bid  you  until  to-morrow  farewell,  with  a  feeling  of  gratitude  and  kindness  which 
I  am  not  able  to  express.  I  wisli  it  were  possible  that  every  hand  in  this  great 
multitude  were  one,  that  I  might  shake  it,  and,  if  possible,  impart  to  those  who  own 
it  the  feelings  which  actuate  me  at  this  moment,  and  have  actuated  me  throughout 
this  contest.  I  trust  from  the  events  of  this  day  that  the  country  will,  before  long, 
shake  itself  from  the  chains  by  which  it  has  been  so  long  enthralled.  (Cheers.) 

'  Men  of  England !  heirs  of  glory 
Heroes  of  unwritten  story, 
Nurslings  of  one  mighty  mother, 
Hopes  of  her,  and  one  another. 
Rise  like  lions  from  your  slumbers, 
In  unvanquishable  numbers ; 
Shake  your  chains  to  earth  like  dew, 
Which  in  sleep  had  fallen  on  you. 
Ye  are  many — they  are  few.'  " 

(Great  cheering.) 

On  the  Wednesday  morning  at  ten  o'clock  the  Town  Hall 
was  again  crowded  to  learn  the  official  report  declared.  The 
Mayor  gave  the  numbers  :  Bright,  488;  Purvis,  410.  Majority 
for  Bright,  78.  (Great  cheering.)  On  leaving  the  Town  Hall 
Mr.  Bright  was  "  chaired  "  through  the  streets  in  procession. 
A  carriage  was  in  waiting  for  him,  and  was  drawn  by  four  grey 
horses.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  brother.  The  concourse 
was  immense,  and  as  the  procession  passed  along  there  was  one 
continual  huzza,  and  gladness  seemed  pictured  on  every  face. 
Almost  every 'window  on  the  line  of  road  was  crowded  by  ladies, 
and  they  waved  their  handkerchiefs  and  ribbons,  and  graciously 
smiled.  Mr.  Bright  alighted  at  the  Waterloo  Hotel  at  twelve 
o'clock,  and  appearing  at  the  balcony  he  again  addressed  the 
vast  enthusiastic  assembly,  and  shortly  after  he  left  by  train 
the  city  he  now  represented  in  Parliament. 

Throughout  the  kingdom  the  election  had  been  watched  with 
more  than  usual  interest  on  account  of  the  high  respect  enter- 
tained for  Mr.  Bright,  and  the  change  of  opinion  that  was 
rapidly  going  on  amongst  the  electoral  body,  with  reference 
to  the  Peel  Administration  and  free  trade.  As  soon  as  it 
became  known  that  Mr.  Bright  was  the  successful  candidate, 
the  electors  of  Durham  were  congratulated  from  all  parts  of 
the  country  in  addresses  and  resolutions  of  thanks.  Even  at 
this  early  period  Americans  were  noticing  the  career  of  Mr. 
Bright,  and  ovie  of  their  leading  journals  thus  described  him  : — 
"Mr.  Bright  is  a  man  of  great  integrity,  sound  judgment, 
extensive  information,  pleasing  address,  an  interesting  and 


IW  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   HEIGHT.  (1843. 

impressive  speaker,  frank,  straightforward,  persevering  and 
indexible,  a  firm  advocate  for  justice  to  Ireland,  for  universal 
suffrage,  and  for  the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  a  friend 
of  peace  with  all  nations  and  of  justice  to  all  men ;  and  the 
election  of  such  a  man  to  Parliament,  under  such  unfavourable 
circumstances,  is  worthy  to  be  recorded  conspicuously  amongst 
the  signs  of  the  times  as  the  hope  of  England." 

Mr.  Cobden  was  down  in  Gloucester  at  this  time,  and 
commenting  on  the  result  of  the  Durham  election  at  a  public 
meeting  at  Bristol,  he  remarked  : — 

"  I  think  we  have  taken  a  great  step  literally  in  getting  our  friend,  Mr.  Bright, 
in,  though  I  must  say  it  was  not  done  in  Parliament ;  it  was  done  in  Durham,  and 
we  ought  to  take  the  opportunity  of  letting  the  Durham  people  know  how  we  appre- 
ciate their  work.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  The  good  men  of  Durham  have  struck 
the  hardest  blow  at  monopoly's  bread-basket  that  it  has  had  for  some  time. 
We  complain  of  Parliament  that  it  does  not  do  our  work,  but  do  we  choose  men 
likely  to  do  it  ?  We  do  not  choose  for  our  members  the  sort  of  men  we  should  select 
as  executors  or  trustees  in  any  settlement  of  our  own ;  but  we  elect  men  who 
would  shine  most  at  a  horse-race  or  an  assembly,  and  who  wear  harlequin  jackets 
to  ride  a  race,  and  these  inclinations  are  not  disqualifications.  If  we  can  find  a 
man  with  the  qualifications  which  we  should  avoid  in  a  trustee  or  executor,  we 
choose  that  man  to  go  to  Parliament  to  do  the  national  business."  (Hear,  hear.) 

Mr.  Cobden,  upon  meeting  Mr.  Bright  at  the  League's 
rooms  in  Manchester,  congratulated  him  on  his  success,  and 
playfully  said  : — "  I've  had  all  the  dirt  thrown  at  me  heretofore, 
now  you  being  younger  will  share  it  with  me,  and  probably 
get  the  largest  share.  You'll  have  it  in  style  in  the  House  of 
Commons."  Bright  enjoyed  the  pleasantry,  and  assured  his 
friend  that  he  was  prepared  to  receive  his  share  of  their  antago- 
nists' vituperation. 

The  result  of  the  election  becoming  known  in  Rochdale  the 
Liberals  were  jubilant.  Application  was  made  to  set  the  parish 
bells  to  ring  to  commemorate  the  event,  but  Mr.  Wilson,  the 
curate,  would  not  consent,  ns  Mr.  Bright  was  a  Dissenter, 
and  he  warned  the  ringers  against  sounding  the  bells  at  their 
peril.  The  two  wardens  ordered  the  ringers  into  the  belfry  and 
undertook  to  bear  them  harmless,  but  only  a  part  of  the  men 
would  consent  to  ring  under  the  circumstances,  so  the  matter 
was  not  pushed  any  further. 

A  large  meeting  was  held  at  the  Crown  and  Anchor,  London, 
to  (-ongratulate  Mr.  Bright.  Sir  John  Bowring  was  present, 
and  in  his  speech  paraphrased  the  famous  epigram : — 

"'Tis  well  enough  that  Goodenough 
Should  to  the  Commons  preach, 
For,  sure  enough,  they're  bad  enough 
For  Goodenough  to  teach." 


1843]  CONGRATULATIONS.  169 

Sir  John  Bowring  thus  rendered  it : — 

<(>Tis  meet  enough,  and  fit  enough,       , 

The  House  to  be  enlightened ; 
For,  sure  enough,  they're  dull  enough, 
And  wanting  to  be  Brightened.'1 

Sir  John  Bowring  spoke  of  Mr.  Bright  as  his  "youthful 
friend,  about  to  appear  in  Parliament  armed  with  the  courage  of 
youthful  virtue." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

HIS  EARLY  PARLIAMENTARY  CAREER. 


Oxford,  Lancaster,  Coveut  Garden  Theatre,  Doncaster,  Durham,  Haddiugton, 
Berwick-ou-Tweed,  Rochdale,  Huddersfield,  Manchester,  Leeds,  Holmflrth, 
and  Warrington. 

ON  the  7th  of  August,  1843,  Mr.  Bright  delivered  his  maiden 
speech  in  support  of  Mr.  Ewart's  motion  for  the  reduction 
of  import  duties.  The  discussion  was  a  short  one,  and 
the  new  member  spoke  from  the  bench,  where  Cobden  and 
Brotherton  usually  sat,  to  the  smallest  audience  he  had  addressed 
for  years,  and  there  was  a  listlessness  and  heaviness  pervading-  it 
that  could  not  but  react  on  the  speaker.  A  good  deal  of  interest 
was  felt  as  to  how  he  would  acquit  himself.  At  first  he  was 
somewhat  nervous,  for  however  frequent  a  man  may  be  in  the 
habit  of  addressing  mixed  assemblies,  to  speak  to  an  audience  so 
critical  as  the  House  of  Commons  is  rather  a  trying  ordeal.  He 
soon  recovered  his  self-possession,  however,  and  thrusting  one 
hand  into  the  breast  of  his  waistcoat,  he  continued  for  somewhat 
more  than  half-an-hour  to  impress  on  the  House  in  general,  and  the 
Prime  Minister  in  particular,  the  urgent  necessity  of  Free-trade, 
particularly  in  the  article  of  corn.  He  impressed  his  hearers 
with  the  notion  that  no  regard  for  parliamentary  etiquette  would 
hamper  the  unreserved  and  forcible  expression  of  his  honest 
convictions. 

Altogether  the  speech  produced  a  favourable  impression. 
"  Crime/'  he  remarked,  "  has  often  vested  itself  under  the  name 
of  virtue ;  but  of  all  the  crimes  against  the  laws  of  God  and  the 
true  interests  of  man  none  has  ever  existed  more  odious  and  more 
destructive  than  that  which  has  assumed  the  amiable  name  of 
'  Protection/  >J  Another  fine  passage  which  drew  forth  "  cheers  " 
was  his  protest  against  the  injustice  of  a  law  which  enriches  the 
rich  and  cares  nothing  for  the  poor ;  "  and  if,  during  the  period 
I  may  have  a  seat  in  this  House,  I  should  ever  directly  or  in- 
directly give  any  support  to  a  system  so  manifestly  contrary  to 
sound  policy,  and  so  destructive  of  the  welfare  of  the  great  body 
of  the  people,  1  should  be  ashamed  to  hold  up  my  head  in  any 


1843.J  HIS    OLD    SCHOOLMASTER'S    OPINION.  161 

assembly  of  my  countrymen."  Forthwith  Mr.  Bright  took  part 
in  the  debates  which  daily  claimed  the  attention  of  the  House 
and  the  country.  He  and  his  League  friends  sat  in  the  foremost 
ranks  of  parliamentary  debaters,  and  by  constant  and  oft-repeated 
assault  they  drove  Peel,  step  by  step,  on  the  road  to  concession. 
He  spoke  with  so  much  clearness,  he  painted  the  evils  of  the 
monopoly  in  colours  so  vivid,  and  proved  the  justice  and  necessity 
of  their  abrogation  with  argument  so  solid,  that  he  soon  took 
rank  as  one  of  the  deepest  thinkers  and  most  powerful  speakers 
of  the  House  of  Commons. 

"As  the  sun, 

Ere  it  is  risen,  sometimes  paints  its  image 
In  the  atmosphere ;  so  often  do  the  spirits 
Of  great  events  stride  on  before  the  events, 
And  in  to-day  already  walks  to-morrow." 

In  the  Illustrated  London  News  of  that  date  it  was  stated 
that  "  as  a  speaker  Mr.  Bright  is  far  superior  to  many  who  are 
listened  to  in  that  assembly ;  but  those  who  know  the  constitution 
of  that  House  know  also  the  great  influence  of  station,  name,  and 
wealth,  and  how  much  dulness  will  be  tolerated  from  one  of  a 

good  family Mr.  Bright  is  about  the  middle-size, 

rather  firmly  and  squarely  built,  with  a  fair,  clear  complexion, 
and  an  intelligent  and  pleasing  expression  of  countenance.  His 
voice  is  good,  his  enunciation  is  distinct,  and  his  delivery  free 
from  any  unpleasant  peculiarity  or  mannerism.  He  is  young, 
and  has  apparently  a  long  career  before  him.  His  dress  is  rather 
more  recherche  than  that  of  the  ( Friends '  of  a  generation  back, 
differing  but  slightly  from  the  ordinary  costume  of  the  day/' 

Mr.  Littlewood,  Mr.  Bright's  old  schoolmaster,  read  the 
speeches  of  his  eminent  scholar  with  great  interest,  and  often 
would  lean  back  in  his  chair  and  exclaim,  "  Too  strong,  John, 
too  strong."  He  admired  the  speeches,  but  thought  some  parts 
of  them  might  be  milder.  "A  little  more  experience  and  age/' 
he  used  to  say,  "  would  tone  down  the  slight  blemishes ;  "  and 
now  taking  a  retrospect  of  the  right  hon.  gentleman's  speeches, 
one  cannot  but  admit  the  improvement  that  has  taken  place 
when  compared  with  some  of  his  first  utterances.  Still  when 
Mr.  Bright's  asperity  wore  off,  and  a  certain  intelligent 
precocity  was  mellowed  down,  his  speeches  became  more  inte- 
resting and  instructive.  His  fixed  principles  and  groundwork 
of  thought  were  improved  by  mixing  with  society,  and  perhaps 
there  was  something  in  the  criticism  of  his  schoolmaster,  but 
the  particular  ends  wished  to  be  accomplished  at  that  time 
might  not  have  been  attained  by  less  vigorous  language.  His 


162  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1843. 

style  of  speaking  became  more  clear  and  trenchant,but  he  had  not 
attained  that  full  abounding  power  of  expression  which  is  like  an 
abiding  passion  and  continues  to  stir  in  the  written  words,  until 
later  years.  Tlien  his  delivery  became  easy  and  graceful,  such 
as  is  seldom  gained  by  speakers  who  have  not  tried  to  profit  by 
the  best  models,  and  his  orations  were  adorned  with  those  flowers 
of  poetry  with  which  a  wide  study  of  English  Literature  had 
enriched  his  mind. 

If  the  Free-trade  movement  obtained  nothing  either  from  the 
indifferent  or  the  turbulent,'  it  found  equally  little  favour  in  the 
eyes  of  political  parties.  The  Tories  met  it  in  their  characteristic 
manner  by  jeering  and  discouragement,  and  grew  more  violent 
as  they  grew  more  hopeless ;  and  the  Whigs  met  it  with  a  cold 
reception.  When  the  League  could  help  the  Whigs — which 
was  when  they  were  in  opposition — they  smiled  upon  it ;  when 
they  could  help  the  League — which  was  when  they  were  in 
office — they  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  In  spite  of  these 
formidable  difficulties,  Bright  and  Cobden  worked  persistently 
towards  the  goal.  The  two  prominent  leaders  of  the  League,  in 
their  determined  course,  showed  calmness,  moderation,  and 
dignity  in  their  speeches,  repelling  every  successive  assault  of 
passion,  rashness,  and  personal  resentment  of  the  Protectionists. 
Mr.  Cobden  asked  Sir  Robert  why  he  did  not  protect  cotton, 
silk,  wool,  and  tin,  and  intimated  that  he  might  as  well  fix  the 
price  of  food  as  a  duty  on  corn.  Sir  Robert  replied  that  "  It 
was  impossible  to  fix  the  price  of  food  by  legislation."  "  Then/' 
rejoined  Cobden,  who  had  now  won.  an  important  admission,  "  on 
what  are  we  legislating  ?  Will  Sir  Robert  try  to  legislate  so  as 
to  keep  up  the  price  of  cotton,  silk,  and  wool  ? "  No  reply. 
"  Then  we  come  to  this  conclusion,"  said  Cobden,  "  we  are  not 
legislating  for  the  universal  people." 

The  replies  to  the  Free-traders  were  often  mere  slander, 
laughter,  or  derisive  shouts.  One  member  declared  that  the 
Leaguers  wanted  cheap  flour  simply  that  they  might  the  better 
stiffen  and  make  heavier  their  calicoes,  and  so  cheat  their 
customers.  Dr.  Bowring  referred  to  the  lowered  wages  of 
tailors  and  shoemakers  (much  laughter).  When  it  was  stated 
that  women  "  were  crying  for  employment "  (still  laughter)  ; 
women  were  making  trousers  at  sixpence  a  pair  (loud  laughter) ; 
thousands  were  starving  for  food  (yet  laughter)  ;  and  there 
were  peals  of  laughter  when  some  one  asked  what  was  to 
become  of  the  starving  operative  women  of  Manchester  !  At 
length  Sir  Robert  charged  the  Free-trade  members  with  trying 
"  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  public  business/'  for  they  con- 


1843.]  AT   SALISBUBY.  163 

stantly  returned  to  their  great  theme.  "The  public  business/' 
said  Cobden,  rising  to  his  feet  with  considerable  warmth, 
"  the  public  business  is  the  voting  of  the  militia  estimates, 
I  suppose,  to  put  down  the  starving  people.  We  might  be 

better  employed  in  finding  them  food The  New 

Poor  Law  will  not  save  your  estates.  Your  present  policy  will 
create  an  amount  of  poverty  that  will  break  through  stone 

walls Will  the  right  hon.  baronet  resist  the  appeals 

which  have  been  made  to  him  ?  or  will  he  rather  cherish  the  true 
interests  of  the  country/'  and  give  relief?  If  by  the  last  he 
should  lose  his  political  .friends,  "  he  might  say  he  found  the 
country  in  distress,  and  he  gave  it  prosperity  ;  he  found  the  people 
starving,  and  he  gave  them  food;  he  found  the  large  capitalists 
of  the  country  paralysed,  and  he  made  them  prosperous/' 

Turning  away  from  the  Whigs  and  Tories  alike,  the  League 
resolved  to  make  Free-trade  their  one  demand,  and  to  strive 
to  return  to  Parliament  those  who  were  in  its  favour,  independent 
of  their  opinions  on  other  questions.  This  they  were  able  in 
many  instances  to  effect,  for  the  attention  of  the  constituencies 
being  now  awakened  by  the  speeches  of  Bright  and  Cobden, 
lectures,  and  pamphlets,  which  were  so  industriously  employed, 
the  assault  could  now  be  carried  within  the  walls  of  Parlia- 
ment. Mr.  Cobden  had  the  faculty  for  setting  a  single  truth  in 
many  lights,  and  pressing  it  home  to  numberless  unexpected 
applications.  He  had  the  ability  of  stating  his  theme  again  and 
again  in  the  same  address,  and  yet  with  such  variety  of  phrase 
as  destroyed  all  sense  of  monotony.  He  was  so  charged  with  his 
convictions  that  they  flowed  from  him  without  the  aid  of  art. 
His  very  tones,  sharp  and  incisive,  crept  through  the  lines  of  the 
Opposition,  and  galled  them  like  a  volley  of  small  musketry. 
Bright  followed  with  his  vigorous  argument  and  eloquence, 
which  swept  away  the  flimsy  and  selfish  reasoning  of  the  Protec- 
tionists, and  victory  loomed  not  far  in  the  distance. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Salisbury  were  aroused  from 
the  monotony  of  their  course  of  life  by  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Bright 
and  Mr.  Cobden  on  the  8th  of  August,  and  the  holding  of  an 
open-air  meeting  on  the  "  Green  Croft."  A  commodious  busting 
had  been  erected  in  the  field  for  the  convenience  of  the  speakers 
and  friends.  The  concourse  of  persons  was  said  to  number  about 
4,000,  and  a  large  number  were  farmers.  Mr.  Peniston  was  the 
chairman. 

"In  coming  down  from  London  to-day,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "we  passed  through 
many  miles  of  waviug  corn.  We  have  »oeii  how  the  sun  and  shower,  the  beautiful 
machinery  of  an  all- wise  and  merciful  Providence,  have  blessed  the  earth  with  fruit- 

L  2 


164  LITE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  p84& 

fulness ;  we  have  seen  how  secure  the  reliance  in  many  places  on  the  unfailing  good 
of  Him  who  sends  seed-time  and  harvest,  and  who  has  promised  that  they  shall 
never  fail.  We  have  faith  in  His  bounty  and  in  His  superintending  care;  we  ask 
only  that  we  may  possess  what  He  offers  to  us  freely ;  that  we  may  in  security  enjoy 
what  He  pleases  to  grant  us ;  we  ask  that  our  fellow-men  may  not  improperly  inter- 
fere between  the  good  gifts  of  the  Creator  and  the  wants  of  His  creatures ;  and  we 
ask  the  freemen  and  inhabitants  of  this  ancient  city,  and  of  this  country,  to  give  us 
their  cordial  support  in  our  endeavours  to  do  justice  to  the  much-injured  and 
oppressed  populations  of  our  suffering  country."  (Cheers.) 

In  the  evening  a  dinner  was  given  to  Messrs.  Cobden  and 
Bright  in  the  Assembly  Booms,  and  about  one  irmdred  gentle- 
men were  present. 

Four  days  after,  the  inhabitants  of  Canterbury  were  agitated 
by  the  presence  of  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden.  At  half- past 
two  in  the  afternoon,  however,  the  monopolist  landowners  and 
farmers,  to  the  number  of  400,  held  a  meeting  in  the  Canterbury 
Corn  Exchange,  to  determine  what  course  they  should  take  with 
regard  to  the  visit  of  Messrs.  Cobden  and  Bright.  Sir  Brooke 
Brydges,  chairman  of  the  East  Kent  Agricultural  Association, 
presided,  and  said  that  they  had  to  consider  the  expediency  of  offer- 
ing any  opposition  to  the  arguments  which  might  be  advanced 
by  Messrs.  Cobden  and  Bright.  He  was  adverse  to  offering  op- 
position himself.  Mr.  Boys,  of  Waklershaw,  near  Dover,  moved 
"that  the  farmers  do  not  consider  it  expedient  to  enter  into  dis- 
cussion with  respect  to  the  Corn  Laws  at  the  meeting."  Mr. 
G.  P.  R.  James,  the  well-known  novelist,  seconded  the  motion, 
which  was  carried. 

Notwithstanding  the  avowed  determination  of  the  mono- 
polists, nearly  the  whole  of  the  assembly  went  to  the  open-air 
meeting  at  the  Cattle  Market,  and  swelled  the  numbers  of  the 
auditors  to  about  3,000.  Sir  John  Tylden  was  the  chairman.  Mr. 
John  Bright  delivered  a  lengthy  address,  and  Mr.  Cobden  fol- 
lowed. After  a  Chartist,  named  Mr.  Webb,  had  questioned 
Mr.  Cobden,  Mr.  Alderman  Brent  moved  a  Free-trade  resolu- 
tion; Mr.  Gaskell  seconded  it,  and  it  was  carried  by  an  immense 
majority. 

As  Messrs.  Cobden  and  Bright  were  leaving  the  Rose  Hotel 
for  Ashford,  in  a  carriage,  about  a  dozen  small  landowners 
pressed  round,  exhibiting  enraged  countenances,  and  one  even 
pushed  Mr.  Cobden  in  the  breast  with  his  stick. 

On  the  14th  of  August  Mr.  Bright  took  part  in  a  discussion 
in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  subject  of  "  The  Chelsea 
Hospital  Out-Pensioners  Bill." 

"I  was  in  the  mamifacturing  district  last  year,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  "when 
the  disturbances  took  place.  My  house  is  within  200  yards  of  the  place  where  nearly 
10,000  men  and  women  assembled  daily,  and  even  twice  a-day,  during  the  turn-out. 


1843.]  AT   BEADING,    LIVERPOOL,    AND    BURY.  165 

There  was  no  feeling  against  the  persons  or  property  of  their  employers ;  but  there 
was  a  conviction,  based  upon  long  and  grievous  experience,  that  they  were  ill-used, 
that  they  had  wrongs  of  no  common  magnitude,  that  this  House  was  regardless  of 
their  petitions  and  remonstrances,  and  that  any  change  in  their  condition  must  be 
for  the  better.  The  town  in  which  I  reside  was  for  some  days  in  the  possession  of  a 
numerous  body  of  the  turn-out  workmen.  They_  had  the  power,  if  they  had  been 
disposed,  to  do  serious  mischief ;  but  scarcely  a  sixpence-worth  of  damage  was  done 
to  any  property  in  that  town  during  the  whole  of  these  unhappy  transactions. 
(Hear,  hear.)  But  have  the  people  no  excuse  for  these  proceedings?  Can  any 
member  of  the  Government  p_oint  out  any  single  concession  of  any  moment  made  to 
the  people,  except  under  the  influence  of  fear.  Were  there  no  grievances  in  Canada 
before  the  breaking  out  of  the  insurrection  in  that  colony  ?  The  abuse  was  con- 
tinued, was  even  defended  on  both  sides  of  the  House,  until  the  news  of  the  rebellion 
arrived,  and  then,  wonderful  to  relate,  the  leaders  of  both  parties  discovered  at  once 
the  precise  remedy  which  was  required." 

The  flourishing  town  of  Reading,  where  it  will  be  remem- 
bered John  Bunyan  took  refuge  for  a  time,  dressed  as  a  carter, 
was  entered  by  Bright  and  Cobden  on  the  19th  of  August,  and 
they  delivered  their  speeches  in  the  Town  Hall.  Several  days 
before,  the  committee  of  the  Berkshire  Agricultural  Society  had 
placarded  the  district,  advising  the  farmers  not  to  attend  the 
meeting ;  but  the  recommendation  was  not  generally  adopted. 

On  the  30th  of  August  a  Free-trade  demonstration  was  held 
in  the  Royal  Amphitheatre,  Liverpool,  and  so  crowded  was  the 
building  that  thousands  were  unable  to  gain  admittance.  Mr. 
William  Rathbone  was  the  chairman.  The  meeting  was  ad- 
dressed by  Messrs.  J.  T.  Cook,  John  Smith,  James  Mollineux, 
Richard  Sheil,  and  Christopher  Rawdon.  Mr.  Bright  in  the 
course  of  a  lengthy  speech  said : — 

"Let  them  look  at  the  question  as  it  regarded  this  town  of  Liverpool.  He  was 
not  going  into  a  long  historical  account  of  Liverpool.  Most  historians  or  anti- 
quarians who  had  written  about  it  showed  that  not  long  ago  it  was  a  small  and  un- 
important village ;  for  at  a  time  when  Lancaster  was  required  to  pay  fifteen  marks, 
and  Preston  thirteen,  ouly  eleven  were  demanded  from  Liverpool.  (Hear,  hear.) 
There  was  a  time,  not  300  years  ago,  when  Liverpool  contained  only  138  house- 
holders and  cottagers— a  time  later  than  that  when  there  were  onty  twelve  vessels 
belonging  to  Liverpool.  A  writer  speaking  of  Liverpool  in  1515  said,  '  Irish  mer- 
chants come  hither  as  a  good  haven.  At  Liverpool  is  small  customs  paid,  and  that 
causeth  merchants  to  resort  thither. '  Now  he  thought  that  very  much  to  the  point. 
(Hear,  hear.)  300  years  ago  merchants  came  to  Liverpool  because  small  customs  were 
paid ;  but  now  a  duty  of  twelve  shillings  per  barrel  was  charged  upon  American  flour 
— not  a  very  small  custom  was  that."  (Laughter  and  cheers.) 

A  Free-trade  festival  was  given  at  Bury,  on  the  31st  of 
August,  with  a  view  to  celebrate  the  return  to  Parliament  of 
Mr.  Bright  for  Durham.  A  handsome  pavilion  was  built  for 
the  occasion,  and  it  was  erected  in  Paradise  Street.  Mr.  R. 
Walker,  the  member  for  Bury,  presided.  Mr.  R.  Ashton, 
Joseph  Brotherton,  M.P.,  Edmund  Grundy,  of  Bridge  Hall, 
the  Rev.  F.  Howarth,  Mr.  Alderman  Brooks,  and  Mr.  A.  R.  A. 
Moore  addressed  the  immense  gathering.  Mr.  Bright  was  re- 


166  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1843. 

ceived  with  three  rounds  of  cheers,  and  during  his   speech  he 
said  : — 

"The  whole  of  the  county  of  Lancashire  was  most  wretchedly  cultivated. 
There  were  miles  of  land  between  Birmingham  and  Manchester  where  there  were 
little  more  than  rushes;  and  between  Bury  and  Preston,  or  between  Eochdale  and 
Preston,  by  way  of  Haslingden  and  Blackburn,  there  were  miles  of  land  not  culti- 
vated at  all.  The  Corn  Law  was  to  make  England  like  a  garden,  but  it  was  so  far 
different  from  what  it  ought  to  be  that  it  was  in  truth  in  many  parts  a  wilderness." 

Six  days  after  this,  the  Liberal  electors  of  Bury  gave  a  dinner 
to  their  member,  Mr.  R.  Walker,  in  the  same  pavilion,  and  about 
600  gentlemen  were  present.  Mr.  Richard  Ashton,  of  Lime 
Field,  was  the  chairman.  Messrs.  Richard  Walker,  E.  Grundy, 
Joseph  Brotherton,  M.P.,  Thomas  Wrigley,  H.  Ashworth,  and 
Dr.  Browning  addressed  the  meeting. 

"  If  I  were  a  politician  holding  sentiments  the  very  opposite  of  those  I  hold," 
remarked  Mr.  Bright  in  his  speech,  "  I  confess  I  durst  not  turn  back  to  look  upon 
the  pages  of  my  country's  history,  to  see  what  my  opinions  had  been.  I  should  feel 
at  once  that  I  must  either  change  those  principles  or  libel  the  Deity.  (Hear,  hear, 
and  applause.)  Now  I  am  not  anxious  that  any  great  change  should  be  made  111  this 
country  by  violent  means,  or  that  they  should  be  made  before  the  public  opinion 
has  grown  up  to  these  changes.  I  don't  believe  it  advantageous  that  Government 
should  run  very  far  ahead  of  the  people.  I  should  like  all  these  changes  brought 
about  by  the  enlightened  convictions  of  the  great  majority  of  the  classes  acting  upon 
the  Legislature  and  upon  the  Government,  and  then  I  am  persuaded  that  those 
changes  will  not  only  be  beneficial  in  themselves,  but  we  shall  have  a  guarantee  that 
we  shall  never  go  back  to  the  old  system  from  which  we  are  now  so  anxious  to 
depart."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Vanderslegen,  the  High  Sheriff  of  Oxford,  in  compliance 
with  a  requisition,  called  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  on  the 
]  3th  of  September  to  consider  the  question  of  the  Corn  Laws. 
About  1,800  persons  were  present.  Mr.  Samuel  Cooper,  the 
under-sheriff,  presided.  Mr.  R.  Cobden  first  addressed  the 
meeting.  Mr.  Sparkhall  next  contended  that  the  repeal  of  the 
Corn  Laws  would  plunge  the  nation  into  such  a  state  of 
depression  as  must  ultimately  terminate  in  national  bankruptcy. 
Lord  Camoys  next  moved  a  resolution  against  the  abolition  of 
the  Corn  Laws.  Mr.  Langton,  M.P.,  for  Oxford,  seconded  this 
resolution.  Mr.  Bright  then  addressed  the  meeting  powerfully. 
He  was  followed  by  Lord  Norreys,  who  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  remedies  proposed  by  Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Bright 
would  not  have  the  effect  which  it  was  stated  they  would  have. 
Mr.  Henley,  M.P.,  expressed  similar  opinions.  Mr.  Towle,  a 
tenant  farmer,  moved  a  Free-trade  resolution,  which  was  readily 
seconded,  and  only  about  a  dozen  persons  were  in  favour  of  the 
original  resolution;  therefore  the  Free-trade  resolution  was 
carried  by  an  immense  majority. 

Messrs.  Bright  and  Cobden  again  visited  Lancaster  on  the 


DEMONSTRATION    IN    CO  VENT    GARDEN    THEATRE.  167 

23rd  of  September,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day  an  open-air 
meeting-  was  held  on  Green  Acre,  a  spacious  plot  of  land  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  River  Lune.  Mr.  T.  H.  Bateman  was  the 
chairman  ;  Mr.  Bright"  s  speech  was  four  columns  and  a  half  in 
length.  The  member  for  Durham  was  present  at  the  first 
Anti-Corn-Law  League  monthly  meeting1,  held  in  Covent 
Garden  Theatre,  London,  on  the  28th  of  September,  1843,  and 
the  number  of  persons  present  was  estimated  at  5,000.  Mr. 
George  Wilson  was  the  chairman,  and  Messrs.  Paulton,  R. 
Cobden,  and  W.  J.  Fox  were  the  speakers.  Mr.  John  Bright 
also  addressed  the  meeting  at  great  length. 

" In  the  United  Kingdom  there  were  four  millions  of  paupers,"  he  said,  "and 
it  was  terrible  to  think  that  the  Queen,  a  lady  who,  from  all  they  knew  of  her, 
possessed  sympathies  like  the  rest  of  her  sex — sympathies  that  would  love  and  bless 
all  on  whom  she  could  pour  blessings — should  wield  a  sceptre,  not  over  twenty-seven 
millions  of  happy,  independent  people,  but  over  three  or  four  and  twenty  millions 
living  as  they  best  could,  and  four  millions  of  absolute  and  hopeless  paupers.  (Loud 
cheers.)  There  are  boasts  of  our  glorious  constitution  in  Church  and  State;  there 
are  boasts  of  our  three  estates  of  the  realm — Queen,  Lords,  and  Commons.  (Hear, 
hear.)  We  are  extremely  fond  of  boasting  of  ourselves  for  everything ;  but  it  is  a 
strange  constitution — a  strange  perfection  of  human  government — a  strange  illus- 
tration of  the  enlightenment  of  our  system,  that  one-seventh  of  our  people  are  in  a 
condition  of  miserable  and  hopeless  pauperism."  (Loud  cheers.) 

On  the  13th  of  October,  1843,  a  demonstration  was  held  in 
Covent  Garden  Theatre,  London,  to  promote  the  cause  of  Free- 
trade.  The  stage,  pit,  boxes,  and  gallery  were  crowded, 
although  an  additional  gallery  had  been  reopened  for  the  occa- 
sion, capable  of  seating-  from  five  to  six  hundred  persons.  The 
Hon.  C.  P.  Villiers  presided,  and  the  meeting  was  first  addressed 
by  Mr.  R.  Cobden ;  Mr.  John  Bright  followed  : — 

"  A  long  day's  march  is  made  by  steps,  and  each  step  is  but  a  small  advance  ; 
but  after  an  hour's  march,  or  some  hours'  march,  if  we  stand  and  turn  round,  and 
look  to  the  point  from  which  we  started,  we  are  able  to  form  a  correct  opinion  cf 
the  progress  we  have  made.  And  now  my  mind  reverts  to  the  commencement  of 
this  great  struggle  with  feelings  of  no  ordinary  kind.  I  am  just  now  looking  into 
the  small  room  in  Manchester  where,  on  one  memorable  evening,  seven  men  met — • 
men  not  of  title,  not  of  wealth,  not  pretending  to  brilliant  genius,  but  men  of  honest 
character — men  of  common  sense — (cheers) — men  having  deep  sympathies  with  their 
fellow  men,  and  men  of  high  resolve.  (Loud  cheers.)  They  met  and  determined 
that  that  meeting  should  be  the  commencement  of  a  struggle  which  should  never 
terminate  but  with  the  termination  of  the  existence  of  the  accursed  Corn  Laws. 
(Cheers.)  And  from  that  hour  to  this  I  have  traced  step  by  step  the  progress  we 
have  made.  We  have  seen  fallacy  after  fallacy  scattered  to  the  winds ;  we  have 
seen  foe  after  foe  driven  from  every  field;  we  have  seen  triumph  after  triumph 
achieved ;  and  now,  from  that  small  room  in  which  seven  men  met,  we  are  here 
assembled  in  this  gorgeous  building,  and  with  this  great,  this  magnificent  audience. 
(Loud  cheers.)  And  it  can  be  but  the  harbinger  of  the  triumph  of  this  great  cause. 
(Cheers.)  ....  We  might  lay  the  whole  world  under  contribution  if  we  had 
free  trade.  All  nature  lies  extended  before  us — her  vast  treasure-houses  are  open  to 
us — there  is  notiiine  that  is  good  for  man  under  the  sun  that  may  not  be  brought  to 
England  in  return  for  the  produce  of  England's  industry.  (Cheers.)  I  would  not 
lay  the  world  under  contribution  by  marauding  and  buccaneering  expeditious ;  it 
should  not  be  by  ships  going  forth  filled  with  England's  thunder  and  with  deadly 


168  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1843. 

weapons,  but  by  merchant  ships,  which  should  carry  abroad  the  thousand  things 
you  make,  which  in  a  kindly  manner  you  would  exchange  with  every  people  under 
heaven,  bringing  in  return  all  they  have  to  spare,  to  nourish  and  cherish  and 
prosper  the  people  of  this  country.  (Cheers.)  ....  I  recollect  in  my  boyish 
days  reading  books,  and  stories,  and  histories,  in  which  the  characters  of  London 
merchants  were  portrayed.  Your  merchants  were  princes,  your  traders  nobles  of 
the  earth.  The  London  or  the  British  merchant  was  pointed  out  as  a  man,  above  all 
others,  remarkable  for  industry,  integrity,  generosity,  and  an  unquenchable  love  of 
everything  noble  and  just.  (Loud  cheers.)  To  the  merchants  and  traders  of 

London  we  appeal And  when  our  labours  are  over,  when  our  warfare 

is  accomplished,  our  consolation  and  our  reward  shall  be— cind  every  man  who  has 
helped  us  shall  participate  in  it — that  in  our  day  and  generation  we  have  been  per- 
mitted to  advance  at  least  one  great  step  towards  the  glorious  and  the  promised 
time,  when  human  laws  shall  harmonise  with  the  sublime  in  junction  of  the  Christian 
Code,  and  when  man,  as  an  individual  or  in  communities,  shall  accept  and  obey  that 
diviuest  precept  of  them  all,  '  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do 
ye  even  so  to  them.'  "  (Long  and  continued  cheering.) 

Mr.  W.  J.  Fox  on  the  occasion  also  delivered  a  lengthy 
speech. 

Mr.  John  Bright  next  visited  the  town  of  Doncaster, 
on  the  14th  of  October,  1843,  in  company  with  Mr.  Cobden, 
and  lunched  with  Mr.  J.  W.  Childers  at  his  seat  at  Cantley. 
A  Free-trade  meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall ;  Mr.  Thomas 
Johnson,  the  ex-mayor,  presided,  and  the  meeting  was  addressed 
by  Mr.  Richard  Cobden,  Mr.  John  Bright,  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  and 
Mr.  Childers. 

It  was  in  autumn  when  an  agricultural  meeting  and  dinner 
was  held  at  Durham,  on  the  24th  of  October,  1843.  Mr. 
Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden  were  present,  and  met  with  an  enthu- 
siastic reception  from  farmers,  peasants,  and  artisans.  The 
tables  groaned  under  the  load  of  substantial  viands,  which 
gradually  vanished  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  rustic  youths 
and  maidens,  husbands  and  dames.  Then  followed  the  feast  of 
reason  and  the  flow  of  soul  in  the  hearty  speeches  and  warm 
plaudits. 

The  following  day  Messrs.  Bright,  Cobden,  and  Ashworth,  who 
were  styled  the  A  B  C  of  the  League,  were  at  Haddington  with 
farmers,  with  whom  they  discussed  the  important  subject  of 
the  Corn  Laws.  ^  The  meeting  took  place  in  the  West  Secession 
Church,  which  was  crowded  by  an  eager  and  attentive  audience. 
Mr.  George  Hope,  of  Fenton  Barnes,  was  the  chairman. 

The  day  after  the  same  three  gentlemen  were  at  Berwick-on- 
Tweed,  situated  on  the  frontier  of  England  and  Scotland,  and 
the  scene  of  constant  struggles  between  the  two  nations.  A 
meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall,  and  the  audience,  which 
numbered  about  1,100,  gave  them  a  hearty  reception.  Mr. 
Edward  Henderson,  of  Hawick,  presided. 

"Look  at  the  ocean,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  "how  it  spreads  itself  before  the 
admiring  gaze.    Look  how  its  billows  curl  and  play,  and  seem  to  invite  your  ships 


1813.  J  GKEAT    EXEETIONS.  169 

to  float  upon  its  bosom.  Observe  those  winds,  blowing  from  continent  to  island, 
and  from  island  to  continent,  ready  to  waft  the  produce  of  each  to  cheer  the  heart  of 
man  in  all.  And  then  think  of  that  gracious  Being  who  has  bestowed  these  things 
upon  His  creatures  with  such  a  bounteous  hand  that  all  might  enjoy  the  blessings 
He  has  shed  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  were  it  not  that  we  are  debarred  from  then 
free  use  because  monopoly  restricts  trade,  and  denies  that  right  to  purchase  our  daily 
bread  from  any  but  the  landlord  of  this  country."  (Cheers.) 

The  earth  was  now  fast  "  losing  its  flowery  grace,  and 
purple  pride/'  for  it  was  the  early  part  of  November,  and  the 
weather  was  dull  and  inclement.  Mr.  Bright  was  temporarily 
indisposed  through  the  bodily  and  mental  fatigue  he  had  passed 
through,  for  in  nine  days  he  had  travelled  850  miles,  and  had 
attended  meetings  at  Alnwick,  Cockermouth,  Durham,  Hadding- 
ton,  Berwick,  and  Kendal,  but  on  the  7th  of  November  he  and 
Mr.  Cobden  were  down  at  Kendal  delivering  speeches  on  behalf 
of  Mr.  Henry  Warburton,  who  was  contesting  an  election  in 
that  town  in  opposition  to  Mr.  George  Bentinck,  and  the  Free- 
traders achieved  a  triumph  over  the  house  of  Lonsdale ;  for  they 
returned  Mr.  Warburton  by  a  majority  of  sixty-three.  A  few 
days  after,  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden  were  at  Salisbury,  advo- 
cating Mr.  Bouverie  as  a  candidate  for  Parliament  against  the 
candidature  of  Mr.  John  H.  Campbell.  When  they  were  in- 
troduced to  the  first  meeting  the  audience  rose  and  cheered 
lustily  for  several  minutes.  Mr.  Campbell,  however,  was  re- 
turned by  a  majority  of  forty-five. 

On  the  14th  they  were  back  again  in  Manchester  at  a 
meeting  at  the  Town  Hall,  to  "consider  the  best  means  of 
aiding  the  future  operation  of  the  League."  Mr.  Robert  Hyde 
Greg  presided,  and  the  attendance  eclipsed  all  former  meetings 
of  the  kind.  Mr.  Henry  Ashworth,  Mr.  Alderman  Callender, 
Mr.  Alderman  Kershaw,  Mr.  James  Chadwick,  Mr.  Alderman 
Brooks,  Sir  Thomas  Potter,  Mr.  Robert  Gardner,  and  Mr.  John 
Bright  delivered  speeches.  £13,755  9s.  were  subscribed  by  the 
meeting  towards  the  proposed  fund  of  £100,000,  and  of  this 
sum  Mr.  John  Bright  and  his  brothers  contributed  £500. 

A  meeting  was  held  in  Rochdale  Theatre,  on  the  28th 
of  November,  and  Mr.  Henry  Kelsall  occupied  the  chair.  The 
scene  was  a  really  stirring  and  vivid  picture  of  enthusiasm. 
Mr.  Cobden  was  the  first  speaker,  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  W. 
J.  Fox,  who,  in  reply  to  the  arguments  of  the  Protectionists, 
who  exhorted  the  English  to  depend  upon  themselves,  remarked : — 

"  Why,  on  a  recent  occasion,  the  dress  of  one  of  the  Protectionists  was  analysed : 
the  beaver  hat  on  his  head  was  French,  the  leather  in  his  boots  was  French,  the 
figured  satin  vest  was  French,  and  even  the  very  cambric  handkerchief  which  he 
carried  in  his  pocket  was  French,  until  ho  was  shown  to  depend  upon  the  foreigner 
physically  from  head  to  foot.  (Hear,  hear.)  Now,  we  might  follow  up  that  view 


170  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1843 

to  a  general  consideration  of  his  habits,  liis  modes  of  living,  and  his  thought.  (Hear, 
hear.)  Where,  then,  is  the  wealthy  landowner  of  this  country  really  independent  of 
the  foreigner  5*  Take  him  from  head  to  foot :  to-day  he  has  a  French  cook  to  dress 
his  dinner  for  him,  and  a  Swiss  valet  to  dress  him  for  his  dinner — (cheers  and 
laughter) — he  hands  his  lady  to  it,  her  modest  blushes  concealed  beneath  a  veil  of 
Brussels  lace,  French  gloves  on  her  hands,  and  an  ostrich  plume  waving  over  her 
head  which  never  grew  in  an  English  poultry  yard.  (Renewed  cheers  and  laughter.) 
His  wines  are  from  the  Rhine  or  the  Rhone ;  his  galleries  are  rich  in  paintings  from 
Italy,  or  in  statuary  from  Greece ;  his  favourite  horses  are  distinguished  for  their 
Arabian  blood ;  and  his  favourite  dogs  are  of  St.  Bernard's  breed.  (Hear,  hear, 
and  laughter.)  His  education  is  from  Greece  and  Rome ;  and  even  his  religion 
itself  from  Palestine  (hear,  hear)  ;  the  very  fields  from  which  he  enjoys  his 
revenues  are  now  manured  from  guano  as  un-English  (great  applause) ;  and  at  last, 
if  he  rises  to  judicial  honours,  he  carries  on  his  shoulders  that  honoured  ermine 
which  never  before  was  on  the  back  of  an  English  beast  (loud  cheers  and  laughter)  ; 
and,  when  he  is  worn  out  with  warning  us  against  the  foreigner,  as  in  his  cradle  he 
played  with  a  coral  from  the  Oriental  ocean,  so  the  sculpture  that  adorns  his  tomb  is 
beautiful  in  marble  from  the  quarries  of  Carrara.  (Loud  applause.)  .  .  .  Nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  the  great  poet  of  this  country,  knowing  well  the  class  to 
which  he  belonged,  thus  describes  the  motives  by  which  they  were  then  actuated  in 
their  support  of  a  former  Corn  Bill,  preparatory  to  that  under  which  the  country 
has  suffered  so  long.  Byron  thus  speaks  of  the  landowners  of  1821 : — 

'  Their  ploughshare  was  the  sword  in  hurling  hands, 
Their  fields  manured  by  gore  of  other  lands. 
Safe  in  their  barns,  these  Sabine  tillers  sent 
Their  brethren  out  to  battle— why  ?  for  rent. 
Year  after  year  they  voted  cent,  per  cent. , 
Blood,  sweat,  and  tear- wrung  millions — why  ?  for  rent. 
They  roared,  they  dined,  they  drank,  they  swore,  they  meant 
To  die  for  England ;  why  then  live  ? — for  rent ! 
The  peace  has  made  one  general  discontent 
Of  these  high-market  patriots — war  was  rent  1 
Their  love  of  country,  millions  all  mis-spent. 
How  reconcile  ?— By  reconciling  rent ! 
And  will  they  not  repay  the  treasures  lent  1 
No ;  down  with  everything,  and  up  with  rent ! 
Their  good,  ill,  health,  wealth,  joy,  or  discontent, 
Being,  end,  aim,  religion— rent !  rent !  rent ! ' '' 

Mr.  John  Bright  next  addressed  the  meeting.  A  sub- 
scription was  invited,  and  £1,574  was  contributed,  making  with 
the  £1,150  subscribed  at  the  Manchester  meeting  by  Rochdale 
gentlemen,  a  total  of  £2,724.  The  previous  year  Rochdale 
subscribed  £2,200  to  the  £50,000  fund. 

The  League's  monthly  meeting  in  Covent  Garden  Theatre, 
London,  held  on  the  30th  of  December,  was  so  crowded  that 
hundreds  of  persons  were  unable  to  gain  admittance.  Mr.  George 
Wilson  was  the  chairman.  Mr.  R.  Cobden  informed  the  meeting 
in  his  speech  that  there  were  agricultural  labourers  in  Dorset- 
shire, heads  of  families,  who  were  paid  only  5s.  a  week  for  their 
labour.  To  see  what  these  peasants  were  dining  upon  a  party 
of  gentlemen  determined  to  send  out  into  the  neighbouring 
district  of  Dorchester  at  dinner-time,  and  out  of  ten  families 
seven  were  found  eating  small  potatoes  the  size  of  walnuts,  the 
gleanings  of  the  potato  fields,  without  any  meat,  bread,  or 
anything  else,  and  this  was  the  diet  of  their  "  Bold  peasantry, 
their  country's  pride."  Dorset  was  represented  by  Lord  Ashley, 


1843.1  ENTHUSIASM    AT    LIVEEPOOL.  171 

who  devoted  much  o£  his  time  and  attention  to  the  condition 
of  the  manufacturing  districts,  but  if  he  did  not  bring  the 
case  of  the  Dorsetshire  peasantry  before  Parliament,  and  expose 
their  condition,  and  suggest  a  remedy  for  their  distress,  then 
he  would  fail  to  do  justice  to  his  constituency.  Mr.  Lambert, 
of  Salisbury,  Col.  P.  Thompson,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  addressed 
the  meeting. 

"In  Westmorland  there  is  a  certain  very  huge  castle,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "at 
which  a  certain  very  powerful  baron  resides.  The  family  of  this  baron  monopolise 
the  representation  of  the  county,  and  had  a  longing  eye  for  the  representation  of 
Kendal  also.  The  baron's  steward  was  sent  to  Kendal,  and  great  exertion  was 
made,  and  being  the  steward  of  a  lord  it  was  thought  very  rude  indeed  that  any- 
body should  object  to  do  his  bidding.  And  on  the  day  of  the  poll  I  saw  on  a  bridge 
near  the  polling-booth  fifty  or  sixty  men,  evidently  from  the  country  each  or  nearly 
every  one  of  whom  had  a  large  heavy  stick  in  his  hand.  A  friend  of  ours,  living 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kendal,  saw  a  man  on  the  bridge  with  whom  he  was 
acquainted.  He  called  him,  and  asked  what  those  men  were  there  for.  '  Oh,'  he 
replied,  '  I  be  one  of  them.'  '  You  one  of  them !  '  my  friend  said  ;  '  but  what  are 
you  doing  here?'  '  Why,  Mr.  So-and-so,  the  steward,  came,  and  he  said  we  were 
to  come  here.'  '  But  what  were  you  to  do  ?  '  '  We  were  to  stop  on  the  bridge,  and 
I  guess  we  shall  have  to  do  just  what  we  are  ordered  to  do.'  (Loud  laughter.)  .  .  . 
In  Salisbury  and  in  the  neighbourhood,  when  we  saw  a  very  large  house,  we 
were  told  that  it  was  the  union  workhouse,  and  we  were  informed  that  it  was  no 
very  luxurious  fare  that  men  had  in  those  buildings,  and  some  men  denounced  them 
as  the  receptacles  of  victims  who  were  doomed  to  great  hardships.  But  there  is 
something  worse  in  existence  than  the  union,  or  its  inmates  would  not  have  been 
found  there.  It  was  a  fearful  alternative  which  was  presented  before  them.  There 
was  starvation  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  union,  with  all  its  possible  miseries,  on  the 
other.  They  fled,  as  nature  dictated  to  them,  from  the  one,  and  consented  to  take 
refuge  in  the  other.  (Cheers.)  Then  there  were  large  gaols  pointed  out  to  us,  for 
crime  of  late  years  has  been  fearfully  on  the  increase.  Poverty  and  crime  generally 
go  hand  in  hand.  A  great  deal  has  been  said  lately  about  a  special  gaol  delivery, 
the  reason  assigned  being  that  the  gaols  are  now  so  much  crowded.  We  have 
seen  during  the  last  five  years  a  state  of  things  having  a  tendency  to  the  general 
wreck  of  all  that  is  desirable  and  excellent,  all  that  is  advancing  to  our  species  in 
the  country.  And  then  the  class  for  whose  especial  benefit  this  hideous  system  was 
ostensibly  created,  and  for  whom  it  is  now  hypocritically  maintained,  is  at  this 
moment  the  most  suffering  class  of  people  in  the  country.  .  .  .  We  sought  not 
that  office  we  now  hold ;  we  had  no  wish  to  leave  our  homes,  our  occupations,  and 
the  pleasures  which  belong  to  them,  or  our  ordinary  business,  to  come  thus  promi- 
nently before  the  public.  We  have  no  wish  to  see  ourselves  lauded  beyond  our 
deserts,  and  at  other  times  most  foully  sla,ndered.  But  here  we  are,  borne  along 
upon  the  wave  of  public  opinion,  which  is  every  hour  rising  higher  and  higher, 
and  can  we  now  retreat ?  (Loud  cheers  and  cries  of  "No,  110.")  We  should  be 
unworthy  the  name  of  independent,  honest  men  were  we  to  do  so."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  next  made  his  way  to  Liverpool,  where  on  the 
6th  of  December  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Amphitheatre. 
The  enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of  Free-trade  was  unmistakable. 
Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden,  as  soon  as  they  appeared  on  the 
platform,  were  received  with  tumultuous  and  prolonged  plaudits. 
Mr.  Thomas  Thornely,  M.P.,  presided.  Mr.  R.  Cobden,  Mr. 
Lawrence  Hey  worth,  Mr.  W.  Rathbone,  and  Mr.  John  Bright 
delivered  speeches,  and  £4,600  were  subscribed  by  the  ladies  and 
gentlemeu  present. 

A  large  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Huddersfield  met  in 


172  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1843. 

public  meeting  in  their  Philosophical  Hall,  on  the  7th  of  De- 
cember, and  practically  manifested  their  sympathy  with  the 
objects  of  the  League  by  contributing  £1,322.  Mr.  F.  Schwaun 
was  unanimously  called  to  preside,  and  in  opening  the  meeting 
remarked  that  the  labourer  was  still  cheated  of  his  hire,  and  the 
poor  deluded  farmer,  instead  of  trusting  to  his  own  energies, 
and  asking  for  long  leases,  still  believed  in  the  magic  power  of 
protection.  He  was  continuing  to  allow  himself  ignorantly  to 
be  protected  into  ruinous  rents,  into  servile  dependence,  and  into 
the  dreary  prospect  of  seeing  his  poor  children  compelled  to 
seek  a  distant  clime  as  a  new  home.  Messrs.  W.  Willans, 
T.  P.  Grassland,  J.  T.  Clay,  George  Mallinson,  R.  Cobden, 
J.  Bright,  and  R.  R.  R.  Moore  addressed  the  meeting. 

On  the  15th  of  December  Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  a 
meeting  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall,  Manchester,  which  was  held  for 
the  purpose  of  receiving  the  report  of  the  great  League  Fund 
Committee  on  the  progress  of  the  subscriptions.  The  magnifi- 
cent hall  was  crowded,  and  intense  interest  was  taken  in  the 
proceedings.  Mr.  George  Wilson  was  in  the  chair,  and  was  sup- 
ported by  a  large  array  of  gentlemen.  Mr.  Hickin  read  the 
report,  and  announced  that  £20,280  15s.  4d.  had  been  subscribed 
in  Manchester  up  to  that  time. 

"  Manchester  was  the  cradle  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,"  said  Mr.  Bright, 
"and  the  League  in  those  days  was  but  an  inefficient  instrument — weakly,  but  still 
giving  promise  of  strength — and  now  it  has  grown  up  to  be  a  giant  of  enormous 
strength  and  good  proportions,  which  is  marching  on  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
greatest  triumph  which  mankind  probably  has  ever  achieved."  (Applause.) 

Mr.  W.  J.  Fox  was  next  introduced  to  the  meeting,  and  in 
the  course  of  his  speech  he  said : — 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  those  who  have  sent  forth  through  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  country  the  men  who,  if  they  may  not  yet  be  said 

'  The  applause  of  listening  senates  to  command,' 

are  in  a  way  for  accomplishing  a  much  greater  object  than  the  applause  of  any 
senates :  and  as  they  march  onward  to  the  accomplishment  of  their  great  purpose, 

'  Will  scatter  plenty  o'er  a  smiling  land, 
And  read  their  history  in  a  nation's  eyes.'    (Applause.) 

Full  of  anxiety  for  the  success  of  this  cause,  to  their  devotedness  of  spirit,  backed  by 
your  cheering  aid,  what  will  not  the  country  owe?  and  how  proud  shall  all  be 
who,  like  myself,  are  thus  privileged  to  come  among  you  to  acknowledge  the  obli- 
gations which,  throughout  the  laud,  we  feel  to  them — feel  to  many  on  whose 
merits  I  will  not  dwell  because  they  are  here  round  me." 

A  spirited  demonstration  came  off  at  the  Oddfellows'  Hall, 
Halifax,  on  the  16th  of  December,  at  which  Mr.  Bright  and 
Mr.  Cobden  spoke. 

Mr.  Bright  witnessed   at  the   great  commercial  capital  of 


1843.]  AT   LEEDS,    ETC.  173 

Yorkshire,  "  busy  Leeds,"  an  enthusiastic  demonstration  of  public 
feeling,  on  the  13th  December,  1843,  in  the  Music  Hall  of  that 
town,  which  was  crowded  to  excess.  Mr.  Hamer  Stansfield,  the 
mayor,  was  the  chairman.  Mr.  James  Garth  Marshall  was  the 
first  speaker.  Messrs.  Darn  ton  Lupton,  Henry  Ash  worth  (of 
Bolton),  Councillor  Carbutt,  George  Wise,  Richard  Cobden, 
Frederick  Baines,  John  Wilkinson,  J.  Bright,  Col.  Thompson, 
and  J.  C.  Marshall  addressed  the  meeting;  and  £2,110  were 
subscribed  by  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  present. 

Next  Mr.  Bright  was  at  Holmfirth,  at  a  meeting  in  the  Town 
Hall,  on  the  15th  of  December,  there  being  present  about  800 
persons.  Colonel  T.  P.  Thompson  and  Mr.  John  Bright  dwelt 
at  length  on  Protection,  and  warned  the  audience  against  it. 
£105  was  the  amount  subscribed  at  this  meeting. 

On  the  19th  of  December  Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  a 
large  meeting  at  the  ancient  town  of  Warrington,  in  the  Re- 
formers' Hall.  Though  suffering  from  very  severe  indisposition, 
he  made  a  speech  full  of  sterling  argument,  and  abounding  in 
original  illustrations  Mr.  Rylands  also  addressed  the  meeting, 
and  £340  were  subscribed. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

AWAKENING   THE   COUNTEY. 

Bright  and  Cobden's  Journeyings — Indisposition  of  Mr.  Bright— Visit  to  Carlisle, 
Glasgow,  and  Edinburgh — Bright's  Speech  on  the  Apathy  of  Macaulay  in  the 
Free-trade  Cause — Bright  again  in  London,  and  at  Greenock,  Ayr,  Kil- 
marnock,  Dumfries,  Sunderlaud,  Sheffield,  York,  &c. 

MR.  BRIGHT  had  promised  to  address  a  meeting  in  the  Theatre 
at  Barnsley  on  the  20th  of  December,  1843  ;  but  in  consequence 
of  over-exertion,  and  the  severity  of  the  weather,  he  suffered  severe 
indisposition,  and  was  compelled  to  desist  from  travelling  and 
public  speaking  for  a  short  time,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that 
this  was  the  last  month  of  the  year,  which  has  been  described  as 
the  "  severest  of  them  all.''  Travelling  about  the  country  on 
blustering  nights,  through  nipping  and  chilling  blasts,  after 
speaking  in  densely-packed  halls,  was  a  very  different  thing 
from  being  snugly  seated  at  home.  He  was  no  laggard,  and 
turned  out  to  face  the  storm,  travelling  here  and  there  to 
different  places  many  miles  apart,  for  he  knew  that  the  cause 
was  just  and  needed  all  the  support  and  influence  he  could 
give  it.  The  luxurious  fireside,  with  all  its  surrounding  com- 
forts, did  not  tempt  him  to  become  dormant  until  fine  weather 
set  in.  He  might  have,  like  the  majority  of  gentlemen  in  his 
position,  stopped  at  home  on  winter  nights,  taking  a  seat 
before  a  good  fire,  in  company  with  his  motherless  little  girl, 
and  enjoyed  all  the  comforts  of  an  opulent  mansion,  and  spent 
his  evenings  in  reading  the  "  grand  old  masters,"  while  all  was 
tempest  without — the  boisterous  wind  whistling  through  the 
trees. 

"  And  the  night  shall  be  fill'd  with  music, 

And  the  cares  that  infest  the  day 
Shall  fold  their  tents,  like  the  Arabs, 
And  as  silently  steal  away." 

All  men,  whether  their  work  is  manual  or  mental,  require 
and  deserve  ease  at  the  close  of  the  day;  but  Mr.  Bright, 
although  possessing  the  means  of  ample  rest  and  pleasant  relaxa- 
tion, did  not  always*  find  his  pleasure  in  such  welcome  variety, 
as  he  was  more  than  an  ordinary  British  gentleman,  for  he  was 
a  patriot,  and  unable  to  take  his  ease  while  his  countrymen  were 
starving. 


iSii.l  LETTER  FROM   MACAULAY.  175 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1844,  Mr.  Bright  had  sufficiently 
recovered  to  visit  the  ancient  city  of  Carlisle,  which  is  rich  in 
historical  associations,  and  "  leg-ends  of  festal  and  of  warlike 
deeds/'  In  the  evening  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Athena3um. 
The  principal  manufacturers  and  tradesmen  and  a  number  of 
ladies  were  amongst  those  present.  Mr.  Bright  spoke  with 
his  accustomed  vigour  and  eloquence,  and  was  much  applauded. 
£40-3  18s.  were  subscribed. 

Two  nights  after,  Mr.  Bright  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  a 
banquet  at  Glasgow  in  the  City  Hall,  when  upwards  of  £400  were 
subscribed  to  the  League  fund.  The  meeting  was  one  of  the 
most  powerful  exhibitions  of  public  sentiment  on  the  question  of 
Free-trade  which  had  been  witnessed  in  the  west  of  Scotland. 
The  meeting  was  addressed  by  Mr.  Fox  Maule,  Mr.  R.  Cobden, 
Mr.  Alexander  Graham,  Rev.  Dr.  Heugh,  Mr.  Oswald,  M.P., 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Willis,  and  Col.  Thompson. 

"  Think  not  that  the  present  cessation  of  distress  will  be  permanent,"  said  Mr. 
John  Bright  at  this  meeting.  "  Has  Providence  granted  you  the  blessings 
of  bountiful  harvests  for  ever  ?  Does  not  the  same  divine  wisdom  rule  now  that 
ruled  in  1839  ?  and  may  not  the  same  events  await  us  in  1845  and  1846,  and  then 
comes  a  scarcity,  followed  by  all  the  distress  which  fell  upon  us  a  few  years  ago  ? 
I  ask,  may  not  these  calamities  become  so  dense  and  unbearable  that  it  may  be  that 
men  may  break  the  bonds  they  can  no  longer  bear  ?  I  may  say  that  the  deliverance 
of  the  industry  of  this  people  is  at  hand.  I  speak  not  without  authority.  No  men 
in  this  country  have  seen  the  faces  of  so  many  of  their  countrymen  as  we  have,  and 
we  have  authority  for  paying  that  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  middle  classes  of  this 
country,  who  are  the  intelligent  and  the  powerful,  and  the  electoral  classes,  that 
this  law  is  bad;  that  it  originated  in  injustice,  and  has  been  maintained  by  an  unjust 
exercise  of  power.  (Cheers.)  And  we  ask  you,  the  people  of  this  city,  whether  you 
are  willing  to  come  with  us  to  the  breach,  to  bear  all,  suffer  all,  and  work  all  that  is 
necessary  for  the  carrying  out  of  our  principle — the  fundamental  principle  of  the 
Anti-Corn-Law  League.  (Great  cheering.)  And  now  I  trust  that  what  you  have 
done  for  freedom,  what  you  have  done  for  civil  and  religious  freedom,  you  are  now 
ready  to  do  for  your  commercial  liberties.  (Great  cheering.)  I  ask  you  to  resolve 
with  me  that : — 

'  By  oppression's  woes  and  pains, 

By  our  sons  in  servile  chains, 

We  will  work,  -while  strength  remains, 

But  we  shall  be  free."  "    (Cheers.) 

On  the  llth  of  January,  Mr.  Bright  took  part  in  an  en- 
thusiastic meeting  held  in  the  New  Music  Hall  in  Edinburgh. 
The  Lord  Provost  was  in  the  chair,  and  thirty-four  clergymen 
were  present,  and  several  deputations  from  various  towns  in 
Scotland.  Mr.  R.  Cobden  was  the  first  to  address  the  meeting. 
Mr.  Hunter,  and  Mr.  Duncan  McLaren  followed.  At  the 
opening  of  the  meeting  a  letter  was  read  which  had  been  re- 
ceived from  Mr.  T.  B.  Macaulay,  the  illustrious  historian,  then 
one  of  the  members  of  the  city.  It  was  sent  from  "  Albany, 
London,  dated  Dec.  23, 1843,"  and  ran  as  follows  : — 

"  Di  s u  SIE, — I  have  often  expressed  my  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  and  am  not  aware  that  I  have  anything  to  add,  to  retract,  or  to  explain.  You 


176  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1844 

will  not,  therefore,  be  surprised  at  my  saying  that  I  do  not  think  it  right  to  attend 
the  meeting  of  the  llth  of  January." 

The  audience,  as  soon  as  the  letter  was  concluded,  hissed 
vehemently.  A  letter  was  also  read  from  Mr.  W.  Gibson  Craig, 
the  other  representative  of  Edinburgh.  Mr.  John  Bright  in  his 
speech  thus  spoke  to  the  audience  : — 

"  You  have  subscribed  already ;  you  are  again  about  to  subscribe,  to  enable  us 
to  do  that  in  other  constituencies  which  we  have  already  done  here.  But  what  if  you 
who  send  us  to  teach  and  enlighten  other  constituencies — what,  if  you  neglect  your- 
gelves — what,  if  the  missionaries  and  apostles  be  the  first  to  fall  away  from  the 
faith — what  if  the  constituency  of  Edinburgh,  which  is  so  intelligent,  so  well 
informed,  and  so  zealous — what,  if  you  rest  satisfied  to  be  represented  in  the  House 
of  Commons  (tremendous  cheering)  by  men,  one  of  whom  gives  you  a  half-hearted 
and  a  hollow  support,  and  the  other  meets  your  invitation  to  attend  the  discussion 
of  this  great  question  with  a  reply  so  brief  that  it  looks  like  a  rebuff?  (Cheers.) 
One  of  your  members  is  a  man  of  some  celebrity.  Our  vast  possessions  in  the 
country  of  India  are  subject  in  part,  I  believe,  to  a  code  of  laws  which  he  took  the 
chief  part  in  drawing  up.  He  is  also  known  as  a  powerful  and  beautiful  writer, 
especiauy  on  historical  subjects.  But  does  he  know  anything  of  the  philosophy  of 
history  ?  Can  he  not  look — for  he  possesses  vast  stores  of  knowledge — can  he  not 
look  back  to  the  history  of  other  countries,  and  to  the  history  of  this  country,  and 
find  there  that  the  real  way  to  disturb  the  happiness  of  a  people  is  to  substitute 
injustice  and  selfishness  for  justice  and  philanthropy?  Can  he  not  look  there  and 
find  that  true  Conservatism  is  based-  on  the  elements  and  immutable  principles  of 
truth  ?  Does  he  not  know  that  the  temper  of  the  English  people,  and  still  more  the 
temper  of  the  people  whom  I  now  address,  though  it  may  be  slow  to  move — though 
they  may  be  friends  to  order,  though  they  may  venerate  the  institutions  of  our 
country,  and  look  upon  the  aristocracy  and  the  monarchy  with  awe  and  with 
affection — yet  it  is  possible,  when  evils  like  these  exist,  that  the  iron  may  enter  into 
their  souls,  that  injustice  may  accumulate,  till  all  the  learning  and  the  morals  of  the 
country — all  the  prejudices  and  preconceived  notions  that  now  exist— nay,  all  the 
religion  in  the  land,  may  be  insufficient  to  keep  the  people  from  breaking  down 
suddenly,  destructively,  and  for  ever,  the  great  and  giant  evils  under  which  they 
feel  oppressed.  (Loud  and  long- continued  cheering.)  I  much  fear  that  this  repre- 
sentative of  yours  contracts  his  vision  and  looks  only  upon  party,  and  supposes  that 
to  be  his  country ;  or  that  he  regards  the  interests  of  party  as  greater  than  that  of 
the  twenty-seven  millions  of  people  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  four  millions  of 
whom  are  in  a  state  of  abject  suffering  and  hopeless  pauperism.  (Hear,  hear.)  But 
if  he  is  not  to  be  convinced — if  in  him,  as  his  letter  expresses,  no  change  need  be 
sought,  and  no  change  will  be  found — then  we  have  here  a  field  for  the  exercise  of 
o_ur  special  duties.  (Cheers.)  As  a  body  sent  by  the  dense  population  in  which  we 
live,  and  authorised  by  certificates  ratified  by  one  hundred  public  meetings  in  the 
country,  we  appeal  to  you  and  remonstrate  with  you  as  to  the  position  in  which  you 
stand  with  regard  to  your  representation.  I  have  no  hope  of  deliverance  from  the 
Crown,  I  expect  no  justice  from  the  House  of  Lords  (hear,  hear) ;  but  I  do  look  to  the 
constituencies  of  the  empire,  that  they  will  return  men  to  the  Commons  House  of 
Parliament  who  will  not  pander  to  the  improper  authority  of  the  Crown,  and  who 
will  still  less  support  the  unjust  rights  of  the  aristocracy,  but  who  will  pursue  the 
great,  the  noble,  the  glorious  object  of  defending  the  rights  and  interests  of 
humanity,  which  are  bound  up  in  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  common  people." 
(Loud  cheers.) 

After  the  meeting  was  addressed  by  Col.  T.  P.  Thomp- 
son and  Mr.  R.  W.  Jameson,  a  subscription  was  made,  and 
the  sum  of  £1,362  was  realised. 

Mr.  Bright  was  not  present  at  a  large  meeting  in  Covent 
Garden  Theatre,  London,  on  the  25th  of  January,  but  Mr.  W.  J. 


1844.]  AT   GREENOCK,   AYR,   AND   KILMARNOCK.  177 

Fox  was  there,  and  in  a  lengthy  speech  gave  some  very  impor- 
tant information  : — 

"  I  say  that  those  laws  are  a  crime  that  occasion  the  destruction  of  human  food. 
(Hear.)  Not  long  ago — about  the  time  I  was  in  Liverpool — a  large  quantity  of 
American  butter  was  brought  out  of  the  warehouses;  a  hole  was  bored  in  each 
firkin — the  butter  would  not  answer,  as  a  commercial  speculation,  to  pay  the  duty 
on  it — and  into  those  firkins  pitch  and  other  substances  were  poured,  in  order  that 
this  butter  might  be  rendered  altogether  unfit  for  human  use.  I  believe  that  it  was 
ultimately  actually  made  into  grease  for  the  wheels  of  locomotive  engines.  (Loud 
cries  of  '  Shame.')  Let  any  one  look  at  the  tables  of  committals  for  offences,  and 
compare  it  with  the  price  of  wheat  from  year  to  year.  The  exceptions  are  very  rare 
in  which  a  rise  in  the  price  of  corn  is  not  also  attended  by  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  committals.  In  the  years  from  1834  to  1836,  when  wheat  was  at  44s.  3d.  a 
quarter,  the  average  number  of  committals  was  21,000 ;  from  1837  to  1841,  when 
wheat  averaged  63s.  2d.,  the  annual  number  of  committals  was  25,000—4,000 
criminals  added  in  a  year  by  this  horrible  sliding  scale  of  guilt  and  misery.  To  take 
extreme  years :  in  1835,  when  wheat  was  a  little  under  40s.  a  quarter,  the  number  of 
committals  was  20,731 ;  in  1842,  when  wheat  was  57s.  3d.,  the  committals  rose  to 

31,309 In  1798  and  in  1802  wheat  was  59s.  -  a  quarter,  the  average  of 

deaths  20,508  in  London.  In  1800,  an  intermediate  year,  and  therefore  not  liable 
to  any  exception  on  the  ground  of  increased  population,  when  wheat  was  upwards 
of  60s.,  the  number  of  deaths  was  25,670;  5,000  deaths  in  that  year  analogous  with 
the  increase  in  the  price  of  food,  directly  tending  to  impress  on  our  mind  the  connec- 
tion of  cause  and  effect.  It  seemed  as  if  the  gram  monster  had  forgotten  his  impar- 
tiality— as  if  the  bony  tyrant  had  become  the  very  servant  of  monopoly  ;  and  though 
it  is  still,  in  some  measure,  true  that  '  the  rich  and  the  poor  lie  down  together  in 
the  grave,'  yet  wealth,  by  its  laws,  sends  the  poor  there  first,  and  sends  them  there 
in  numbers  to  prepare  for  its  own  reception." 

Mr.  Bright  next  visited  Greenock  in  company  with  Colonel 
Thompson,  and  a  meeting  was  held  in  West  Blackball  Street 
Chapel  on  the  15th  of  January. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  following  day,  Mr.  Bright  and  the 
gallant  colonel  arrived  at  the  town  of  Ayr,  where  a  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Theatre.  Provost  Miller  occupied  the  chair.  The 
audience  consisted  of  a  fair  proportion  of  farmers,  and  a  large 
number  of  the  most  respectable  inhabitants  of  the  town.  Mr. 
Bright  was  warmly  cheered  on  rising,  and  spoke  for  two  hours 
and  a-half . 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  he  and  Colonel  Thompson 
were  at  the  manufacturing  town  of  Kilmarnock,  and  a  meeting 
was  held  in  the  Relief  Church.  The  audience  was  a  very 
numerous  one,  including  a  considerable  number  of  ladies.  Sir 
John  Cunningham  Fairlie  was  called  to  the  chair.  Mr.  Bright, 
although  in  a  state  of  great  exhaustion,  delivered  a  lengthy 
speech,  and  was  frequently  applauded. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  physical  fatigue  Mr.  Bright  went 
through  on  the  16th  of  January,  and  the  difficulty  of  travelling, 
for  the  earth  was  robed  in  white,  he  rested  not  from  his 
labours,  but  addressed  the  inhabitants  of  Dumfries  on  the  17th 
of  January.  The  audience  numbered  400,  and  consisted  chiefly 
of  farmers.  Mr.  Bright's  speech  was  replete  with  facts  and 


178  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [l&tt. 

statistics,  chiefly  bearing  on  the  subject  from  the  agricultural 
point  of  view. 

On  the  23rd  of  January  Mr.  Cobden,  Mr.  Bright,  and 
Colonel  Thompson  were  at  Sunderland  at  a  meeting  in  Athenseum 
Hall.  Twelve  months  before  only  about  200  persons  assented  to 
listen  to  an  address  from  Mr.  Bright,  so  little  interest  was  taken 
at  that  time  by  the  inhabitants  of  Sunderland  in  the  object  of 
the  League ;  but  on  the  second  visit  2,000  persons  crowded  to 
the  hall  to  listen  to  the  address,  and  subscribed  £150. 

Mr.  Bright,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Cobden,  went  next  to  a 
meeting  at  Sheffield.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  this  town  there 
was  born,  in  1781,  "the  Corn  Law  Rhymer/'  Ebenezer  Elliott, 
who,  in  one  of  his  rhymes,  thus  alludes  to  the  attitude  of  Bright 
in  the  House  of  Commons : — 

"  Bright  in  the  lion's  den, 
Champion  of  honest  men, 
Lion  and  dove  of  peace." 

On  the  24th  of  January  Mr.  Bright  attended  a  meeting-  in 
the  Cutlers'  Hall  of  this  ancient  town,  and  delivered  speeches. 
Mr.  Edward  Smith  was  in  the  chair;  £726  were  subscribed. 

The  antique  and  venerable  city  of  York,  which  in  ancient 
days  was  noted  as  the  chief  place  in  England  for  education,  and 
at  which  Mr.  Bright,  it  will  be  remembered,  received  part  of  his 
schooling,  was  visited  by  him  on  the  25th  of  January.  He  was 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Cobclen  and  Colonel  Thompson.  At  the 
meeting  which  was  held  in  the  Festival  Concert  Room  they 
received  a  hearty  reception  from  the  audience,  and  £117  were 
subscribed. 

Next  morning  they  journeyed  to  the  bustling  seaport  town 
of  Hull,  and  in  the  evening  held  a  meeting  in  the  Town  Hall. 
£305  were  contributed. 

The  prettily  situated  cotton-manufacturing  town  of  Black- 
burn, which  even  in  the  seventeenth  century  was  famous  for  its 
"  checks/'  and  in  which  John  Hargreaves,  a  weaver,  in  1764, 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  spinning  jenny,  received  the  three 
representatives  of  the  League  on  the  29th  of  January,  and  a 
meeting  was  held  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  William 
Eccles,  and  £713  14s.  8d.  were  subscribed  towards  the 
fund. 

Mr.  Bright  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  a  banquet  at  the  Corn 
Exchange,  Wakefield,  on  January  31st,  and  so  crowded  was  the 
hall  that  hundreds  of  persons  were  unable  to  gain  admittance. 
Mr.  James  Garth  Marshall  was  the  chairman.  Lord  Morpeth 


AT   WAKEFIELD   AND   LONDON.  179 

was  one  of  the  speakers,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  thus  commented 
upon  his  lordship's  speech  in  his  presence : — 

"  I  have  listened  to  the  speech  delivered  by  your  late  representative  with  feelings 
of  mingled  pain  and  pleasure :  with  feelings  of  pleasure  at  many  beautiful  senti- 
ments which  were  expressed  and  clothed  in  as  beautiful  language  ;  but  with  pain 
that  hitherto  he  has  not  seen  it  right  to  take  up  to  the  full  extent  the  principle 
which  we  ourselves  are  now  advocating ;  but  I  cannot  conceal  from  myself,  that 
from  his  speech  there  is  in  his  mind  so  small  a  remnant  of  love  of  what  is  old  in  this 
matter,  that  it  seems  most  extraordinary  if  it  should  remain  there  long  at  all. 
(Hear,  hear.)  I  listened  to  his  description  of  some  portion  of  his  journey  on  the 
American  continent ;  to  the  glowing  language  in  which  he  spoke  of  those  vast 
prairies,  which  seemed  as  if  some  countless  ages  since  the  vast  ocean  had  flowed 
over  them,  and  that  by  some  omnipotent  fiat  it  had  been  at  once  suspended  and 
changed  into  solid  earth ;  and  I  heard  his  description  of  those  large  rivers  which 
rise  no  one  knows  how,  or  knows  really  where  they  are  in  future  centuries  to  lead 
as  highways  from,  the  ocean  to  the  people  who  inhabit  the  banks.  I  was  pleased  to 
hear  all  this,  and  when  he  spoke  of  the  surplus  produce  of  those  vast  countries,  and 
of  the  want  there  is  in  this  country,  I  confess  that  I  did  feel  disappointed — (loud 
cheers)— that  any  bar  should  be  proposed  or  permitted  to  be  put,  which  should  in 
any  degree  narrow  the  market  and  the  circle  out  of  which  we  might  obtain  a  supply 
for  the  hungry  people  of  this  country."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  R.  Cobden,  and  Mr.  Rand,  of  Bradford,  addressed  the 
gathering. 

On  the  1st  of  February  Messrs.  Bright,  R.  Cobden,  and 
Col.  Thompson  presented  themselves  at  the  weekly  aggregate 
meeting  of  the  League  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre.  This  being 
the  first  metropolitan  meeting  at  which  they  appeared  since 
their  return  from  their  late  provincial  tour,  they  were  received 
with  the  warmest  plaudits.  Mr.  G.  Wilson  was  in  the  chair. 
Dr.  Bowring,  the  member  for  Bolton,  was  the  first  speaker. 

"  I  have  been  listening  during  the  last  hour  in  the  House  of  Commons,"  he  said, 
"to  a  description  of  England's  prosperity — to  a  description  of  the  happy  prosperity 
of  the  working  classes — (hisses) — of  the  dispersion  of  the  clouds  which  have  too  long 
hung  over  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  industry  of  our  native  land.  The  sun 
this  day  is  shining;  now,  therefore,  'why  do  you  complain?'  (Ironical  cheers.) 
True  it  is  that  in  some  districts  and  departments  the  amount  of  human  suffering  is 
diminished.  I  received  a  return  yesterday  from  the  town  which  I  have  the  honour 
to  represent,  and  it  shows  that  there  were  only  3,000  persons  receiving  relief  whose 
average  earnings  were  sixpence  farthing  per  week.  (Cries  of  'Shame.')  I  am 
answered,  I  know,  by  the  fact  that  last  year  there  were  13,000,  and  I  gratefully 
acknowledge  that  there  are  10,000  human  beings  less  miserable  than  in  the  year  that 
has  just  passed  by." 

Col.  Thompson  next  addressed  the  meeting,  and  Mr.  John 
Bright  followed,  and,  in  giving  a  description  of  his  visit  to 
Scotland,  said: — 

"  All  Scotland  may  be  said  to  be  with  the  League — (cheers) — enthusiastically  with 
the  League.  The  season  of  the  year  wherein  we  have  visited  the  country  is  not  that 
in  which  external  nature  shows  to  the  greatest  advantage, — but  nature's  landmarks 
were  there  still.  The  everlasting  hills  were  there,  the  valleys  and  the  plains, 
the  lakes  and  the  streams,  and  the  waterfalls,  and  the  associations  which  are 
connected  with  them,  connected  with  the  memorable  past,  and  which  point  I  trust 
to  the  hope  of  a  still  more  glorious  future.  But  there  is  in  Scotland  good  which  no 
season  can  affect :  there  was  none  of  the  foliage  of  summer,  none  of  the  golden  lines 


180  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BEIQHT.  [1844. 

of  the  autumn ;  but  summer  can  never  dissolve  the  union  which  exists  between  the 
hearts  of  the  people  of  Scotland  and  any  good  and  noble  object ;  and  winter's  frost 
can  never  chifi  the  sympathies,  can  never  cool  the  ardour  of  the  people  who  have 
ever  been  foremost  in  the  race  of  liberty,  and  are  now  anxious  to  lead  you  on  to  high 
and  noble  achievements.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  There  is  another  pleasing  feature  in  the 
present  times,  and  that  is  the  singular  movement  and  flame  which  has  burst  out  all 
of  a  sudden  amongst  the  landowners,  the  clergy,  and  the  fanners.  (Hear,  hear.) 
It  is  an  outburst  of  passion  on  the  part  of  the  landowners  and  the  clergy.  Now  I  am 
not,  I  hope,  trespassing  beyond  the  objects  of  this  meeting,  and  the  legitimate 
province  of  a  speaker  here,  in  including  the  clergy  in  this  expression  of  opinion  ;  for 
if  there  be  one  man  who  has  used  more  violent,  unseemly,  ungentlemanly,  and 
unchristian  language  than  another  against  the  members  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League, 
it  has  been  some  man  who  writes  "  Reverend  "  before  his  name.  (Hear,  hear,  and 
hisses.)  I  lament  that  any  man  who  is  in  a  position  wherein  he  should  be  employed 
in  teaching  the  people — who  professes  to  expound  to  them,  Sabbath  after  Sabbath, 
the  beautiful  and  benign  requirements  of  the  Christian  code— who  stands  up  before 
a  congregation  to  ask  them  to  disregard  filthy  lucre,  and  many  of  the  wants  and 
wishes  of  this  lower  world,  and  to  set  their  eyes  upon  things  above,  upon  riches  that 
are  durable  and  eternal, — for  such  a  man  as  this  to  appear  upon  platforms  at 
meetings  of  landowners  and  farmers  in  the  counties,  and  there  to  denounce  this 
great  national  organisation — composed  now  of  millions  of  his  countrymen — as  seek- 
ing to  overthrow  every  valuable  institution  of  the  country,  whilst  he  there  is 
pleading  for  a  law  which  is  valueless  to  him  and  to  his  confederates,  unless  it  inflicts 
want,  and  suffering,  and  famine,  on  hundreds  and  thousands  of  the  poorest  of  the 
people.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  Greater  labour  has  been  bestowed  in  the  collection  of  the 
funds  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  now  in  hand,  and  the  agitation  which  has  been 
carried  on  for  the  last  four  months,  than  any  man  can  fairly  judge  of  who  has  not 
partaken  of  it.  (Hear,  hear.)  There  has  scarcely  been  a  night  upon  which  meetings 
have  not  been  held,  and  frequently  two  upon  the  same  evening.  Every  part  of  the 
northern  district  has  been  scoured  and  thoroughly  visited ;  no  man  in  that  part  of 
the  country,  who  has  not  been  desirous  of  remaining  in  ignorance,  can  say  he  has 
not  had  an  opportunity  of  instructing  himself  upon  this  great  question.  ...  I  wish 
it  were  possible  to  let  everyone  in  this  building  see  such  a  meeting  as  many  of  those 
which  we  have  attended.  You  would  there  see  manufacturers,  shopkeepers,  and 
artisans  of  every  description,  vicing  with  each  other  in  the  support  they  give  to  the 
League.  As  many  small  tickets  or  cards  with  subscriptions  upon  them  as  would  fill  a 
hat  have  been  collected  at  several  of  these  meetings,  which  have  not  been  one-fourth 
so  numerous  as  this.  Five,  ten,  and  twenty  shillings  have  freqxiently  been  given  by 
men  whose  only  property  has  been  their  labour  (cheers) ;  who  never  see  a  shilling 
or  a  sovereign  which  is  not  the  produce,  hardly  earned,  of  their  weekly  toil ;  but, 
being  deeply  conscious  that  upon  the  solution  of  this  question  depends  their  steady 
employment,  and  obtaining  remunerative  wages,  they  have  stepped  forward  to  help 
in  this  great  contest.  ...  I  am  certain,  also,  that  the  world  is  looking  on  upon  this 
great  struggle ;  intelligence  and  virtue  everywhere  will  respond  to  the  appeal  that 
we  now  make  to  you,  and  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  Britain  shall  add  to  all 
the  other  things  of  which  she  may  boast,  this  greatest  of  all  boasts — that  she  was 
the  first  of  the  great  commercial  nations  of  the  earth  who  struck  down  a  principle 
which  has  existed  for  centuries,  and  for  centuries  has  been  false,  and  that  she  had, 
as  she  has  done  in  many  other  matters  and  on  several  occasions,  led  the  world  in  a 
wiser  path,  and  to  a  new  career  of  greater,  brighter,  and  more  enduring  triumphs 
than  man  has  ever  yet  achieved."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  was  next  present  at  the  weekly  meeting  at 
Co  vent  Garden  Theatre,  on  the  28th  of  February.  Mr.  George 
Wilson  was  in  the  chair.  Mr.  Henry  Ashworth,  of  Turton, 
Bolton,  was  the  first  speaker,  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Milner 
Gibson  and  Mr.  Bright. 

"  We  did  not  commence  our  agitation  proposing  always  to  use  smooth  phrases," 
said  Mr.  Bright.  "  Men  do  not  use  straws  to  cut  down  oaks.  We  are  a  great  deal 
too  much  in  earnest  to  go  with  ' bated  breath  and  whispering  humbleness'  to  those 
who  trample  upon  the  people  of  this  country,  and  gently  ask  them  to  surrender  the 


1844.]  A   SCENE   IN   THE   HOUSE   OF   COMMONS.  181 

rights  which  they  have  so  long  deprived  us  of.  "We  know  well  what  the  character 
of  our  opponents  is — that  they  have  clutched  the  existence  of  the  people,  and  hold 
in  their  grasp  the  prosperity  of  the  industrious  classes  of  this  empire — that  they  are 
not  only  profoundly  ignorant  of  what  is  best  for  their  country,  but  are  remorseless 
and  relentless  in  the  cruelties  they  inflict  upon  the  poor.  (Loud  cheers.)  .  .  . 
You  have,  I  dare  say,  frequently  passed  the  National  Gallery,  and  witnessed  the 
happy  family  pent  up  in  a  cage  in  the  street  in  front  of  that  building.  (Hear,  hear.) 
I  saw  them  yesterday  ;  there  were  three  rats  (laughter)  nestling  and  warming  them- 
selves against  the  fur  of  a  cat,  which,  under  other  circumstances,  would  have  been 
their  deadly  enemy.  A  friend  of  mine  asked  the  man  who  owns  the'  cage  and  its 
contents  how  he  managed  to  suppress  their  natural  instincts  and  propensities,  and 
make  them  thus  tame  and  friendly  towards  each  other.  'Do  you  starve  them,' 
said  he,  'into  compliance?'  'No,  your  honour,'  the  man  replied;  'I  feeds  'em 
well.'  (Loud  cheers  and  laughter.)  There  is  the  secret  of  the  compactness  of  the 
ministerial  Corn  Law  majority.  One  part  of  them  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  power, 
pla.:e,  pay,  and  patronage,  which  is  widely  distributed  amongst  their  fellows,  and 
spun  out  to  the  greatest  possible  length,  new  places  being  made  wherever  it  can  be 
done  with  any  show  of  necessity.  The  rest  are  expecting  something,  and  nearly  all 
sit  there  quietly,  anxious  for  the  maintenance  of  the  majority  they  now  have, 
because  Sir  Robert  Peel  has  promised  them,  or  they  say  he  has — for  I  confess  I 
would  not  say  that  anything  was  a  '  promise '  which  the  right  hon.  baronet  said  in 
his  position  of  Premier  (cheers) — that  Sir  Eobert  Peel  has  promised  them  that  he 
will  maintain  the  Corn  Laws,  and  the  Corn  Laws  being  the  basis,  as  they  think,  of 
their  rent-roll,  they  may  therefore  all  be  classed  amongst  the  happy  family  which  is 
kept  together  because  they  are  well  fed."  (Cheers  and  laughter.) 

The  first  regular  Free-trade  debate  of  the  Parliament  session 
of  1844  was  brought  forward  on  the  7th  of  March  by  Mr. 
Labouchere,  who  proved  that  at  that  date  we  imposed  a  duty  of 
300  per  cent,  on  Brazilian  sugar  and  on  coffee  200  per  cent.  Mr. 
Bright  spoke  on  the  question,  and  linked  sugar  and  corn  together 
as  twin  monopolies.  The  mere  mention  of  the  word  corn 
alarmed  all  the  members,  who  had  just  finished  their  dinner 
when  Mr.  Bright  began  to  speak,  and  a  cry  of  "  question " 
was  vigorously  bawled  out.  "That  is  the  question/'' rebutted 
Mr.  Bright.  The  discontented  monopolists  made  a  great  noise 
for  the  purpose  of  putting  down  Mr.  Bright,  and  one  member 
cried  out,  "  Don't  let  that  odious  Leaguer  talk  of  corn  in  con- 
nection with  sugar !  "  Mr.  Bright  was  determined  not  to  be 
put  down,  and  delivered  his  speech.  The  House  divided, 
when  132  Free-traders  supported  the  motion  against  205 
monopolists. 

On  the  1 2th  of  March  Mr.  Cobden  brought  before  the  House 
a  motion  for  a  select  committee  to  inquire,  on  behalf  of  the 
tenant-farmers  and  farm-labourers  of  the  country,  into  the 
effects  of  protective  duties  on  imports.  The  same  evening  there 
was  given  to  Mr.  O'Connell  a  dinner,  and  the  name  of  Mr. 
Cobden  appeared  on  the  list  of  stewards.  The  monopolists 
hoped  that  Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Bright  would  be  delayed  at  the 
dinner  and  not  be  in  the  House  in  time  to  bring  on  the  motion. 
"These  men  have  an  ugly  way  of  sticking  to  business,  and 
turning  up  at  the  proper  time,"  was  the  comment  made  by  the 


182  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1844. 

monopolists.  That  evening  the  benches  on  both  sides  of  the 
House  were  full.  All  the  ministers  were  in  attendance,  and 
the  hum  of  conversation  indicated  that  something  of  great 
importance  was  expected.  The  Speaker  called  on  Mr.  Cobden, 
and  there  instantly  ensued  profound  silence.  The  occupants  of 
the  strangers'  gallery,  which  was  crowded,  were  excited,  and 
listened  attentively.  Mr.  Cobden's  clear  voice  was  heard,  and 
every  sentence  and  every  word  soon  began  to  tell  on  the 
audience.  He  was  well  charged  with  facts  and  arguments, 
and  so  earnestly  intent  on  their  enforcement,  that  he  com- 
manded the  deepest  attention,  and  as  soon  as  a  cheer  was  given 
silence  was  restored  instantly,  as  if  they  were  fearful  of  losing 
what  was  coming  next. 

"Mrs.  Wilshire,  wife  of  a  farm-labourer  at  Cherill,  Wilts,"  said  Mr.  Cobden, 
"  in  her  own  pathetic  way,  says,  '  Our  common  drink  is  burnt  crust  tea'.  We  also 
buy  half  a  pound  of  sugar  a  week.  We  never  know  what  it  is  to  get  enough  to  eat. 
At  the  end  of  the  meal  the  children  could  eat  more  bread,  but  there  is  never 
enough.  The  children  are  always  asking  for  more  at  every  meal.  I  then  say,  '  You 
don't  want  your  father  to  go  to  prison,  do  you? '  That  is  a  specimen  of  the  evidence 
collected  in  the  South  of  England,  in  the  purely  agricultural  districts  by  Mr.  Austin. 
I  have  myself  had  the  opportunity  of  making  considerable  observations  in  the  agri- 
cultural districts,  and  I  have  come  to  this  conviction,  that  the  further  you  travel  from 
the  much-maligned  region  of  tall  chimnevs  and  smoke  the  less  you  find  the  wages  of 
the  labourer  to  be.  The  more  I  leave  behind  me  Lancashire  and  the  northern  parts 
of  England,  the  worse  is  the  condition  of  the  labourer,  and  the  less  is  the  quantity 
of  food  he  has.  Does  not  this,  I  will  ask,  answer  the  argument  that  the  agri- 
cultural labourer  deserves  protection  from  the  Corn  Law  ? ''  (Hear,  hear.) 

Mr.  Bright  supported  his  friend,  pointing  out  that  the 
very  contradictions  of  Mr.  Cobden's  allegations  were  all  so 
many  additional  reasons  why  the  committee  should  be  granted, 
in  order  that  the  facts  might  be  sifted.  He  told  the  House  that 
if  the  majority  thought  that  the  justice  of  the  Corn  Laws  could 
be  proved,  they  would  grant  the  committee  at  once.  At  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  division  took  place,  but  the  monopolists 
had  a  majority  of  ninety-one. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   STRUGGLE   AGAINST   THE   CORN   LAWS   CONTINUED. 

Mr.  Bright  and  the  Education  of  his  Workpeople — The  Ten  Hours  Agitation — Mr. 
George  Thompson  in  London — Mr.  Bright  on  the  History  of  Lancashire — 
South-east  Hants  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Industry — Further  Action  of 
the  Leaguers  in  the  House — Bright  at  Northampton,  Walsall,  and  Manchester. 

THE  education  and  welfare  of  his  workpeople  long1  engaged 
the  attention  of  Mr.  Bright  and  his  brothers.  Mr.  Joshua 
Haigh,  a  Quaker,  who  had  received  a  moderate  education,  was 
employed  to  teach  reading  in  the  office  at  Fieldhouse  Mill.  The 
arrangement  carried  out  was,  that  one  at  a  time  received  a 
lesson  and  then  returned  to  work.  In  the  same  room  was 
kept  a  library  for  the  adults,  and  the  books  were  lent  for 
one  penny  per  week,  the  money  being  spent  to  purchase  new 
books.  About  the  year  1840  Messrs.  Bright  built  a  commodious 
school  near  their  mill  for  the  use  of  the  children  of  their  work- 
people and  neighbours.  A  schoolmaster  was  engaged  to  impart 
education.  The  scholars  in  1851  numbered  100.  Four  nights 
a  week  instruction  was  given  to  young  people.  Mr.  Birkby,  an 
excellent  schoolmaster  residing  in  Rochdale,  was  engaged  several 
years  in  giving  lectures  on  the  various  sciences.  Mr.  Cameron, 
of  Manchester,  one  winter  delivered  a  series  of  lectures  on 
"  Language,''  "  Poetry/'  and  "  General  Literature."  These 
lectures  were  free  to  strangers  as  well  as  the  workpeople,  the 
firm  defraying  the  whole  of  the  expenses.  A  music-master  was 
engaged  two  or  three  winters  to  give  lessons  in  singing,  and 
three-fourths  of  the  cost  were  defrayed  by  Messrs.  Bright. 
There  were  also  two  bands  of  music  in  1854,  numbering  sixty 
performers.  The  books  in  the  library  at  that  time  were  728,  and 
a  large  number  of  newspapers  were  supplied.  The  cost  of  mem- 
bership was  one  penny  per  week,  which  entitled  them  to  the  use 
of  papers,  books,  globes,  maps,  &c.  Thirty  per  cent,  of  the 
net  income  of  the  institute  was  spent  in  the  purchase  of  new 
books.  The  building,  fires,  and  gaslight  were  provided  gratis. 

Subsequently,  in  a  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,   Mr. 
John  Bright  stated  : — 

' '  In  the  factory  with  which  I  am  connected  we  have  a  large  infant  school,  together 
with  a  reading-room  and  newsroom,  and  a  school  for  adults,  where  the  workmen 
attend  after  working  hours.  We  have  also  a  person  employed,  at  a  very  considerable 


184  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF  JOHN   BRIGHT  [1844. 

expense,  who  devotes  his  whole  time  to  investigate  the  concerns  of  the  workmen, 
and  who  is  a  kind  of  missionary  among  them.  Not  a  few  hundred  pounds  per 
annum  are  expended  in  promoting  in  this  manner  the  interests  of  the  workmen;  and 
this,  too,  wholly  independent  of  any  act  of  the  Legislature." 

About  this  time  the  "Ten  Hours"  agitation  was  begun 
by  the  monopolists.  Lord  Ashley  acted  as  their  leader,  and 
advocated  that  the  daily  labour  in  factories  should  be  confined 
to  ten  hours  per  day.  On  the  15th  of  March  he  brought 
before  the  House  of  Commons  the  Government  Factory  Bill,  and 
gave  a  one-sided  picture  of  the  life  of  factory  workers.  Mr. 
Bright  on  the  occasion  exposed  some  of  the  authorities  on  which 
Lord  Ashley  relied.  The  hours  of  labour  of  the  factory  operative 
at  that  time  bore  no  comparison  to  the  many  hours  that  the 
farm- labourer  had  to  toil  who 

"  — knows  no  leisure,  till  the  distant  chime 
Of  Sabbath  bells  he  hears  at  sermon  time." 

On  the  27th  of  March  Mr.  Bright  addressed  the  weekly 
meeting  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  at  Covent  Garden 
Theatre,  which  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Milner  Gibson ;  Mr. 
Gisborne,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  W.  J.  Fox  also  spoke. 

"The  principles  of  Free-trade  are  so  simple,"  said  Mr.  Bright  in  his  lengthy 
address,  "  that  the  mind  of  no  unbiassed  man  who  hears  them  will  have  any  hesita- 
tion in  receiving  them  as  true.  (Cheers.)  Everything  about  him  and  around  him, 
everything  which  he  reads  in  history,  everything  which  he  sees  in  the  arrangement 
of  the  universe,  everything  which  he  has  in  his  own  judgment,  everything  which 
prompts  him  in  his  heart,  tells  him  that  these  principles  of  Free-trade  should  direct 
the  world,  and  not  that  impious,  that  mischievous,  that  imbecile  system  of  monopoly 
which  we  are  here  taking  so  much  trouble  to  overthrow.  (Cheers.)  We  ask  that  the 
world  should  be  our  workshop,  and  the  wide  world  our  market.  (Cheers.)  .... 
The  intelligence,  industry,  and  virtue  of  the  operatives  in  the  north  of  England,  and 
the  enterprising  skill  and  spirit  of  the  manufacturers  generally,  all  have  been 
crippled  under  the  laws  passed  by  the  men  who  neither  understood  these  principles, 
nor  knew  much  about  the  particular  class  for  which  they  would  legislate.' 

Mr.  Bright's  heart  was  cheered  as  he  was  journeying  to  New 
Mills,  in  Derbyshire,  for  his  destination  was  the  scene  of  his 
father's  boyhood,  and  the  time  was  spring,  when  Nature,  burst- 
ing from  her  icy  fetters,  assumes  her  robe  of  green,  and  re- 
joicing in  her  new-born  freedom  holds  her  annual  jubilee.  The 
date  was  the  8th  of  April  when  he  arrived  at  New  Mills,  and 
a  meeting  was  held  in  Mr.  Schofield's  factory.  Mr.  Thomas 
Gisborne,  M.P.  for  Nottingham,  was  the  chairman,  and  Mr. 
Bright  delivered  an  eloquent  speech.  £95  were  subscribed  to- 
wards the  fund  of  the  League. 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the  weekly  meeting  at  Covent 
Garden  Theatre  on  the  17th  of  April,  but  on  that  occasion  he 
did  not  address  the  audience,  as  Mr.  Ward,  the  then  member  for 
Sheffield,  Col.  Thompson,  and  Mr.  George  Thompson  delivered 


1844.]  THE   STRUGGLE  AGAINST   THE  CORN   LAWS.  186 

lengthy  speeches.  Mr.  R.  Cobden  discharged  the  duties  of 
chairman,  and  Mr.  George  Thompson  thus  beautifully  commented 
on  the  history  of  the  time  : — 

"  Centuries  of  darkness  and  error,  long  ages  of  legislative  blundering,  and  gross 
mistakes  as  to  the  effect  of  protective  laws  have  passed  away.  Our  pernicious 
example  has,  it  is  true,  led  other  nations,  by  false  induction,  to  adopt  many  of  our 
self-destructive  theories ;  partial  interests  have  had  a  protracted  reign,  and  when 
assailed  have  frantically  defended  their  vested  rights  in  systems  of  injustice  and 
error.  The  whole  machinery  of  party  strife  and  the  weight  of  Government  influence 
have  been  engaged  to  uphold  the  cause  of  monopoly.  But  the  day  has  dawned. 
Truths,  hidden  for  .ages,  have  been  brought  to  light ;  the  world,  through  all  its 
beautiful  and  unending  varieties  of  soil,  climate,  productions,  wants,  and  interests 
has  been  viewed  through  the  medium  of  common  sense,  and  a  reverential  desire  to 
read  the  will  of  God,  as  revealed  in  the  works  of  His  hand,  and  the  dispensations  of 
Providence.  The  profoundest  maxims  of  political  economy  have  been  found  to 
harmonise  with  the  noblest  plans  of  a  religious  and  peace-breathing  philosophy. 
Nor  this  alone.  There  have  appeared  those  who  may  with  justice  be  designated 
the  apostles  of  Free-trade.  (Hear,  hear.)  They  have  taken  the  truths  dis- 
covered by  the  philosopher  in  his  closet,  or  derived  by  men  of  the  world  from  the 
enlightened  observation  of  the  situation,  peculiarities,  and  mutual  dependence  of 
men  and  nations,  and  they  have  gone  abroad  to  proclaim  them  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land.  The  living  voice  of  the  preacher  of  these  truths  has  fallen 
upon  the  ear  of  millions  of  our  countrymen.  The  pulpit,  the  exchange,  the  market- 
place, the  crowded  hall,  the  farmers'  dining-room,  the  ladies'  drawing-room,  the 
county  meetings,  the  open  field,  the  highways  and  byways  of  the  country— all 
have  been  made  the  scenes  and  theatres  of  an  animated  and  instructive  discussion  of 
the  doctrines.  (Cheers.)  No  part  of  our  population  has  been  forgotten,  or  over- 
looked, or  neglected.  The  '  Free-trade  Almanac '  is  on  the  wall  of  the  cottage,  and 
he  who  could  not  read  letters  has  been  taught  by  speaking  pictures.  The  Free-trade 
tract  is  on  the  table  of  the  humblest  citizen,  and  he  has  studied  and  understood  the 
philosophy  of  labour  and  wages,  of  supply  and  demand.  Light  has  been  carried 
where  it  was  most  needed  -into  the  Senate.  A  political  economist  has  appeared 
who  has  clothed  these  truths  in  language  the  most  convincing,  arranged  his  argu- 
ments with  a  degree  of  simplicity  and  perspicuity  never  witnessed  before,  has 
expounded  great  principles  in  the  hour  of  violent  party  strife  with  a  temper  and 
sprit  that  has  extorted  the  admiration  of  his  opponents,  who  would  have  rushed  to 
his  banner  but  for  the  fetters  of  mortgages  and  jointures  about  their  limbs,  or  an 
unconquerable  love  of  high  rents.  That  man  has  demanded  and  enforced  audiences 
of  the  upholders  of  monopoly  in  their  loftiest  seats,  and  they  have  sat  mute  while 
he  spoke,  and  have  remained  mute  when  he  sat  down,  because — alas  for  them ! — 
they  knew  not  how  to  meet  him,  and  were  afraid  to  yield.  (Cheers.)  Be  of  good 
courage,  then.  Fling  away  the  trammels  of  party  and  expediency.  Let  principles 
have  their  due  weight,  and  consideration,  and  influence.  When  the  hour  of  trial 
comes,  be  jwst  and  fear  not.  Duty  is  ours — consequences  are  God's.  He  who 
follows  the  dictates  of  conscience,  the  laws  of  nature,  and  the  commands  of  Heaven, 
may  safely  leave  the  rest,  and,  dying,  be  satisfied  with  this  verdict — returned  by  his 
own  mind  upon  a  review  of  his  actions — I  saw  my  duty,  and  I  did  it."  (Enthusiastic 
cheering.) 

A  banquet  was  held  in  the  Amphitheatre,  Liverpool,  on  the 
12th  of  April,  to  further  the  principles  of  Free- trade,  and  the 
scene  throughout  was  animated.  Mr.  Thomas  Thornely,  M.P., 
was  the  chairman.  Mr.  W.  Ewart,  M.P.,  Mr.  R.  Cobden,  Mr. 
W.  Rathbone,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  were  the  speakers. 

Mr.  Bright  next  visited  Uxbridge,  and  delivered  a  speech  to 
600  persons  in  the  Town  Hall  of  that  town  on  the  18th  of 
April. 

On  the  15th  of  May  he  presided  over  the  weekly  meeting  at 


186  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT. 

Covent  Garden  Theatre,  and  in  opening  the  proceedings  gave 
the  Londoners  some  valuable  information  as  to  the  history  of 
Lancashire. 

"I  have  met  persons  in  the  south  of  England,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "who,  when 
speaking  of  Lancashire,  spoke  of  it  as  if  it  were  a  county  of  no  more  than  ordinary 
importance,  as  if  they  knew  only  this — that  there  were  a  number  of  grasping  and 
avaricious  (and  some  of  them  rich)  manufacturers  there,  with  rather  a  dense  popu- 
lation of  working  men,  brutalised,  ill-paid,  and  degraded;  that  Lancashire  was  a 
county  in  which  there  were  several  considerable  towns  of  a  very  dull  character, 
connected  by  railroads  (laughter) ;  that,  in  fact,  every  feature  of  the  county 
afforded  pain  rather  than  pleasure ;  and  that  it  was  to  be  looked  at  as  a  county 
only  valuable  for  what  could  be  got  out  of  it,  and  as  one  which  the  tourist  and 
lover  of  the  picturesque  should  on  all  occasions  carefully  avoid.  (Laughter  and 
cheers.)  Now  I  was  born  in  the  county,  and  have  lived  there  for  something  like 
thirty  years,  and  I  know  much  of  its  population,  and  much  of  its  trade,  and  much 
of  its  resources ;  and  I  am  quite  convinced — I  am  perfectly  sure — that  there  is  no 
other  county  in  England  which  can  compare  with  it  in  its  real  importance,  as 
affecting  the  welfare  and  the  power  of  this  great  empire.  (Cheers.)  It  is  the  most 
populous  county  in  England.  (Hear,  hear.)  It  is  the  most  manufacturing  county, 
as  far  as  its  productive  power  goes ;  it  is  the  richest  county  in  England.  And  what 
has  it  done  ?  Time  was  when  it  presented  a  very  different  aspect  from  what  it  now 
presents.  Some  240  years  ago  it  was  considered  a  wilderness.  Camden  in  his 
Survey,  after  having  travelled  the  country  from  York  to  Durham,  proposed  to 
enter  Lancashire,  and  his  mind  was  filled  with  apprehension  at  the  prospect.  His 
remark  is :  '  And  first,  of  the  people  of  Lancashire,  whom  I  approach  with  a  kind 
of  dread  ' — in  these  latter  days,  too,  there  are  some  people  who  look  upon  Lanca- 
shire with  dread  (laughter  and  cheers) — '  may  it  forebode  no  ill.  However,  that  I 
may  not  seem  wanting  to  this  county,  I  will  run  the  hazard  of  the  attempt,  hoping 
that  the  Divine  assistance,  which  has  favoured  me  in  the  rest,  will  not  fail  me 
in  this.'  He  mentions  some  towns — Rochdale,  which  he  first  came  to  from  York- 
shire, Bury,  Blackburn,  Preston,  and  Manchester — but  he  speaks  of  these  only 
as  being  towns  of  scarce  any  trade,  and  that  principally  connected  with  the  woollen 
manufacture.  He  mentions  Liverpool  as  a  small  place  on  the  sea- coast,  and  as 
the  most  convenient  point  for  setting  sail  to  Ireland;  but  of  Ashton,  Bolton, 
Oldham,  and  Salford,  with  other  towns  now  in  existence,  he  does  not  say  a  word, 
and  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  these  other  towns  were  known  at  that  time. 
It  may  be  worth  while  for  a  few  moments  to  examine  or  to  see  how  wonderful 
has  been  the  increase  of  the  value  of  property  in  that  county.  In  1692,  150  years 
ago,  the  whole  annual  value  was  £7,000.  In  1841,  the  annual  value  was  £6,192,000. 
(Cheers.)  Thus  there  has  been  an  average  increase  throughout  that  county  in 
150  years  of  not  less  than  6,300  per  cent.  Now  the  landowners  should  look  to 
this  as  showing  hpw_  trade  is  advantageous  to  them.  Lancashire  has  for  its  size 
just  as  much  land  in  it  as  any  other  county — that  must  be  clear  to  all.  I  recollect 
a  person  standing  upon  a  piece  of  rising  ground  and  looking  over  the  surrounding 
country,  remarking  to  an  inhabitant  of  the  district  who  stood  near  him,  that  they 
seemed  to  have  a  great  deal  of  land  in  the  neighbourhood,  which  occasioned  that 
individual  some  surprise,  and  I  suppose  it  might  be  made  with  equal  truth  in  every 
neighbourhood.  •  Lancashire  has  landowners,  and  is  divided  into  districts  called 
hundreds.  Of  these  hundreds  three  may  be  considered  agricultural,  and  three 
manufacturing.  The  improvement  in  the  value  of  the  agricultural  portions  of  the 
county  has  amounted  to  3,500  per  cent,  in  that  period  (hear,  hear),  while  the 
manufacturing  districts  have  improved  to  the  amount  of  7,000  per  cent.  (Cheers.) 
There  is  one  estate  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Manchester,  the  Chorlton  Hall  estate, 
which  shows  a  remarkable  increase  in  value.  In  the  year  1590  it  was  sold  for 
£320 ;  in  1644,  that  is,  54  years  later,  it  was  sold  for  £300,  its  value  not  having 
increased  at  all  in  that  time.  In  1794,  that  same  estate  was  sold  for  £70,000. 
(Cheers.)  And  of  the  township  in  which  that  estate  is  situated,  I  may  remark 
that  in  1815  the  annual  value  of  that  township  was  £19,000;  in  1829,  £66,000; 
and  in  1841,  £137,000.  (Cheers.)  In  a  space  of  time  less  than  200  years,  the 
value  of  that  township,  or  the  estate  rather,  has  increased  from  £300  to  three 
million  pounds.  (Cheers.)  There  is  another  district  of  Lancashire  which  it  may  be 
well  to  spend  a  moment  in  speaking  of,  and  that  is  the  district  called  the  Forest  of 


18*i.]  GKOWTH   OF   LANCASHIRE.  187 

Eipendale,  containing  some  twenty-two  or  twenty-four  square  miles.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century  there  were  only  eighty  persons  living  in  this  district, 
now  there  are  more  than  21,000.  The  land  for  fanning  purposes  in  that  district 
now  lets  for  ten  times  as  much  rent  per  year  as  it  did  100  years  ago,  and  them 
are  men  now  living  who  can  recollect  the  time  when  in  their  youth  they  farmed 
certain  farms  which  are  now  paying  seven  or  eight  times  as  much  rent  as  they  were 
paying  then.  The  district  in  which  Liverpool  is  situated  was  formerly  assessed  to 
the  land  tax  at  £35,000  a  year;  its  annual  value  now  is  £2,124,000  per  annum, 
being  an  advance  of  more  than  5,900  per  cent.  Liverpool  150  years  ago  was  valued 
as  a  smaller  place  than  Wigau.  It  was  a  mere  fishing  village  some  200  years  ago, 
and  now  is  the  largest  seaport  probably  in  the  whole  world.  Now,  who  is  it  tha.t 
has  made  this  wonderful  change  in  Lancashire,  and  what  is  it  ?  (Cheers.)  Is  it 
the  landed  proprietors  who  have  effected  this  change?  (Cries  of  'No,  no.')  Forty 
years  ago,  Dr.  Whittaker,  the  antiquarian,  in  his  history  of  Whalley,  described 
the  landed  proprietors  of  Lancashire  to  be  much  in  the  same  state  that  they  had 
been  for  200  years  before.  He  says  '  they  are  men  fond  of  married  life ' — meaning 
a  great  deal  of  quiet  and  domestic  comfort — '  they  are  possessed  of  little  curiosity  or 
ambition ;  they  reside  much  at  home ;  they  pursue  domestic  amusements,  which 
are  more  gross  than  costly ; '  and  he  states  that  he  '  met  with  only  one  literary 
character,  who  was  possessed  of  the  family  estate.'  Well,  then,  the  landed 
proprietors,  if  they  were  men  of  this  character,  have  not  made  Lancashire  what 
it  is.  There  are  in  that  county  a  number  of  very  old  houses,  and  houses  where  the 
old  families  resided.  These  families  are  for  the  most  part  extinct.  They  have 
been  succeeded  by  a  new  class  of  men,  their  mansions  are  now  inhabited  by 
thriving  manufacturers,  and  the  old  families  have  been  almost  swept  away  from 
the  southern  division  of  the  county.  Not  that  there  was  any  war  against  them, 
for  they  had  the  same  chance  as  other  men,  '  but  born  to  broad  acres,'  they  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  cultivate  their  minds  or  use  much  exertion.  Other  men  sprang 
up  among  them — the  inventions  of  "Watt  and  Arkwright  gave  these  other  men  great 
opportunities  which  these  men  neglected  to  seize  upon,  and  thus  they  who  were 
once  the  magnates  of  that  county  are  now  nowhere  to  be  found,  and  a  new  class  of 
men  have  sprung  up  to  lead  the  dense  population.  It  is  the  industry,  the  intel- 
ligence, the  perseverance,  which  have  combined  to  make  Lancashire  what  it  is.  Its 
minerals  are  invaluable,  but  they  were  underneath  its  surface  for  ages  and  for 
thousands  of  years  past,  and  it  was  only  in  these  latter  days,  and  in  the  ranks  of  a 
new  generation,  that  there  were  found  men  ready  to  bring  them  to  light,  and  to 
transfer  them  into  that  wonderful  machinery  which  some  men  so  greatly  despise — 
a  machinery  which  is  the  agent  by  which  the  population  of  these  districts  stretch 
out  their  hands  to  every  region  of  the  earth,  bring  back  the  accumulated  riches  of 
every  country,  and  pour  them  profusely  into  'the  laps  of  their  own  population. 
(Cheers.)  And  the  little  flaky  substance  wliich  is  taken  from  the  pod  of  the 
cotton-tree,  and  which  since  seventy  or  eighty  years  ago  was  first  imported  into 
Lancashire,  that  is  the  material,  the  fibre  upon  which  they  have  worked — that 
is  the  material  which  has  given  to  that  county  its  greatness  and  its  grandeur. 
Lancashire,  then,  is  the  child  of  trade  and  industry,  in  their  most  remarkable  and 
magnificent  forms.  That  trade  was  not  long  ago  an  infant,  struggling  into  life. 
It  is  now  great  and  powerful,  and  in  no  longer  period  thau  suffices  for  the  child  to 
become  a  man  it  has  sprung  up  into  a  giant  of  enormous  proportions,  and  yet  that 
giant,  powerful  as  it  is,  lies  well-nigh  prostrate  under  the'fetters  and  shackles  which 
a  benighted,  ignorant,  and  thoughtless  policy  has  formed  around  its  muscular 
form."  (Cheers.) 

On  the  29th  of  May  Mr.  Bright  again  attended  the  weekly 
meeting  of  the  League  in  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  intending 
merely  to  listen  ;  but  after  Messrs.  Holland  and  Cobden  delivered 
their  speeches  there  was  a  call  from  all  parts  of  the  Theatre  for 
the  member  for  Durham,  as  there  was  a  desire  to  hear  him.  Mr. 
Bright's  speech  was  short,  and  related  chiefly  to  the  result  of  a 
South  Lancashire  election  :  Mr.  William  Entwisle,  a  monopolist, 
having  been  returned  to  Parliament  by  a  majority  over  Mr. 
Brown,  a  Free-trader. 


188  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  (1844. 

In  these  days  it  was  customary  for  societies,  which  were  formed 
for  "  the  promotion  of  industry,  to  give  prizes  annually  to  those 
agricultural  labourers  who  might  succeed  in  living  for  years  with- 
out parochial  relief.  This  was  a  most  difficult  matter,  on  ac- 
count of  the  wretchedly  low  wages  paid  to  them  for  their  labour. 
In  1844  the  South-east  Hants  Society  gave  a  prize  of  £5  to  a 
hard-working  man  named  Coker,  aged  39,  a  resident  of  Fareham, 
employed  by  Mr.  H.  P.  Delme,  for  having  supported  eight 
children  without  parochial  relief.  A  prize  of  £4  was  awarded 
to  David  Gregory,  aged  36,  residing  at  Westmeon,  who  was  in 
the  employ  of  the  Hon.  T.  W.  Gage,  for  having  supported  eight 
children  under  fifteen  years  of  age  without  relief,  except  during 
the  time  of  his  wife's  confinement ;  £3  were  given  to  William 
Ferris,  of  Fitchfield,  aged  32,  an  employe  of  Mr.  E.  Norris,  for 
having  supported  six  children  under  thirteen  years  of  age  in 
similar  circumstances.  He  had  never  been  out  of  employment 
since  he  was  seven  years  old.  It  was  further  stated  in  his 
favour  that  he  was  able  to  feed  a  pig  every  year,  and  contributed 
to  a  society  which  would  undertake  after  his  death  to  bury  him 
decently.  The  wages  of  labourers  in  agricultural  districts 
averaged  seven  or  eight  shillings  per  week.  Struggle  as  they 
might,  however,  few  spent  their  declining  days  out  of  the 
workhouse. 

Mr.  Cobden,  in  a  speech  delivered  at  Colchester,  in  reply  to 
accusations  made  by  land  proprietors  against  manufacturers, 
said : — 

"I  do  not  like  to  be  egotistical,  but  I  like  gentlemen  to  be  informed  of  the 
true  state  of  things  in  the  manufacturing  districts.  I  employ  a  great  number  of 
people  ;  I  have  hundreds  who  are  earning  a  good  rate  of  wages.  My  able-bodied 
workmen  receive  each  from  20s.  to  30s.  per  week.  I  pay  £600  per  week  in  wages, 
which  amounts  to  considerably  more  than  £20,000  per  annum.  I  can  state  this,  that 
there  are  but  two  men  in  my  employment — the  one  being  blind,  and  the  other  a 
cripple — who  are  receiving  less  than  12s.  per  week.  (Cheers.)  You  may  ask,  '  How 
long  do  they  work  ? '  I  reply  twelve  hours  per  day ;  and  if  they  work  longer  than 
that,  they  are  paid  for  their  trouble."  (Cheers.) 

On  the  10th  of  June  Mr.  Ewart  introduced  a  motion  into  the 
House  of  Commons  to  the  effect  that  the  duty  on  foreign  sugar 
should  be  reduced  to  the  same  rate  as  the  duty  on  colonial 
sugar.  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden  supported  the  motion  ; 
it,  however,  was  lost,  as  there  was  a  majority  of  203  mono- 
polists against  it. 

Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden  took  a  trip  down  to  Sussex,  and 
two  evenings  after  addressed  a  meeting  in  the  fashionable  town 
of  Brighton,  in  the  Town  Hall,  on  the  subject  of  Free-trade, 
and  the  utmost  enthusiasm  was  manifested. 

Mr.  Villiers,  on  the  25th  of  June,  brought  on  in  the  House 


1844.]  THE   STRUGGLE   AGAINST  THE   CORN    LAWS.  189 

of  Commons  his  annual  motion  for  the  total  and  immediate 
repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden  sup- 
ported the  motion,  which  was  lost,  121  voting  in  its  favour  and 
328  against  it ;  yet  the  principles  of  Free-trade,  it  was  evident, 
on  comparison  with  the  results  of  previous  years,  were  growing 
in  favour.  Mr.  Bright,  in  the  course  of  his  speech,  said  : — 

"  The  right  hon.  baronet  (Sir  Robert  Peel)  has  spoken  of  the  predictions  of  my 
hon.  friend  (Mr.  R.  Cobdeii),  the  member  for  Stockport.  That  hon.  gentleman  is 
precisely  the  man  of  all  others  who  has  avoided  hazarding  predictions.  *  He  said, 
and  every  one  who  thoroughly  understands  the  Com  Law  said,  that  this  country 
never  could  rise  from  the  depression  which  so  lately  existed  except  through  the 
repeal  of  the  Corn  Law,  or  that,  through  the  bounty  of  Providence,  we  were  again 
to  be  favoured  with  good  harvests.  The  right  hou.  baronet  owes  his  safety,  as  does 
the  country,  to  the  change  in  the  seasons.  What  was  the  condition  of  the  right 
hon.  baronet  some  two  years  ago  ?  How  did  he  bear  the  weight  of  the  responsibility 
of  his  office  then  ?  Was  not  his  mind  almost  pressed  down  by  the  difficulties  which 
surrounded  him  ;  and  were  not  all  the  power  and  all  the  honours  of  his  high  office 
but  a  poor  compensation  for  the  cares  which  then  pressed  upon  him  ?  The  condition 
of  the  country  was  such  as  to  excite  the  liveliest  apprehensions  ;  and  I  am  sure  there 
is  not  a  man  in  the  kingdom  more  thankful  for  the  change  of  the  seasons  than  is  the 
right  hon.  baronet."  (Hear,  hear.) 

The  next  weekly  meeting  of  the  League  at  Covent  Garden 
Theatre  was  held  on  the  3rd  of  July.  Mr.  Bright's  speech  on 
this  occasion  was  lengthy,  and  concluded  thus  : — 

' '  We  ask  that  this  wide  earth,  which  the  Creator  of  all  things  has  spread  as  a  table 
for  his  children,  should  be  free  to  us  to  live  in,  and  enjoy  its  abundance.  (Cheers.) 
Why,  to  enjoy  the  good  things  which  God  has  given  is  a  great  portion  even  of  the 
obedience  which  we  owe  to  Him !  (Cheers.)  Have  we  not  proof — abundant  proof — 
that  those  blessings  were  given  for  us,  were  bestowed  richly  for  our  use  ?  That  it  is 
impious  in  any  man,  or  any  set  of  men,  to  withhold  the  products  of  the  gifts  of  His 
bounteous  hand,  especially  from  the  poorest  of  His  creatures  ?  (Cheers.)  A  writer, 
who  was  at  once  a  monarch  and  a  poet,  in  the  voice  of  praise  with  which  and  in 
which  he  often  addressed  his  Creator,  said,  in  the  words  and  lines  which  are  familiar, 
doubtless,  to  you  all,  when  gazing  upon  the  beauty  of  the  earth,  and  the  abundance 
with  which  God  hath  filled  it : — '  Thou  visitest  the  earth  and  waterest  it :  thou 
greatly  enrichest  it  with  the  river  of  God,  which  is  full  of  water :  thou  preparest 
them  corn,  when  thou  hast  so  provided  for  it.  Thou  waterest  the  ridges  thereof 
abundantly :  thou  settlest  the  furrows  thereof :  thou  makest  it  soft  with  showers  ; 
thou  blessest  the  springing  thereof.  Thou  crownest  the  year  with  thy  goodness ;  and 
thy  paths  drop  fatness.'  And  not  in  this  passage  only,  but  in  many  other  parts  of 
the  sacred  Scriptures,  you  have  full  liberty  to  believe  the  earth  was  given  for  your 
enjoyment,  and  for  the  comfort  of  all  the  creatures  whom  Heaven  has  placed  upon 
its  surface."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  was  at  Portsmouth,  the  naval  and  military  depot 
of  the  kingdom,  on  the  15th  of  July,  and  delivered  a  lengthy 
appeal  to  a  large  audience  that  had  assembled  in  the  Town  Hall 
of  that  town. 

On  the  17th  of  July  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall, 
Gravesend,  presided  over  by  Mr.  Henry  Oaks.  Mr.  Bright 
spoke  for  an  hour  and  three-quarters  in  a  strain  of  earnest 
eloqueiir-e,  which  was  frequently  interrupted  by  bursts  of 
acclamation. 


190  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [18*4. 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  19th  of  July,  Mr.  Milner 
Gibson  called  attention  to  the  subject  of  incendiarism  in  the 
eastern  agricultural  counties  of  England.  This  raised  an 
animated  discussion,  in  which  Mr.  John  Bright  took  part. 
This  speech  was  considered  at  that  time  to  have  been  the 
most  effective  that  he  had  yet  delivered  in  the  House  of 
Commons : — 

"  The  great  and  all-present  evil  of  the  rural  districts  is  this — you  have  too  many 
people  for  the  work  to  be  done,  and  you,  the  landed  proprietors,  are  alone  responsible 
for  this  state  of  things ;  and,  to  speak  honestly,  I  believe  many  of  you  know  it.  I  have 
been  charged  with  saying  out-of-doors  that  this  House  is  a  club  of  landowners 
legislating  for  landowners.  If  I  had  not  said  it,  the  public  must  long  ago  have 
found  out  that  fact.  My  hon.  friend  the  member  for  Stockport  on  one  occasion 
proposed  that  before  you  passed  a  law  to  raise  the  price  of  bread  you  should  consider 
how  far  you  had  the  power  to  raise  the  rates  of  wages.  What  did  you  say  to  that  ? 
You  said  that  the  labourers  did  not  understand  political  economy,  or  they  would  not 
apply  to  Parliament  to  raise  wages ;  that  Parliament  could  not  raise  wages, 
and  yet  the  very  next  thing  you  did  was  to  pass  a  law  to  raise  the  price 
of  produce  of  jrour  own  land  at  the  expense  of  the  very  class  whose  wages  you 
confessed  your  inability  to  increase.  (Hear,  hear.)  What  is  the  conditions  of  the 
county  of  Suffolk  ?  Is  it  not  notorious  that  the  rents  are  as  high  as  they  were  fifty 
years  ago,  and  probably  much  higher?  But  the  return  for  the  farmer's 'capital  is 
much  lower,  and  the  condition  of  the  labourer  is  very  much  worse.  The  farmers 
are  subject  to  the  law  of  competition,  and  rents  are  thereby  raised  from  time  to 
time  so  as  to  keep  their  profits  down  at  the  lowest  point,  and  the  labourers  by  the 
competition  amongst  them  are  reduced  to  the  point  below  which  life  cannot  be 
maintained.  Your  tenants  and  labourers  are  being  devoured  by  this  excessive  com- 
petition, whilst  you,  their  magnanimous  landlords,  shelter  yourselves  from  all  com- 
petition by  the  Corn  Law  yourselves  have  passed,  and  make  the  competition  of  all 
other  classes  serve  still  more  to  swell  your  rentals.  It  was  for  this  object  the  Corn 
Law  was  passed,  and  yet  in  the  face  of  your  countrymen  you  dare  to  call  it  a  law 
for  the  protection  of  native  industry.  .  .  Again,  '  a  rural  police  is  kept  up  by  the 
gentry,  the  farmers  say,  for  the  sole  use  of  watching  game  and  frightening  poachers, 
for  which  formerly  they  had  to  pay  watchers.'  Is  this  true,  or  is  it  not?  I  say, 
then,  you  care  everything  for  the  rights — and  for  something  beyond  the  rights — of 
your  own  property,  but  you  are  oblivious  to  its  duties.  How  many  lives  have  been 
sacrificed  during  the  past  year  to  the  childish  infatuation  of  preserving  game  ?  The 
noble  lord,  the  member  for  North  Lancashire,  could  tell  of  a  gamekeeper  killed  in  an 
affray  on  his  father's  estate  in  that  county.  For  the  offence  one  man  was  hanged, 
and  four  men  are  now  on  their  way  to  penal  colonies.  Six  families  are  thus 
deprived  of  husband  and  father  that  this  wretched  system  of  game-preserving  may 
be  continued  in  a  county  densely  peopled  as  this  is.  (Hear,  hear.)  The  Marquis 
of  Normanby's  gamekeeper  has  been  murdered  also,  and  the  poacher  who  shot  him 
only  escaped  death  by  the  intervention  of  the  Home  Secretary.  At  Godalming,  in 
Surrey,  a  gamekeeper  has  been  murdered ;  and  at  Buckhill,  in  Buckinghamshire, 
a  person  has  recently  been  killed  in  a  poaching  affray.  This  insane  system  is 
the  cause  of  a  fearful  loss  of  life ;  it  tends  to  the  ruin  of  your  tenantry,  and  is  the 
fruitful  cause  of  the  demoralisation  of  the  peasantry.  But  you  are  caring  for  the 
rights  of  property ;  for  its  most  obvious  duties  you  have  no  concern.  With  such  a 
policy  what  can  you  expect  but  that  which  is  now  passing  before  you  ?  It  is  the 
remark  of  a  beautiful  writer  that '  to  have  known  nothing  but  misery  is  the  most 
portentous  condition  under  which  human  nature  can  start  on  its  course.'  Has  your 
agricultural  labourer  ever  known  anything  but  misery  ?  He  is  born  in  a  miserable 
hovel,  which  in  mockery  is  termed  a  house  or  a  home ;  he  is  reared  in  penury ;  he 
passes  a  life  of  hopeless  and  unrequited  toil,  and  the  gaol  or  the  union  house  is  before 
him  as  the  only  asylum  on  this  side  of  the  pauper's  grave.  Is  this  the  result  of  your 
protection  to  native  industry  ?  Have  you  cared  for  the  labourer  till,  from  a  home  of 
comfort,  he  has  but  a  hovel  for  shelter  ?  and  have  you  cherished  him  into  starvation 
and  rags  ?  I  tell  you  what  your  boasted  protection  is — it  is  a  protection  of  native 
idleness  at  the  expense  of  the  impoverishment  of  native  industry."  (Cheers.) 


1844.]  THE   STRUGGLE  AGAINST   THE  CORN   LAWS.  191 

Mr.  Bright  was  again  at  Northampton  on  the  5th  of 
August,  in  compliance  with  a  requisition  signed  by  1,200 
agriculturists  and  manufacturers,  who  invited  him  and  his 
friend,  Mr.  Cobden,  to  attend  a  meeting  in  that  town,  on  the 
question  of  Free-trade.  Although  it  was  harvest  time,  when 
the  sturdy  mower's  "  sweeping  scythe  ripped  along/'  and  "  pros- 
trated the  waving  treasure/'  still  the  farmers  in  this  district 
found  time  to  hold  this  meeting.  A  commodious  husting  had 
been  erected  in  the  Market  Place,  and  about  6,000  persons  were 
present.  Mr.  Grundy  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  Feargus  O'Connor 
was  present  on  behalf  of  the  Chartists,  and  proposed  an  amend- 
ment to  Mr.  Cobden's  resolution  in  favour  of  Free-trade.  Mr. 
Bright  refuted  at  great  length  the  fallacies  of  Mr.  O'Connor, 
and  the  meeting  carried  the  resolution  by  a  majority. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  ancient  town  of  Walsall,  which  was 
once  possessed  by  "  King-making  Warwick,"  held  a  meeting 
on  the  llth  of  September  to  do  honour  to  Mr.  J.  B.  Smith,  of 
Manchester,  who  in  the  year  1841  had  offered  himself  as  a  can- 
didate for  that  town,  and  contested  its  representation  on  behalf 
of  the  principles  of  Free-trade,  not,  however,  successfully.  Mr. 
Robert  Scott,  M.P.,  presided.  Mr.  Smith  on  this  occasion  was 
presented  with  a  splendid  salver, "  as  a  testimonial  of  their  grati- 
tude and  esteem  for  the  patriotic  and  spirited  manner  in  which 
he  contested  the  representation  of  the  borough  against  a  monopo- 
list and  bread-taxer."  Mr.  Bright  was  present  and  took  part  in 
the  meeting. 

The  League  opened  their  winter  campaign  of  agitation  in 
Manchester  by  one  of  the  most  crowded  meetings,  in  the  Free 
Trade  Hall,  on  the  evening  of  the  25th  of  October,  1844.  Mr. 
Cobden  first  addressed  the  meeting. 

"We  may  derive  consolation  and  delight,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  "from  •wit- 
nessing how  beautifully,  how  harmoniously,  the  seasons  are  working  round  to  carry 
conviction  to  the  whole  country  and  the  world,  that  every  principle  which  we 
have  propounded  on  this  question  is  well  founded,  and  that  experience  constantly 
confirms  it.  (Applause.)  We  read  of  an  invader  and  a  usurper  of  old,  that  the 
stars  in  their  course  fought  against  him,  and  may  we  not  say  also,  with  respect  to 
those  who  invade  the  rights,  the  dearest  rights  of  the  population  of  this  country, 
who  usurp  a  power  to  which  they  have  no  just  title,  the  power  of  feeding,  or,  if 
need  be,  of  starving  a  great  empire — (cheers) — may  we  not  say  that  the  seasons  have 
fought  against  them,  and  that  each  succeeding  year,  as  it  rolls  over  us,  is  but  weaken- 
ing their  power,  and  strengthening  that  public  opinion  which  we  are  rallying  as  fast 
as  we  are  able  for  the  overthrow  of  the  worst  species  of  tyranny  with  which  any 
country  was  ever  cursed.  (Cheers.)  We  are  entering  the  seventh  year  of  our 
labours  in  this  great  cause,  and  there  may  be  some  who  at  the  thought  of  this 
despond.  If  there  be  any  who  have  a  right  to  despond,  or  who  might  be  forgiven  if 
they  feel  faint-hearted,  it  is  surely  those  who  have  laboured  hard  in  this  cause ;  but 
so  far  as  the  council  of  the  League  are  concerned,  I  can  state  to  this  meeting  and  the 
public  that  there  was  never  a  time  when  they  were  more  convinced  than  they  are 
now  that  they  were  right  in  the  beginning  and  are  right  still,  and  that  in  their  cause, 
as  in  all  others,  right  must  speedily  triumph.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  They  (the  monopolists^ 


192  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1844. 

said  that  manufactures  were  subject  to  great  fluctuations.  Well,  that  is  quite  true, 
iu  this  country,  so  far  as  our  experience  of  the  last  thirty  years  goes,  and  so  far  as 
our  experience  of  the  period  before  that  goes.  But  then  the  time  before  the  last  thirty 
years  was  almost  a  continual  course  of  war,  which  ever  interfered  with  the  regular 
course  of  industry ;  and  since  the  war  the  Corn  Law  has  also  interfered  with  the 
regular  course  of  industry ;  and  we  have  no  proof  whatever  that  any  such  fluctua- 
tions as  we  have  suffered  arose  from  the  nature  of  things,  but  rather  from  the  violer  t 
interference  with  the  nature  of  things  which  has  been  inflicted  upon  us  by  war  in 
one  case,  and  by  legislative  interference  in  the  other.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  The  very  first 
time  the  Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce  met,  or  the  very  first  time  that  the  asso- 
ciation which  afterwards  became  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  met,  the  Corn  Law  was 
pointed  out  as  the  cause  of  the  distress,  and  we  have  never  varied  a  hairbreadth  on 
the  point  from  that  time  to  this.  (Cheers.)  Well,  the  distress  has  abated,  and  the 
Corn  Law  is  not  repealed  :  and,  therefore,  my  argument  with  respect  to  the  mono- 
polist excuses  might  be  turned  against  me  ;  but  we  have  always  said  that  if  we  had 
good  harvests,  by  which  food  could  be  abundant  and  cheap,  or  if  we  have  a  repeal 
of  the  Corn  Law,  by  which  food  could  be  abundant  and  cheap,  then  the  distress 
would  abate.  We  have  not  had  a  repeal  of  the  Corn  Law,  but  we  have  had  abun- 
dant harvests,  and  that  is  tantamount  to  a  temporary  abolition  or  a  great  relaxation 
of  the  Corn  Law,  and  under  this  the  distress  has  abated  and  prosperity  has  returned. 
(Cheers.)  The  Providence  which  has  given  us  two  or  three  good  harvests  may  give 
us  one  or  two  or  three  more ;  but  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  course  of  the 
seasons  cannot  be  changed  to  suit  the  caprice,  the  folly,  or  the  criminality  of  human 
legislation.  (Cheers.)  ...  I  often  wonder  why  it  is  that  men  are  so  willing  to  bow 
their  necks  to  men  who  are  ornamented  with  stars  and  garters,  and  titles ;  for  I  am 
sure  the  more  I  come  in  contact  with  these  characters,  the  more  I  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  something  far  beyond  titles  which  constitutes  true  nobility  of 
character.  (Cheers.)  And  there  is  not  any  creature  that  crawls  the  earth,  to  my 
mind,  more  despicable  and  more  pitiable  than  the  man  who  sacrifices  the  interests 
of  his  own  class,  of  his  own  order,  and  of  his  own  country,  merely  that  he  may 
toady  somebody  who  has  a  title  to  his  name.  (Cheers.)  He  should  recollect — 

Fitly  hk  ill-woven  chaplet  wears, 
Full  often  wreathed  around  the  miscreant  brow  ; ' 

and  that  there  are  men  in  the  peerage  of  every  country  who  are  greatly  to  be 
despised,  as  there  are  some  worthy  to  be  honoured  to  the  utmost,  from  whose 
•  hearts  their  high  rank  has  not  driven  away  all  sympathy  with  the  rights  and  interests 
of  their  fellow-men."  (Cheers.) 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  LABOUR  OF  THE  LEAGUE  CONTINUED. 

Bright  and  Cobden  at  Rochdale,  Wakefield,  London,  Pontefract,  Preston,  Chorley, 
Manchester,  Durham. 

A  SCORNFUL  reluctance  to  set  about  mastering  the  state  of 
facts,  a  presumptuous  confidence  in  men's  own  security,  and  a 
disposition  to  deride  and  reject  every  admonition  at  variance  with 
their  desires  and  expectations,  have  hitherto  been  considered 
and  handed  down  as  among-  the  most  signal  forerunners  of  a 
national  calamity.  Ill  fared  the  land,  as  1 844  was  drawing  to 
a  close,  for 

"  Famine  stalk'd  raving  through  her  silent  streets, 
And  stern  oppression  drew  closer  the  galling  chains." 

Side  by  side  with  the  most  exuberant  wealth  there  was  to  be 
found  the  most  deplorable  indigence.  The  Protectionists  heeded 
not  the  warnings  of  Mr.  Bright,  although  events  occurred  as 
he  had  predicted,  thus  showing  that  he  could,  as  it  were,  fathom 
the  secrets  of  futurity. 

On  the  20th  of  November,  1844,  a  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Public  Hall,  Rochdale,  and  Mr.  George  Wilson  was  in  the  chair. 
So  large  was  the  attendance 'that  there  was  scarcely  room  enough 
to  accommodate  all  with  ease.  The  chairman  in  the  course  of 
his  speech  said  : — 

"  We  have  devoted  years  of  labour — we  have  spared  no  means,  no  time,  no  ex- 
pense— in  order  that  every  person  should  acquire  a  useful  and  comprehensive  know- 
ledge of  the  subject  with  which  we  profess  to  deal.  We  have  sacrificed  private 
friendships ;  we  have  given  up  the  useful  employments  and  occupations  of  men  in  the 
same  station  of  life  with  ourselves ;  we  have  appealed  to  men  in  the  agricultural  dis- 
tricts ;  the  doctrines  of  Free-trade  have  never  been  modified  to  suit  the  views  of 
this  or  that  politician — they  have  been  maintained  in  open  argument  and  open  debate 
by  my  friends  on  the  left  (Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Bright)  in  open-air  country  meetings; 
in  every  one  of  those  meetings,  except  one,  the  decision  has  been  against  mono- 
poly." (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Cobden,  Mr.  Win.  Brown,  and  Mr.  Bright  addressed  the 
meeting.  Mr.  Bright  in  speaking  of  the  decay  of  the  woollen 
trade  in  Rochdale,  as  a  consequence  of  protection,  said,  had 
it  not  been  that  another  trade,  cotton,  had  been  introduced 
there,  which  was  almost  entirely  an  export  trade,  the  town  and 
district  would  have  gone  to  ruin.  The  woollen  manufacturers 

N 


194  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   HEIGHT.  [1844. 

were  now  almost  all  going  into  the  cotton  trade.  Why  ?  Not 
because  they  liked  it  better  j  but  there  was  no  field  for  them  in 
their  own  trade,  one  half  of  which  had  been  cut  off  by  the 
American  tariff.  Mr.  Sharman  Crawford  also  spoke  on  the 
question  of  Free-trade. 

Messrs.  Bright  and  Cobden  on  the  evening  of  the  3rd  of  De- 
cember were  in  Huddersfield  Guild  Hall,  advocating  the  cause  of 
the  League.  The  next  day  they  delivered  speeches  at  Leeds,  in 
the  Music  Hall,  to  a  large  number  of  persons. 

They  returned  to  London  on  the  llth  of  December,  and  were 
present  at  a  League  meeting  in  Covent  Garden  Theatre  in  the 
evening.  Boxes,  pit,  gallery,  and  stage  were  crowded.  The 
Hon.  C.  P.  Villiers  was  the  first  gentleman  called  upon  by  the 
chairman,  Mr.  J.  Wilson,  to  address  the  meeting.  Mr.  Cobden 
followed,  and  then  Mr.  Bright  spoke. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "  freedom  is  Heaven's  first  gift  to  man.  It  is  his  heri- 
tage ;  he  has  it  by  charter  from  Heaven,  and,  although  it  has  struggled  so  long,  this 
principle  is  still  living,  breathing,  growing,  and  every  day  increasing  in  strength. 
(Cheers.)  The  infant  of  our  fathers'  day  has  become  the  giant  of  our  own  time. 
An  American  poet,  speaking  of  liberty  and  its  struggles,  says : — 

'Power  at  thee  has  launch'd 
His  bolts,  and  with  his  lightnings  smitten  thee ; 

They  could  not  quench  the  life  thou  hast  from  Heaven. 

Merciless  power  has  dug  thy  dungeon  deep, 
And  his  swart  armourers,  by  a  thousand  fires, 
Have  forged  thy  chain.' 

But  liberty  still  survives,  is  indestructible,  and  man  shall  yet  enjoy  its  blessings. 
But,  bear  in  mind  that,  precious  and  excellent  as  this  liberty  is,  there  are  certain 
conditions  upon  which  alone  it  can  be  obtained  and  secured.  You  must  rely  upon 
yourselves  for  it.  Liberty  is  too  precious  and  sacred  a  thing  ever  to  be  entrusted  to  the 
keeping  of  another  man.  Be  the  guardians  of  your  own  rights  and  liberties;  if  you 
be  not,  you  will  have  no  protectors  but  spoilers  of  all  that  you  possess."  (Hear, 
hear,  and  cheers.) 

Messrs.  Bright  and  Cobden  were  down  at  a  meeting  in 
Bradford  on  the  13th  of  December,  and  four  days  after  they 
addressed  a  gathering  in  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  Wakefield,  with 
the  object  of  trying  to  improve  the  register  for  the  West  Riding 
of  Yorkshire. 

A  Free-trade  banquet  was  held  in  Farringdon  Hall,  Snow 
Hill,  London,  on  the  16th  of  December,  and  Mr.  Bright  was  one 
of  the  guests.  Mr.  John  Buckmaster  officiated  as  chairman. 
Mr.  J.  Pattison,  M.P.,  Dr.  Lynch,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  were 
the  principal  speakers  on  the  occasion. 

"  I  have  been  more  or  less  connected  with  it  (the  League)  from  the  first,"  said 
Mr.  Bright,  "  and  have  been  intimately  acquainted  with  its  proceedings  from  that 
time  to  this.  Year  after  year  I  have  witnessed  its  growth  and  watched  its  increasing 
strength,  until  at  this  moment  I  may  say — without  any  of  that  partiality  which, 
perhaps,  from  my  identification  with  it,  I  might  be  excused  for  feeling — that  I  am 


1845.J  THE  LABOUR   OP   THE    LEAGUE   CONTINUED.  195 

quite  certain  there  is  no  political  or  other  question  which  at  this  moment  has  ob- 
tained one  tithe  of  the  attention  in  Great  Britain  which  Free-trade  now  commands." 
(Cheers.) 

The  inhabitants  of  the  manufacturing  town  of  Keighley  had 
the  pleasure  of  listening  to  Mr.  Bright  in  their  Mechanics' 
Institute  on  the  20th  of  December,  and  gave  him  an  enthusiastic 
reception. 

Mr.  Cobden  again  joined  Mr.  Bright  on  the  23rd  of  Decem- 
ber, and  proceeded  to  the  clean  and  handsome  town  of  Ponte- 
fract,  famed  for  its  gardens  and  nurseries,  and  associated  with 
some  of  the  greatest  events  in  English  history.  The  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Town  Hall,  and  the  then  mayor,  Mr.  John  Phillips, 
was  the  chairman.  They  continued  their  journey  in  Yorkshire, 
and  came  to  Cleckheaton  on  the  27th  of  December.  About  700 
of  the  inhabitants  congregated  in  the  Concert  Room  in  the  after- 
noon to  listen  to  them.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  they 
addressed  an  equally  numerous  assembly  in  a  schoolroom  in  the 
manufacturing  town  of  Batley. 

On  the  second  day  in  January,  1845,  they  were  at  a  meeting 
in  the  Corn  Exchange,  Preston,  where  500  of  the  inhabitants 
listened  attentively  to  them.  Two  days  after,  they  arrived  at 
Warrington,  a  town  said  to  be  the  oldest  in  Lancashire,  and 
amongst  the  first  to  manufacture  cotton.  A  meeting  was  held 
in  the  evening  in  a  room  adjoining  the  Lion  Hotel,  and  600 
persons  were  present.  This  was  considered  the  largest  gathering 
that  had  been  held  in  that  town  on  the  question  of  Free-trade  and 
the  registration  movement. 

Mr.  Bright,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Prentice,  was  at  Chorley, 
at  a  meeting  in  the  old  Wesleyan  Chapel,  on  the  6th  of  January, 
and  the  facts  and  arguments  brought  forward  by  both  of  them 
in  their  speeches  made  a  deep  impression  on  their  audience. 

Mr.  Cobden  next  joined  Mr.  Bright  at  a  meeting  in  the  Free- 
trade  Hall,  Manchester,  on  the  8th  of  January.  The  body  of 
the  hull  and  the  galleries,  as  well  as  the  platform,  were  thronged 
with  people  of  a  respectable  station  in  society.  Both  of  them 
delivered  lengthy  speeches.  Next  day  they  addressed  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Wigan,  in  a  large  room  adjoining  the  Buck  i'  th'  Vine 
Hotel.  The  day  following  they  spoke  in  the  Baptist  Chapel, 
Bramley,  Yorkshire,  to  an  audience  which  chiefly  had  been 
attracted  from  the  surrounding  villages.  On  the  13th  of  January, 
1,300  of  the  inhabitants  of  Blackburn  assembled  in  a  schoolroom 
under  St.  James'  Chapel,  and  listened  to  their  speeches. 

On  the  15th  of  January  Mr.  Bright  was  amongst  his  con- 
stituents, giving  them  an  account  of  his  stewardship.  The 
N  -2 


196  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1&15. 

meeting  was  held  in  the  Theatre,  Sadler  Street,  Durham,  and  the 
whole  building  was  crowded  ;  Mr.  John  Henderson,  of  Leazes 
House,  acted  as  chairman.  When  Mr.  Bright  appeared  upon 
the  stage  he  was  received  with  reiterated  bursts  of  cheering, 
manifestations  of  approbation  that  were  renewed  again  and 
again.  He  spoke  for  an  hour  and  three-quarters.  Mr.  John 
Branwell  moved,  and  Mr.  John  Marshall  seconded,  and  the 
meeting  carried  unanimously  the  following  resolution  : — ft  That 
the  able  review  which  has  been  given  this  evening  by  the  hon. 
member  for  this  city  of  his  Parliamentary  conduct  is  highly 
satisfactory  to  this  meeting ;  that  his  conduct  in  Parliament  en- 
titles him  to  the  warmest  thanks  of  his  constituency,  and  that 
the  meeting  and  the  constituency  feel  perfect  confidence  in  the 
course  which  he  will  pursue  in  the  proud  situation  in  which  he  is 
placed  as  the  member  for  this  borough." 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  was  held 
on  the  22nd  of  January  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall,  Manchester.  The 
platform,  the  body  of  the  hall,  and  the  galleries  were  crowded. 
Mr.  Edward  Baines,  of  Leeds,  Mr.  Lawrence  Heyworth,  of 
Liverpool,  Mr.  T.  M.  Gibson,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  John  Bright, 
addressed  the  meeting. 

"  The  tendency  and  object  of  all  Corn  Law  legislation  of  late  years  has  been  the 
same — to  plunder  the  industry  of  the  country  by  creating  an  artificial  famine,  and 
thereby  to  enrich  the  great  proprietors  of  the  soil,  and  those  who  call  themselves  the 
nobility  of  the  land.  (Loud  cheers.)  When  the  Law  was  passed  in  1815,  £4  a 
quarter  was  fixed  as  the  price  of  wheat ;  now  the  price  is  45s.  a  quarter,  only  a 
little  more  than  half.  (Hear,  hear.)  Now,  we  think  £4  a  quarter  a  famine  price. 
It  was  a  famine  price  then ;  the  law  intended  that  it  should  be  perpetual ;  but  only 
two  years  since  that  time  have  witnessed  the  price  of  wheat  so  high  as  80s.  In 
1817  and  1818  the  Act-of-Parliament-famine-price  was  reached,  and  those  years 
were  years  of  great  distress  and  discontent,  and  menaced  insurrection  in  all  the 
densely-populated  districts  of  the  kingdom.  (Cheers.)  But  the  Corn  Law  intended 
that,  from  1815  to  1845,  or  as  long  as  it  should  last,  the  famine  price  should  be  kept 
in  view,  and  should  be  attained  if  possible,  the  object  of  these  men  had  only  this 
limit — '  Get  as  near  to  that  price  always  as  it  may  be  safe  to  go.  (Loud  cheers.) 
Get  all  out  of  the  industry  of  the  country  that  the  industrious  classes  will  bear 
quietly.  (Hear,  hear.)  Don't  mind  starving  a  few  of  the  poor,  who  will  go  down 
to  premature  graves,  and  their  voices  will  not  be  heard  amongst  the  strife  of  parties 
and  the  contentions  for  political  power.'  (Cheers.)  This  Corn  Law  has  no  mercy 
in  it,  and  its  framers  had  none.  (Cheers/)  There  have  been  periods  when  distress 
has  not  extensively  prevailed.  "We  are  now  passing  through  one  of  them,  but  it  is 
not  by  the  mercy  of  the  Corn  Law  that  we  are  not  now  plunged  into  utter  deso- 
lation. (Cheers.)  ...  In  1842  we  held  a  bazaar  in  this  town,  which  realised 
the  sum  of  £10,000,  more,  I  believe,  by  some  thousands  than  was  ever  before 
received  from  any  bazaar  in  this  country,  however  great  and  noble  were  the  patrons 
and  patronesses.  (Cheers.)  In  1843  we  realised  a  subscription  of  £50,000,  and 
that  was  done  with  the  greatest  ease.  (Cheers.)  In  1844  the  subscription  of 
£100,000  was  asked  for,  and  you  have  heard  from  the  report  that  about  £82,000  or 
£83,000  have  been  received,  although  one  of  the  greatest  means  by  which  it  was  to 
have  been  collected  has  not  yet  been  employed.  (Hear,  hear.)  .  .  .  Thirty 
years'  protection  has  left  some  800,000  or  900,000  of  your  countrymen,  agricultural 
labourers,  for  the  most  part  paupers,  hopeless  and  reckless.  (Hear,  hear.)  We 
now  find,  on  inquiry  into  the  conditions  of  these  districts,  that  the  very  population 
who,  onr  opponents  said,  supported  our  home  trade  and  supported  the  revenue, 


1845.]  THE    LABOUR,   OF    THE   LEAGUE    CONTINUED.  197 

buy  almost  no  clothing,  and  consume  almost  no  excisable  articles.  We  find  that 
these  labourers  are  helpless  amidst  their  wrongs.  Protection  to  them  has  been  of  a 
sort  which  they  dread  almost  to  think  of.  If  I  were  to  be  asked  of  its  results, 
I  would  say : — 

'  "Tis  to  see  their  children  weak, 

With  their  mothers  pine  and  peak, 

While  the  wintry  winds  are  bleak, — 

They  are  dying  whilst  I  speak. 

'  'Tis  to  hunger  for  such  diet, 
As  the  rich  man  in  his  riot, 
Casts  to  the  fat  dogs  that  lie 
Surfeiting  beneath  his  eye.' 

(Cheers.)  This  is  the  protection  the  Corn  Law  has  given  to  rural  labourers,  and 
I  appeal  to  themselves  and  their  actual  condition  for  the  truth  of  the  statement. 
(Cheers.)  And  the  farmers  are  just  about  as  helpless.  There  is  a  case  to  prove  it. 
Ninety-nine  farmers  out  of  every  hundred  in  the  kingdom  are  altogether  against 
the  Game  Law,  that  is  notorious,  and  yet  there  are  not  ten  farmers  in  the  district 
who  dare  meet  to  denounce  that  Law  in  the  face  of  the  landlords."  (Cheers.) 

About  1,000  of  the  inhabitants  of  Bury  again  assembled  in 
the  Brunswick  school  on  the  20th  of  January  to  hear  addresses 
from  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden.  Mr.  R.  Walker,  M.P., 
presided. 

On  the  8th  of  February  the  legislative  session  was  opened, 
and  Mr.  Cobden  called  the  attention  of  the  House  of  Commons 
to  the  fact  that  on  former  occasions,  when  the  agricultural  districts 
were  in  a  state  of  distress,  the  circumstance  was  usually  adverted 
to  in  the  Speech  from  the  Throne  at  the  opening  of  the  Session  ; 
on  the  present  occasion  it  was  not.  Mr.  J.  Bright  followed  in  a 
powerful  speech.  His  contrast  between  protected  Buckingham- 
shire and  unprotected  Lancashire  was  masterly,  arid  his  pictures 
of  the  agricultural  labourer  and  the  straits  of  the  tenant  farmer, 
all  caused  by  protection,  fell  with  withering  effect. 

The  second  metropolitan  meeting  for  the  year  was  held  in 
Covent  Garden,  on  the  19th  of  February,  and  so  crowded  was 
the  building  that  hundreds  of  persons  were  unable  to  gain 
admittance.  Mr.  Bright  was  one  of  the  speakers. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GAME  AND  COEN  LAWS. 

Mr.  Bright's  Committee  to  inquire  into  the  Game  Laws— Mr.  Cobden  and  the  Dis- 
tress— Mr.  Bright  and  the  Tenant  Farmers  of  Hertfordshire — The  Anti-Corn- 
Law  Bazaar  in  London — The  Distress  at  Hereford  and  Newton — Mr.  Bright 
at  Sunderland  assisting  Col.  Thompson  at  an  Election  Contest. 

FOR  many  years  Mr.  Bright  had  devoted  considerable  atten- 
tion to  the  Game  Laws,  and,  in  moving  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  on  the  27th  of  February,  for  a  Select  Committee  to 
inquire  into  them,  he  delivered  a  speech  which  occupied  two 
hours  and  a-half.  Throughout  the  whole  of  this  period  he  com- 
manded constant  and  unbounded  attention,  and  was  interrupted 
only  by  the  cheers  that  broke  out  from  all  sides.  He  presented 
an  array  of  facts  and  figures,  lucidly  arranged,  which  could  not  be 
resisted.  His  sturdy  hate  of  wrong  and  unaffected  sympathy  for 
the  suffering  which  these  laws  had  brought  upon  the  poor  and  the 
defenceless,  gave  to  his  arguments  a  tone  and  colouring  of  rich 
feeling,  which  made  them  as  touching  to  the  heart  as  they  were 
convincing  to  the  head.  At  one  portion  the  county  gentlemen 
forgot  themselves,  when  Mr.  Bright  was  censuring  the  butchery 
of  game,  called  a  battue,  and  ridiculed  the  idea  that  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  Game  Laws  would  render  residence  in  the  country 
unattractive.  He  pictured  the  real  dignity  of  a  landowner 
residing  on  his  estate  in  the  midst  of  his  tenantry,  having  within 
his  command  so  much  power  of  doing  good,  and  so  many  sources 
of  natural  amusement.  Charmed  with  the  strain,  the  country 
gentlemen  were  captivated,  and  cheered  lustily ;  and  when  Mr. 
Bright  concluded  his  speech,  the  members  acknowledged  his 
mastery  of  the  subject  by  cheering,  and  there  was  a  general 
assent  to  the  appointment  of  a  committee. 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  League 
in  the  Free-trade  Hall,  Manchester,  on  the  6th  of  March  ;  but 
he  did  not  deliver  a  speech  to  the  gathering,  which  numbered 
6,000  people.  Mr.  W.  J.  Fox  addressed  the  meeting  eloquently, 
and  thus  concluded  : — 

"  There  is  the  security  of  enlightened  determination — a  security  as  great  as  that 
of  cause  and  effect  in  the  material  creation.  The  sun  and  the  moon  once  stood  still 
to  accommodate  an  army ;  Cobden  and  Bright  will  not  stand  still  to  accommodate  a 
Government.  (Tremendous  cheering.)  Onward,  still  onward,  is  their  word, 


1845.]  TENANT-FARMEBS   AT   ST.   ALBANS.  199 

whether  it  be  in  this  mode  of  action  or  in  that.  (Cheers.)  You  will  hold  your 
meetings,  you  will  register  your  votes,  you  will  circulate  your  tracts,  you  will  send 
out  your  lecturers.  (Cheers.)  Whether  you  will  petition  Parliament  or  abstain 
from  petitioning ;  whether  you  cultivate  the  constituencies  of  counties  or  of 
boroughs;  whether  you  subscribe  your  money,  or  whether  you  exhibit  manufac- 
turing productions,  still  your  tendency  is  the  same.  It  is  working  right  onwards  to 
the  great  and  blessed  end — a  working  onward  with  a  power  like  that  of  the  mighty 
elements  of  Nature — unresting,  invisible  or  visible,  welcome  or  unwelcome  to 
mortals,  judged  rightly  or  wrongly ;  still  they  form  their  combinations,  still  they  go 
on,  the  sun  shining  by  day  and  the  moon  and  stars  by  night,  maturing  the  richness  of 
the  varied  seasons ;  and,  like  them,  your  moral  energy  will  fulfil  its  work — a  great 
power  of  nature,  also,  of  our  inward  and  spiritual  being,  which  shall  combine  with 
all  the  elemental  influences  of  heaven  and  earth  to  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  to 
ensure  the  well-being  of  humanity."  (Cheers.) 

On  the  20th  of  March  Mr.  Cobden,  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  moved  for  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of 
the  alleged  existing  agricultural  distress,  and  into  the  effects  of 
legislative  protection  upon  the  interests  of  the  landowners, 
tenant-farmers,  and  farm-labourers.  The  monopolists  said  very 
little  in  opposition,  but  voted  stolidly  and  doggedly  against  the 
inquiry,  and  the  motion  was  lost.  Mr.  Bright  told  them  that 
at  agricultural  meetings  they  could  speak  out  most  valiantly, 
but  in  the  House  they  were  mute.  Surely  it  was  no  enviable 
reputation  they  were  thus  acquiring — that  of  being  great  in  the 
field  and  little  in  the  Senate. 

A  large  number  of  tenant-farmers  presented  Mr.  John 
Horncastle,  a  farmer,  residing  at  Gammor  Farm,  with  a  testi- 
monial, on  the  26th  of  March,  for  having  opposed  the  very  strin- 
gent measures  for  the  preservation  of  game  adopted  by  his 
landlord,  the  Earl  of  Essex,  on  his  estate  at  Hertfordshire,  and 
who  had  in  consequence  received  notice  to  quit  his  farm.  A 
meeting  was  held  at  St.  Albans,  ;  nd  about  120  farmers  were 
present.  Mr.  Bright  was  invited  by  the  committee,  and  upon 
entering  the  room  was  loudly  cheered.  Mr.  C.  H.  Latimore, 
of  Wheathampstead  presided.  Mr.  Bright  in  the  course  of  a 
lengthy  speech,  said  : — 

"  Get  rid  of  this  infamous  trifling  wjth  the  interests  of  the  farmer ;  do  not  let  the 
amusements  of  a  small  class  be  put  in  competition  not  only  with  the  prosperity,  but 
with  the  very  existence  of  a  much  larger  class.  (Cheers.)  Let  us  get  a  system  of  farm- 
ing, of  agreements,  of  management,  from  one  end  of  it  to  the  other,  placed  on  the  same 
understandable,  rational,  business-like  footing,  and  then  we  shall  have  landowners 
respected  because  they  are  just  and  tenants  independent  because  they  are  prosper- 
ous. (Cheers.)  .  .  .  The  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  Game  Laws 
meet  next  week  for  the  first  time,  for  evidence.  (Cries  of  "  We  wish  you  success.") 
I  have  had  an  amount  of  correspondence  which  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  through. 
I  have  written  for  the  last  fortnight  or  three  weeks  not  unfrequently  from  thirty  to 
fifty  letters  a  day,  nearly  all  of  which  have  been  to  persons  connected,  more  or  less, 
with  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  having  reference  to  the  question  of  game.  .  .  . 
There  are  farmers  who  yet  believe  that  I  am  their  enemy,  inasmuch  as  I  have  been 
prominently  connected  with  the  agitation  of  another  question.  It  may  be  that  these 
farmers  are  right  and  that  I  am  wrong.  I  believe  that  they  are  honest ;  I  am  quite 
sure  that  I  am.  (Cheers.)  Upon  the  question  we  must  agree  to  differ  until  one  or  the 


200  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1845. 

other  be  converted.  (Laughter.)  I  trust  that  all  discussion  upon  it  may  be  carried 
on  in  a  rational  and  kindly  spirit,  such  as  becomes  men  who  wish  only  for  the  truth, 
and  then  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  that  which  is  true 
will  be  discovered,  and  not  only  discovered,  but  established.  (Hear,  hear.)  But 
upon  this  question  of  the  game,  ninety-nine  farmers  out  of  every  hundred  would 
shake  hands  and  agree  with  me  entirely.  (Cries  of  "  All,  all.")  .  .  .  What  I 
want  farmers  henceforth  to  do  is  this,  to  take  nothing  upon  credit.  (Cheers.)  I 
would  not  take  anything  for  granted.  Do  not  believe  anything  that  I  say,  or  which 
my  friend  Mr.  Cobden  may  utter  (cheers)  ;  do  not  for  a  moment  think  it  worth  any- 
thing until  you  have  reasoned  it  out  and  examined  the  facts,  and  made  yourself 
sure,  but  apply  the  same  rule  to  the  landowners."  (Cheers.) 

Many  of  the  farmers  present  at  the  meeting  regarded  the 
presence  of  Mr.  Bright  with  misgiving.  They  had  listened  to 
the  landlords'  aspersions  of  the  League,  and  they  did  not  feel 
absolutely  certain  that  there  was  not  a  little  truth  in  the  political 
landlord's  assertion  that  the  Free-traders  sought  to  advance  the 
interests  of  their  own  class  at  the  expense  of  the  industrious 
agriculturists.  But  Mr.  Bright  had  not  spoken  twenty  sen- 
tences before  these  doubts  and  misgivings  cleared  away  like  mists 
before  the  sun.  His  earnest,  direct,  and  business-like  reasoning, 
carried  conviction  to  their  minds  that  he  was  in  the  right. 

On  the  30th  of  March,  Mr.  Bright  presented  to  the  House 
of  Commons  a  petition  signed  by  ninety-two  tenant-farmers 
of  the  county  of  Edinburgh.  This  petition  deprecated  the 
Game  Laws,  and  prayed  that  every  tenant-farmer  might  have 
the  right  to  kill  game,  and  that  rabbits  might  be  his  own 
property. 

A  bazaar  got  up  to  raise  funds  on  behalf  of  the  Anti-Corn- 
Law  League  was  opened  in  Covent  Garden  Theatre  on  the 
8th  of  May,  and  400  ladies  were  the  saleswomen.  For  several 
months  many  of  the  male  and  female  members  of  the  league 
had  been  busy  making  arrangements  for  the  bazaar,  and  the 
result  was  that  specimen  products  of  every  variety  of  industry 
from  every  part  of  the  United  Kingdom  were  collected  together. 
Long  rows  of  tables  extended  away  into  the  dim  distance — two 
in  the  centre,  and  one  on  each  side.  They  were  piled  with  rich 
merchandise,  curiosities,  miracles  of  art,  and  wonders  of  nature. 
The  bulkiest  and  costliest  products  of  the  loom,  the  forge,  and 
the  steam-engine  were  to  be  seen  as  well  as  the  fairy-like 
creations  of  woman's  exquisite  fancy,  and  delicate  handiwork, 
all  giving  testimony  of  a  nation's  idea  and  purpose,  and  pro- 
testing against  a  great  wrong.  All  that  surrounded  the 
visitor  was  an  eloquent,  though  silent,  proclamation  of  the 
resolute  determination  of  the  people.  The  doom  of  the  Corn 
Laws  was  here  written  in  distinct  characters.  The  scene  gave 
the  impression  that  a  cause  which  had  elicited  so  many  myriads 
of  voluntary  offerings  had  passed  that  period  in  its  history  when 


1846.]  ANTI-COBN-LAW   LEAGUE'S   BAZAAB.  201 

the  least  doubt  remained  of  its  ultimate  triumph.  It  set  the 
stamp  of  success  on  the  labours  of  seven  years,  and  gave  assur- 
ance of  a  moral  force  and  conviction,  which  were  now  travelling 
like  the  light  of  heaven.  The  spirit  which  had  animated  this 
mass  of  sustained  and  concentrated  exertion  was  a  spirit  that  no 
opposition  could  subdue,  no  failure  dishearten,  and  no  delay  tire 
out.  The  contributions  from  most  of  the  important  towns  occu- 
pied separate  stalls,  and  occasionally  the  arms  of  a  civic  corporation 
appeared.  Triumphs  of  manufacturing  industry  and  skill  were 
to  be  seen  on  every  hand.  Some  of  the  most  interesting  and 
beautiful  processes  of  our  national  manufactures  were  shown  in 
actual  operation.  For  seventeen  days  there  was  a  continual 
flow  of  visitors,  and  the  proceedings  thus  begun  with  business 
ended  in  festivity  and  with  mutual  congratulations  on  the 
success  of  the  gigantic  scheme.  Jullien  and  his  band  were 
engaged  for  the  occasion,  and  the  entertainment  was  a  kind 
of  promenade  concert.  The  amount  realised,  according  to 
Prentice's  "  History  of  the  League/'  exceeded  £20,000  for  ad- 
mission and  sales,  independent  of  about  £5,000  in  money 
contributions  from  various  localities,  and  of  the  unsold  goods, 
which  were  reserved  to  stock  a  bazaar  to  be  held  at  a  later 
period  in  Manchester. 

On  the  10th  of  June  Mr.  Villiers  brought  on  his  annual 
motion — the  total  and  unqualified  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws. 
Mr.  Bright' s  speech  on  this  occasion  was  lengthy.  He  said  that 
in  the  street  in  which  he  lived  he  was  delighted  every  day  with 
the  song  of  a  lark,  which  sung  as  if  it  were  not  in  a  cage,  and  a 
boy  every  week,  for  a  halfpenny,  brought  the  lark  a  piece  of 
green  turf ;  thus,  on  the  principle  of  supply  and  demand  was 
that  bird  supplied  with  an  article  so  essential  to  its  comfort ; 
and  that  was  the  principle  on  which  the  monarch  in  the  palace 
was  supplied — on  which  the  highest  and  the  lowest  received 
their  supplies,  and  they  may  rest  assured  that  there  was  no 
principle  of  supply  so  secure  as  that  which  was  allowed  to 
regulate  itself  by  the  wants  of  the  community.  Many  members 
of  that  House  might  not  know  of  a  famine  price  of  corn,  but  to 
the  poor  man  there  was  in  this  country  still,  periodically,  a 
famine  and  starvation  price  of-  corn,  as  if  God  had  visited  the 
earth  with  sterility,  and  afflicted  this  country  with  one  of  those 
terrible  disasters  which  they  read  of  as  having  taken  place 
hundreds  of  years  ago.  But  it  was  not  a  famine  of  that  nature ; 
the  famine  was  caused  by  the  legislation  of  that  House,  and  it 
was  high  time  that  the  extraordinary  imposition  which  caused 
it  should  come  to  an  end. 


202  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

The  division  showed  a  diminution  in  the  monopolists' 
majority,  as  compared  with  the  previous  year,  of  72  votes, 
and  of  170  votes  as  compared  with  1842. 

Mr.  Cobden,  in  one  of  his  speeches,  argued  that  the 
monopolists  would  vote  for  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws, 
if  Hansard  did  not  stop  the  way,  which  recorded  their  casual, 
careless,  foolish  expressions  of  by-gone  years,  and  they  did  not 
like  to  admit  that  they  were  wiser  than  in  previous  years. 
They  were  afraid  of  saying  what  they  knew  was  true,  and  of 
doing  what  they  knew  was  right ;  and  all  because  somebody 
might  open  a  dusty  book,  and  read  musty  and  forgotten  speeches 
to  prove  them  inconsistent.  For  himself  he  was  willing  to  burn 
Hansard,  and  all  the  debates  that  had  taken  place,  in  order  to 
allow  monopolists  to  adopt  a  new  course  of  policy,  dictated  by 
their  present  convictions. 

At  the  League's  meeting  in  Covent  Garden  Theatre  on  the 
18th  of  June,  several  foreigners  were  present,  and  amongst  the 
rest  the  celebrated  American  poet,  Mr.  W.  C.  Bryant.  Mr. 
Cobden  was  the  first  speaker. 

"I  am  not  one  who  pays  much  undue  regard  to  authority,"  said  Mr.  Bright  on 
that  occasion ;  "  that  is,  to  the  opinion  and  sentiments  of  men  who  have  lived  before 
us.  I  think  we  are  foolish  if  we  disregard  what  they  have  left  us  which  is  wise ; 
but  it  would  be  no  less  foolish  if  we  were  to  throw  away  the  lessons  of  our  own 
experience,  and  go  back  to  rely  only  on  that  which  they  have  left  us.  I  will 
quote  the  opinion  of  a  man  who  is  held  in  great  esteem  by  many  who  widely  differ 
from  us,  a  statesman  who  is  acknowledged  to  have  been  a  far-seeing  one,  and 
whose  eloquence  and  power  in  the  Senate,  and  as  a  writer,  were,  perhaps,  never 
surpassed.  Burke  says  of  this  very  question — 'monopoly  is  contrary  to  natural 
right ;  Free-trade  is  the  same  thing  as  free  use  of  property.'  We  have  maintained 
often  on  this  stage,  and  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  that  the  poorest  man  in  this 
realm  has  as  much  right  to  his  labour,  and  to  the  whole  of  its  proceeds,  as  any  man 
who  wears  a  coronet,  or  rules  with  undisputed  sway  over  half  a  country.  (Cheers.) 
.  .  .  We  had  a  Parliamentary  Committee  whose  evidence,  taken  in  1836,  gives  us 
some  light  on  this  subject.  Out  of  nearly  forty  farmers  examined,  thirty,  I  think, 
or  more,  declared  that  never  in  their  lifetime  had  they  known  a  period  when  the 
labourers  on  the  farms  received  as  much  in  return  for  their  labour  as  they  did  at 
that  period  of  low  prices.  We  know  that  from  1838  to  1842  poor-rates  were  con- 
stantly increasing  in  the  agricultural  counties,  able-bodied  pauperism  was  gradually 
increasing,  and  there  was  a  state  of  things  arising  which  foretold  a  greater  evil  than 
Free-trade  to  squires  and  lords  who  are  owners  of  the  soil.  (Hear,  hear.)  Well, 
then,  what  is  the  case  now?  I  have  had  an  opportunity  lately  of  seeing  a  great  many 
farmers.  I  generally  have  a  sort  of  levee  three  days  a  week,  from  about  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  until  about  twelve  ;  aud  I  see  some  of  the  most  intelligent 
farmers  that  come  up  from  the  country.  They  come  up  either  to  discuss  matters 
connected  with  the  game  question,  or  to  give  evidence  on  the  game  committee ;  and 
they  tell  me — I  may  state  only  what  they  say  in  private,  because  what  they  say 
before  the  committee  is  not  to  be  told  until  it  is  printed  for  the  use  of  the  country — 
but  they  tell  me,  and  I  think  one  and  all  of  them  would  admit,  that  the  condition  of 
the  agricultural  labourer  in  their  employ  is  now  much  more  satisfactory  than  it  was 
four,  or  five,  or  six  years  ago.  ...  Sir  Eobert  Peel  came  from  the  very  county 
where  the  League  had  its  origin  ;  and  his  fortune  was  made  out  of  those  little  deli- 
cate fibres  of  cotton  which  are  destined  yet  to  revolutionise  and  change  the  face  of 
things  in  this  country.  He  sprang  from  commerce;  and,  until  he  has  proved  it 
himself,  I  will  never  believe  that  there  is  any  man— much  less  will  I  believe  that  he 


1845.1  A   PICTURE   OF   MISEBT.  203 

is  the  man — who  would  go  down  to  his  grave  having  had  the  power  to  deliver 
that  commerce,  and  yet  not  having  the  manliness,  honesty,  and  courage  to  do  it." 
(Cheers.) 

To  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  condition  of  some  of  the  work- 
ing class  at  this  particular  period,  it  may  be  stated  that  in  the 
fertile  district  of  Wheatham stead,  Herefordshire,  in  the  month 
of  June,  1845,  200  families  literally  littered  like  cattle,  destitute 
of  the  means  by  which  the  decencies  of  life  can  be  maintained, 
and  compelled  to  resort  to  the  rude  shifts  of  savage  life  in  the 
midst  of  civilisation.  This  was  the  result  of  thirty  years  of 
agricultural  protection. 

At  Newton,  which  is  situated  on  the  beautiful  Wilton  estate, 
there  was  a  house  which  was  not  intended  to  hold  at  most  more 
than  two  families,  as  it  consisted  only  of  two  lower  apartments 
and  two  upper ;  nevertheless,  it  was  the  home  of  fifty  human 
beings.  When  the  census  was  taken  in  1831,  the  straw  in 
the  building  had  to  be  removed,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  number 
of  children  that  slept  in  it.  The  water  from  the  road  ran  into 
the  lower  apartments,  and  the  inmates  were  continually  wet ; 
and  so  demoralised  were  they,  that  they  would  not  wash  them- 
selves for  months  together.  At  last  disease  carried  them  off  to 
premature  graves,  where  the  weary  are  at  rest. 

Mr.  Bright  paid  a  visit  again  to  Sunderland  on  the  26th  of 
August,  and  addressed  a  highly  respectable  and  numerous  meet- 
ing of  the  electors  of  that  town  in  the  Athenaeum,  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  Free-trade,  and  in  favour  of  the  election  of  Col. 
Thompson,  who  at  that  time  was  one  of  the  candidates  for  the 
vacant  seat  of  Sunderland.  Mr.  George  Hudson,  of  railway 
notoriety,  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  on  behalf  of  the  Tories. 
Two  days  after,  during  his  stay  in  Sunderland,  Mr.  Bright 
also  wrote  an  interesting  letter,  which  was  published  and  dis- 
tributed to  the  electors.  In  it  he  stated  : — 

"About  ten  years  ago,  during  the  years  1835  and  1836,  the  state  of  the  country 
was  very  prosperous.  The  harvests  had  been  good,  and  the  price  of  food  was  very 
moderate ;  trade  was  brisk  and  employment  plentiful,  and  the  working  and  trading 
classes  were  content.  In  1838  the  harvests  failed,  the  price  of  food  rose  rapidly,  and 
this  state  of  things  continued  up  to  the  harvest  of  1842,  which  was  tolerably  good ; 
and  prices  from  that  time  to  this  have  fallen  and  been  again  moderate,  indicating 
that  plenty  has  taken  the  place  of  scarcity.  During  the  five  years  from  1838  to  1842 
the  price  of  wheat  averaged  64s.  per  quarter,  and  during  the  last  twelve  months  the 
price  has  been  about  45s.  per  quarter.  The  high  prices  were  the  result  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  which  prevented  our  buying  food  abroad  to  make  up  for  the  short  supply  at 
home.  Now,  what  was  the  effect  of  this  scarcity  on  the  comforts  of  the  people  ? 
The  facts  to  which  I  ask  your  special  attention  are  taken  from  Government  returrs. 
and  relate  to  the  statistics  of  emigration,  crime,  and  morality.  It  may  be  concluded 
that  when  emigration  is  rapidly  011  the  increase  there  is  some  extraordinary  pressure 
on  the  population  at  home ;  and  it  is  notorious  that  crime  is  most  frequent  among 
the  poor,  and  increases  with  increasing  poverty ;  and  it  is  obvious  that  life  is  shortest 
amongst  the  poorest  classes,  with  whom  plenty  of  wholesome  food,  warm  clothing, 


204 


LIFE   AND   TIMES    OP   JOHN   HEIGHT. 


[1845 


and  shelter,  are  the  exceptions  and  not  the  rule.  The  emigration  returns  show  us 
that  the  number  of  persons  forsaking  their  native  land  and  seeking  refuge  in  foreign 
countries,  increased  rapidly  as  the  pressure  of  distress  became  more  severe.  They 
were  as  follows : —  . 

Year. 

1838 33,222  persons  emigrated. 

1839 62,207 

1840 90,473 

1841  ..  ...    118,592 

1842 128,344 

1843 57,212 

It  will  be  observed  that  during  the  years  of  high  prices  of  food,  from  1838  to  1842, 
the  number  of  emigrants  was  rapidly  increasing ;  but  that  when  prices  came  down 
and  food  became  cheaper,  in  1843,  the  tide  of  emigration  %yas  checked.  In  1842, 
128,344  persons  left  their  native  land,  and  this  fell  to  57,212  in  the  following  year. 
The  facts  relating  to  crime  are 'as  follows: — The  number  of  commitments  were  in 
England  and  Wales : — 


Year. 
In  1837 
1838 
1839 
1840 
1841 
1842 
1843 
1844 


Commitments. 

..  23,612 

...  23,094 

...  24,443 

...  27,187 

...  27,760 

...  31,309 

...  29,591 

...  26,542 


Thus  the  number  of  offences  against  the  laws  was  rapidly  increasing  from  1838  to 

1842,  rising  from  23,094  up  to  31,309 ;  and  two  years  of  moderate  prices  of  food  have 
brought  them  down  from  31,309  in  1842  to  26,542  in  1844;  and  the  returns  from 
Scotland  show  similar  results. 

The  tables  of  mortality  are  equally  striking.    I  have  the  particulars  of  nine  dis- 
tricts in  the  county  of  Lancaster  in  1840,  a  year  of  high  prices,  as  compared  with 

1843,  a  year  of  moderate  prices : — 


Bolton 
Bury  ... 
Rochdale 
Preston 
Blackburn 
Wigan         .. 
Prescot 
Manchester .. 
Ashton 

Total 


1840. 
2,900 
2,170 
1,688 
2,637 
2,140 
2,144 
1,155 
6,489 
4,873 


...  26,196 


1843. 

2,576  deaths. 
1,832 
1,532 
1,938 
2,031 
1,832 
920 
6,283 
4,391 


23,335 


Thus,  in  1840,  a  year  of  scarcity  and  dearness,  there  died  in  these  nine  districts 
26,196  persons ;  whilst  in  1843,  a  year  of  plenty  and  cheapness,  but  with  an  increased 
population,  there  died  only  23, 335  persons,  being  a  difference  of  2,861  deaths. 

Now,  if  emigration  only  had  increased,  or  crime  only  had  increased,  or  if  mor- 
tality only  had  extended  its  ravages,  we  might  have  hesitated  as  to  the  cause ;  but 
when  all  these  increase  greatly  at  the  same  time,  and  that  time  is  one  when 
food  is  made  scarce  and  dear  by  law,  then  I  think  we  are  justified  in  believing  that 
there  is  some  intimate  connection  between  that  law  and  the  suffering  and  criminality 
and  mortality  amongst  the  people.  And  which  is  the  class  of  people  thus  afflicted 
and  desolated  by  the  periodical  famine  created  by  the  Corn  Law?  Not  the  rich  and 
comfortable  class,  scarcely,  even,  the  middle  class"  but  the  artisan  and  labouring  class 
— the  poorest,  of  course,  must  be  the  greatest  sufferers.  I  submit  to  you  the  following 
proposition : — 1st — When  food  is  scarce  and  dear,  the  pressure  of  distress  increases. 
Emigration  is  more  common,  and  foreign  lands  afford  the  refuge  which  our  country 


1845.]  TENDENCY    OF    THE    CORN   LAWS.  205 

refuses  to  a  portion  of  its  population.  At  the  same  time  morality  and  honesty  are 
on  the  decline,  and  offences  against  the  laws  are  frightfully  on  the  increase.  The 
same  period  is  likewise  marked  by  the  ravages  of  death,  and  human  life  is  sacri- 
ficed on  the  altar  of  famine.  2nd — The  Corn  Law  was  passed  and  is  maintained  to 
keep  up  the  price  of  food  by  making  food  scarce,  and  by  bringing  the  population  of 
our  country  to  the  verge  of  famine  whenever  our  own  harvests  are  deficient.  3rd — 
The  tendency,  then,  of  the  Corn  Law  is  to  create  famine,  to  compel  emigration,  to 
tempt  men  to  crime,  and  to  bring  down  men,  women,  and  children  to  a  premature 
grave." 

Notwithstanding  these  plain  facts,  the  people  of  Sunderland 
returned  Mr.  Hudson  to  Parliament  by  a  large  majority,  the 
chief  reason  being  the  want  of  unity  in  the  Liberal  party  and  the 
consequent  neutrality  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Liberal  electors. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

INIQUITY  OP  THE  GAME  LAWS  EXPOSED. 

Mr.  Oobden's  Pecuniary  Difficulties — The  Inquiry  into  the  Game  Laws — Scene 
between  Bright  and  Grantley  Berkeley. 

ALTHOUGH  in  1836  the  nett  profit  of  Cobden's  business 
amounted  to  .£23,000  for  that  year,  it  gradually  decreased, 
chiefly  on  account  of  neglect — his  attention  being  absorbed  with 
the  objects  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League.  In  September, 
1845,  so  serious  was  his  pecuniary  position  that,  after  much 
painful  consideration,  he  resolved  to  abandon  public  affairs,  and 
devote  his  time  to  his  commercial  business.  He  at  once  wrote 
a  letter  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Bright,  who  at  that  time  was  at 
Inverness.  Mr.  Bright  promptly  replied  : — 

MY  DEAE  COBDEN, — I  received  your  letter  on  the  15th,  yesterday  evening,  on 
my  arrival  here.  Its  contents  have  made  me  more  sad  than  I  can  express  ;  it  seems 
as  if  this  untoward  event  contained  within  it  an  affliction  personal  for  myself,  great 
public  loss,  a  heavy  blow  to  one  for  whom  I  feel  a  sincere  friendship,  and  not  a 
little  danger  to  the  great  cause  in  which  we  have  been  fellow-labourers.  I  would 
return  home  without  a  day's  delay  if  I  had  a  valid  excuse  for  my  sisters,  who  are 
here  with  me.  We  have  now  been  out  nearly  three  weeks,  and  may  possibly  be  as 
much  longer  before  we  reach  home ;  our  plan  being  pretty  well  chalked  out  before- 
hand, I  don't  see  how  I  can  greatly  change  it  without  giving  a  sufficient  reason. 
But  it  does  not  appear  needful  that  you  should  take  any  hasty  step  in  the  matter. 
Too  much  is  at  stake,  both  for  you  and  for  the  public,  to  make  any  sudden  decision 
advisable.  I  may,  therefore,  be  home  in  time  for  us  to  have  some  conversation 
before  anything  comes  before  the  public.  Nothing  of  it  shall  pass  my  lips,  and  I 
would  urge  nothing  to  be  done  till  the  latest  moment,  in  the  hope  that  some  way  of 
escape  may  be  found.  I  am  of  opinion  that  your  retirement  would  be  tantamount 
to  a  dissolution  of  the  League ;  its  mainspring  would  be  gone.  I  can  in  no  degree 
take  your  place.  As  a  second  I  can  fight,  but  there  are  incapacities  about  me,  of 
which  I  am  fully  conscious,  which  prevent  my  being  more  than  a  second  in  such  a 
work  as  we  have  laboured  in.  Do  not  think  I  wish  to  add  to  your  troubles  by 
writing  thus ;  but  I  am  most  anxious  that  some  delay  should  take  place,  and  there- 
fore I  urge  that  which  I  fully  believe,  that  the  League's  existence  depends  mostly 
upon  you,  and  that  if  the  shock  cannot  be  avoided,  it  should  be  given  only  after  the 
weightiest  consideration,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  the  least  evil.  Be  assured 
that  in  all  this  disappointment  you  have  my  heartfelt  sympathy.  We  have  worked 
long  and  hard  and  cordially  together ;  and  I  can  say  most  truly  that  the  more  I 
have  known  you,  the  more  I  have  had  reason  to  admire  and  esteem  you,  and  now 
when  a  heavy  cloud  seems  upon  us,  I  must  not  wholly  give  up  the  hope  that  we 
may  yet  labour  in  the  good  cause  until  all  is  gained  for  which  we  have  striven. 
You  speak  of  the  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  raise  the  passion  which  led  to 
the  death  of  Abel,  and  to  weaken  us  by  destroying  the  confidence  which  was  need- 
ful to  our  successful  co-operation.  If  such  attempts  have  been  made,  they  have 
wholly  failed.  To  help  on  the  cause,  I  am  sure  each  of  us  would  in  any  way  have 
led  or  followed ;  we  held  our  natural  and  just  position,  and  hence  our  success.  In 
myself  I  know  nothing  that  at  this  moment  would  rejoice  me  more,  except  the 
absence  of  these  difficulties,  than  that  my  retirement  from  the  field  could  m  any 
way  maintain  you  in  the  front  rank.  The  victory  is  now  in  reality  gained,  and  our 


1845.]       THE   PECUNIARY   DIFFICULTIES   OP   MR.    COBDEN.  207 

object  will  before  very  long  be  accomplished ;  but  it  is  often  as  difficult  to  leave  a 
victory  as  to  gain  it ;  and  the  sagacity  of  leaders  cannot  be  dispensed  with  while  any- 
thing remains  to  be  done.  Be  assured  I  shall  think  of  little  else  but  this  distressing 
turn  of  affairs  till  I  meet  you ;  and  whilst  I  am  sorry  that  such  should  be  the  position 
of  things,  I  cannot  but  applaud  the  determination  you  show  to  look  them  full  in  the 
face,  and  to  grapple  with  the  difficulties  while  they  are  yet  surmountable.  I  have 
written  this  letter  under  feelings  to  which  I  have  not  been  able  to  give  expression, 
but  you  will  believe  that 

I  am,  with  much  sympathy  and  esteem,  your  sincere  friend, 

JOHN  BEIGHT." 

Mr.  Bright  was  unable  to  remain  inactive  while  his  friend 
was  in  difficulties,  and  in  two  days  hastened  to  Manchester; 
and  means  being  found  to  relieve  Mr.  Cobden  of  the  pecuniary 
embarrassment  for  the  time,  both  friends  renewed  their  labours 
on  behalf  of  the  League ;  thus  the  strong  mind  of  Cobden  rose 
superior  to  his  misfortunes. 

For  some  time  before  this  Mr.  Bright  had  been  unremitting 
in  his  labours  in  conducting  the  inquiry  into  the  Game  Laws, 
before  the  select  committee,  but  owing  to  the  advanced  period  of 
the  session,  it  was  recommended  by  the  committee,  as  they  had 
not  been  able  to  bring  the  inquiry  to  a  close,  to  re-appoint 
the  committee  the  following  session.  Mr.  Bright  resisted  the 
suppression  of  the  report  at  that  time,  and  gave  notice  of  a 
motion  in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  the  evidence  taken  be 
laid  on  the  table,  with  a  view  to  its  being  printed.  The  motion 
was  evaded  by  those  in  favour  of  the  Game  Laws  by  counting 
out  the  House. 

Mr.  Bright  went  to  the  expense  of  £300  in  publishing  a 
volume  containing  extracts  from  the  evidence  taken  before  the 
Select  Committee.  In  its  compilation  he  was  assisted  by  Mr. 
Richard  G.  Welford,  a  lawyer  and  a  good  farmer.  The  intro- 
ductory address  was  written  by  Mr.  Bright,  in  which  he  argued 
the  hardships  of  the  farmer  and  agricultural  labourer. 

"  You  take  a  farm  on  a  yearly  tenancy  or  on  a  lease,  with  an  understanding,  or  a 
specific  agreement,  that  the  game  shall  be  reserved  to  the  owner ;  that  is,  you  grant 
to  the  landlord  the  right  to  stock  the  farm,  for  which  you  are  to  pay  him  rent  for 
permission  to  cultivate  and  for  the  full  possession  of  its  produce,  with  pheasants, 
partridges,  hares,  and  rabbits  to  any  extent  that  may  suit  his  caprice.  There  may 
be  little  game  when  you  enter  upon  the  farm,  but  in  general  you  reserve  to  your- 
selves no  power  to  prevent  its  increase,  and  it  may,  and  often  does,  increase  so  as  to 
destroy  the  possibility  of  profit  in  the  cultivation  of  the  farm.  You  plough  and  sow, 
and  watch  the  growing  crops  with  anxiety  and  hope ;  you  rise  early  and  eat  the 
bread  of  carefulness ;  rent  day  comes  twice  a  year,  with  its  inexorable  demand ;  and 
yet  you  are  doomed  too  frequently  to  see  the  fertility  which  Providence  bestows  and 
your  industry  would  secure,  blighted  and  destroyed  by  creatures  which  would  be 
deemed  vermin  but  for  the  sanction  which  the  law  and  your  customs  give  to  their 
preservation,  and  which  exist  for  no  advantage  to  you  and  for  no  good  to  the  public, 
but  solely  to  afford  a  few  days'  amusement  in  the  year  to  the  proprietor  of  the  soil. 
The  seed  you  sow  is  eaten  by  the  pheasants;  your  young  growing  grain  is  bitten 
down  by  the  hares  and  rabbits ;  and  your  ripening  crops  are  trampled  and  in  j  ured  by 
a  live  stock  which  yields  you  no  return,  and  which  you  cannot  kill  and  take  to 


208  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BBIGHT.  p845. 

market.  No  other  class  of  capitalists  are  subjected  to  these  disadvantages — no  other 
intelligent  and  independent  class  of  your  countrymen  are  burdened  with  such 
impositions." 

In  the  draft  report  proposed  by  Mr.  Bright  to  be  the  report 
of  the  committee,  the  right  hon.  gentleman  states  : — 

"To  the  labourer  game  offers  a  perilous  resource  in  times  of  distress  and  want  of 
employment;  the  love  of  sport  also  often  affords  an  additional  inducement  to 
poaching ;  and  the  severity  of  the  law,  no  less  than  the  universal  opinion  that  there 
is  a  great  distinction  between  the  right  to  game  and  the  right  to  other  property, 
creates  a  general  sentiment  of  sympathy  towards  poachers.  And  although  game 
offences  by  poor  men  are  punished  with  severity,  the  wealthier  classes  constantly 
disregard  the  law ;  noblemen  and  gentlemen  who  desire  to  get  up  a  stock  of  game 
in  their  preserves  have  no  hesitation  in  buying  live  game  and  game  eggs  during  the 
breeding  season,  when  by  law  the  taking  of  them  is  absolutely  prohibited.  Game 
out  of  season  is  habitually  provided  at  the  clubs  and  dinners  of  the  rich ;  the  rural 
labourer  is  made  the  instrument  by  which  these  indulgences  of  the  wealthy  are 
obtained.  Everything  concurs  to  render  the  Game  Laws  the  source  of  demorali- 
sation, and  to  lead  the  labourers  to  those  first  breaches  of  the  law  which  generally 
end  in  serious  crime.  The  destruction  of  agricultural  produce,  the  prevention  of 
high  farming,  and  the  consequent  diminution  of  employment,  form  a  national 
evil  of  extensive  operation.  These  circumstances  your  committee  believe  to  have  an 
important  and  most  mischievous  influence  on  the  morals  of  the  people.  The  farmer 
whose  crops  are  injured  by  the  game  bred  on  his  farm,  over  which  he  has  no 
control,  disregards  infractions  of  the  law,  and  not  unfrequently  looks  on  the 
poacher  as  his  best  friend.  Has  labourers  partake  of  their  master's  feelings,  and 
deem  the  taking  of  game  as  at  least  an  innocent  if  not  a  meritorious  act.  Unlike 
other  offences,  it  is  in  evidence  that  volunteer  prosecutors  and  witnesses  against 
poachers  are  almost  unknown,  and  that  it  is  by  the  testimony  of  gamekeepers  and 
watchers  that  convictions  take  place.  Violence  and  bloodshed  constantly  occur  from 
the  preservation  of  game,  of  which  numerous  cases  were  referred  to  by  the  witnesses 
examined.  Your  committee  deem  it  proper,  in  connection  with  this  subject,  to 
direct  the  attention  of  the  House  to  two  returns  made  by  order  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1844.  The  first  consisted  in  'A  return  of  all  inquests  held  by  the 
coroners  of  England  and  Wales  since  the  year  1 833  upon  the  bodies  of  gamekeepers, 
and  the  verdicts  of  the  juries ;  '  from  which  it  appears  that  no  less  than  twenty- six 
verdicts  of  wilful  murder  and  manslaughter  had  been  found  on  inquests  held  upon 
the  bodies  of  gamekeepers  who  had  met  with  death  by  violence.  The  other  was  '  A 
return  of  the  number  of  persons  convicted  of  any  offence  against  the  Game  Laws  at 
any  petty  sessions,  quarter  sessions,  or  assizes,  during  the  year  1843,  specifying  the 
penalties  or  punishments  inflicted,  and  in  which  county,  and  upon  whose  property 
the  offences  were  committed.'  From  this  return  it  appears  that  in  the  year  1843  no 
less  than  4,529  convictions  for  offences  against  the  Game  Laws  took  place.  Your 
committee  consider  these  returns  such  important  illustrations  of  the  working  of  the 
Game  Laws  that  they  have  caused  them  to  be  reprinted  in  the  appendix  to  their 
report." 

They  recommended  some  slight  alteration  in  the  existing 
laws,  but  the  principal  evils  complained  of  were  still  allowed 
to  exist,  and  only  lately  Lord  Stradbroke  published  a  letter 
exposing  a  condition  of  affairs  in  reference  to  the  trade  in  game 
eggs,  which  amounted  in  fact  to  an  accusation  against  a  number 
of  more  or  less  distinguished  owners  of  preserves  of  receiving 
stolen  goods. 

Mr.  Grantley  Berkeley  was  the  leader  on  the  Game  Law 
side  to  disprove  the  statements  of  practical  agriculturists,  who 
proved  how  much  the  farmers'  produce  was  destroyed  by  hares. 
During  the  inquiry  he  offered  himself  as  a  witness,  stating  how 


1845.|  ABSURD    ARGUMENTS.  209 

he  had  weighed  the  stomach  of  newly-killed  sheep,  newly-killed 
hares,  and  other  animals ;  how  he  found  that  the  food  eaten  by 
the  hares  amounted  to  not  more  than  a  fiftieth  part  of  what  was 
alleged.  The  birds,  he  said,  such  as  pheasants,  did  not  only 
do  no  harm  but  great  good  to  the  farmers.  From  pheasants  he 
went  to  crows,  and  it  remained  for  Mr.  Grantley  Berkeley  to 
demonstrate  to  mankind  what  was  the  real  value  of  a  crow. 
It  was  to  Mr.  Bright's  inquisitiveness  that  the  world  owes  this 
valuable  addition  to  its  general  stock  of  information.  Mr. 
Berkeley  said  that  crows  were  exceedingly  useful  to  the  farmers 
in  destroying  wire-worms ;  and  that  where  there  were  no  such 
agents  for  the  abatement  of  this  agricultural  nuisance  the  farmer 
was  obliged  to  hire  boys  to  do  the  work  for  the  truant  crow. 
As  a  rat-catcher  is  paid  by  the  number  of  tails  he  produces,  so 
were  these  boys  paid  by  the  number  of  worms  they  destroyed — 
the  tariff  being  three-halfpence  a  hundred.  Mr.  Bright  asked 
Mr.  Berkeley  how  much  a  boy  could  make  at  this  rate  per  day, 
and  he  was  told  ninepence.  He  was  then  asked,  If  a  boy  made 
ninepence  per  day  at  the  rate  of  three-halfpence  per  hundred, 
how  many  worms  did  he  destroy  per  day  ?  This  was  altogether 
too  intricate  a  problem  for  Mr.  Berkeley's  brains;  so,  finding 
himself  puzzled,  he  thought  the  best  way  of  getting  out  of  it  was 
to  get  into  a  rage,  which  he  accordingly  did,  telling  Mr.  Bright 
he  had  not  come  there  to  answer  arithmetical  questions.  But 
this  did  not  satisfy  the  inquisitor,  who,  seeing  a  great  discovery 
about  to  be  made,  was  determined  that  through  no  fault  of  his 
should  it  be  lost  to  the  world.  He  therefore  asked  Mr.  Berkeley 
if  a  boy  did  his  work  as  well  as  a  crow.  Mr.  Berkeley  replied 
that  a  crow  at  such  work  was  worth  fifty  boys.  This  was  very 
startling,  and  Mr.  Bright,  wishing  to  know  the  precise  but 
newly-discovered  value  of  the  crow,  asked  the  witness,  If  a  boy 
was  worth  ninepence  per  day,  and  a  crow  worth  fifty  boys,  how 
much  was  the  crow  worth  to  the  farmer  in  sterling  money  ? 
Paper,  pen,  and  ink  were  handed  to  him,  and  he  was  assisted  in 
his  calculations,  when  it  appeared  that  a  crow  was  worth  to  the 
farmer  very  nearly  £2  per  day.  At  this  rate  per  day,  Mr. 
Berkeley  was  then  asked  the  yearly  value  of  the  bird,  which 
turned  out  to  be  £700.  He  had  before  said  that  fifty  would  be 
a  low  average  for  the  number  of  crows  in  some  districts  upon 
each  farm,  and  the  last  problem  which  was  put  to  him  was, 
What  was  the  aggregate  value  per  year  to  the  farmer  of  his 
proper  quota  of  these  useful  birds?  This  evolved  the  most 
startling  conclusion  of  all,  for  it  appeared  that  the  farmer  was 
a  gainer  of  £35,000  from  his  fifty  crows.  Happy  man  !  what  a 
o 


210  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  (1845. 

pity  he  cannot  pay  his  rent  in  crows.  The  scene  altogether  was 
most  amusing,  the  rage  of  the  discomfited  Mr.  Grantley  Berkeley 
contrasting  well  with  Mr.  Bright's  imperturbability. 

A  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Bright,  who  used  to  reside  in 
Rochdale  many  years  ago,  has  related  to  us  an  anecdote  worthy 
of  repetition.  "I  remember/'  said  the  narrator,  "asking  Mr. 
Bright,  on  his  return  from  one  of  his  lecturing  tours  with  Mr. 
Cobden,  whether,  seeing  that  they  met  with  so  much  opposition, 
he  really  thought  they  would  be  successful  at  last.  Mr.  Bright 
replied  : — '  One  day  lately  I  was  going  along  the  road,  and  I 
saw  a  man  breaking  stones ;  he  was  hammering  away  at  a  very 
large  stone  with  a  hammer  that  had  a  long  handle  but  a  very 
small  head.  Well,  I  thought,  whatr  a  simpleton  this  man  is — 
why  does  he  not  use  a  sledge  hammer  and  break  it  at  once? 
However,  he  kept  knocking  and  knocking  for  some  time,  when 
at  last  the  stone  flew  in  pieces,  and  I  at  once  saw  that  if  we 
kept  persevering  in  our  attacks  the  Corn  Laws  will  go  just  as 
suddenly/  '•  With  what  patience,  and  industry,  and  courage, 
they  led  the  struggle  has  already  been  gleaned  from  these  pages, 
and  like  other  brave  men  they  at  length  found  all  things  round 
them  coming  to  their  help. 

Mr.  B  right's  illustration  is  a  confirmation  of  the  opinion 
expressed  by  Buffon,  that  "  Genius  is  Patience/'  Patience  must 
first  explore  the  depths  where  the  pearl  lies  hid,  before  Genius 
boldly  dives  and  brings  it  up  full  into  light.  Nothing  great 
and  durable  has  ever  been  produced  with  ease,  and  labour  is  the 
parent  of  all  the  lasting  wonders  of  this  world,  whether  in 
improving  the  condition  of  the  people,  whether  in  verse  or  stone, 
whether  in  poetry,  prose,  or  eloquence. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  END  OF  THE  CORN-LAWS  APPROACHES. 

Sir  Robert  Peel's  Conversion  to  Free  Trade — Increased  Exertion  on  the  Part  of  the 
League — Bright  and  Cobden  again  visiting  Manchester,  Birmingham,  Burnley, 
Sheffield,  Preston,  Gloucester,  Bath,  and  London — Remarkable  Meetings  at 
Goatacre  and  other  places — The  Duke  of  Norfolk's  Recipe  for  Hunger. 

WHILE  Conservative  statesmen  were  toying  with  the  question 
of  the  Corn  Laws,  which  they  felt  they  must  sooner  or 
later  abolish,  the  elements  themselves  had  pronounced  their 
doom.  The  weather  during  the  summer  months  of  1845  was 
unfavourable  for  the  growth  of  corn,  as  rain  fell  often,  and  the 
beneficent  power  of  the  sun  seldom  reached  the  grain.  When  it 
became  known  that  all  over  Europe  the  harvest  would  be  below 
the  average  there  was  consternation,  and  lamentations  were  fre- 
quently heard  in  the  streets  as  well  as  at  public  meetings.  The 
potato  crop  in  Ireland  was  also  a  failure,  and  famine  with  its 
sharp  and  meagre  face  of  skin  and  bone  threatened  the  homes  of 
the  Irish  peasantry.  The  League  at  once  set  vigorously  to 
work,  and  decided  to  raise  funds  amounting  to  £250,000. 

The  Cabinet  at  last  saw  the  serious  position  of  affairs,  and 
as  many  as  five  meetings  a  week  were  held  to  consider  the 
distress  and  the  disasters  which  had  fallen  upon  the  country. 
Sir  Robert  Peel  knew  that  it  was  not  a  time  for  half  measures, 
and  he  was  favourable  to  the  opening  of  the  ports  by  an  order 
in  council.  At  the  same  time  he  was  conscious  that  ultimately 
a  measure  would  have  to  be  brought  in  for  the  permanent  aboli- 
tion of  the  protective  duties.  The  opposition  to  his  suggestions 
in  the  Cabinet  was  too  strong,  and  at  first  the  meetings  termi- 
nated without  any  result.  Parliament  was  not  called  together, 
but  again  prorogued.  On  the  22nd  of  November,  1845,  Lord 
John  Russell,  in  a  letter  from  Edinburgh  to  his  constituents — 
the  electors  of  the  City  of  London — spoke  out  on  the  subject, 
and  this  letter  produced  a  great  effect  upon  the  Cabinet,  and 
brought  many  of  them  round  to  the  views  entertained  by  Sir  R. 
Peel,  but  the  Premier  thought  the  wisest  course  for  him  to  pursue 
was  to  resign,  and  on  the  5th  of  December  he  did  so.  Lord 
John  Russell  was  accordingly  invited  by  Her  Majesty  to  form  a 
Cabinet,  and  Sir  R.  Peel  and  his  friends  promised  to  give  their 
o  2 


212  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   HEIGHT.  [1845. 

support  to  any  reasonable  measure,  but  Lord  John  Russell  was 
not  able  to  persuade  Lord  Grey  to  enter  the  administration  with 
Lord  Palmerston  as  foreign  minister,  and,  as  there  were  other 
obstacles,  Lord  J.  Russell  on  the  29th  of  December  announced 
to  Her  Majesty  that  he  was  not  able  to  form  a  Cabinet.  Sir 
R.  Peel  was  again  invited  to  resume  office,  and  he  consented, 
although  he  was  fully  aware  that  about  200  members  of  his  own 
party  would  vote  against  him  on  the  question  of  abolishing  the 
protective  duties,  and  that  he  could  only  rely  upon  90 
Conservatives,  and  180  Whigs  and  Radicals.  Before  he 
brought  the  measure  matured  into  Parliament,  Lord  Stanley 
retired  from  the  office  of  secretary  of  the  colonies,  and  Mr. 
Gladstone  filled  the  vacancy. 

On  the  28th  of  November  an  aggregate  meeting  of  the 
members  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  resident  in  Manchester 
and  neighbourhood  was  held  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall,  and.  on  no 
former  occasion  was  so  much  anxiety  displayed  to  hear  the  course 
to  be  adopted  under  the  unusual  circumstances  in  which  food  and 
employment  were  placed.  Eight  thousand  persons  crowded  the 
hall,  and  multitudes  remained  outside  unable  to  gain  admission. 
On  the  platform  were  the  representatives  of  an  amount  of 
wealth  and  capital  such  as  had  never  before  been  collected  in 
one  assembly  in  the  north  of  England.  Mr.  George  Wilson 
presided.  Mr.  R.  Cobden  was  the  first  speaker ;  Mr.  Henry  Ash- 
worth,  of  Turton,  near  Bolton,  followed,  and  Mr.  John  Bright 
next  addressed  the  gathering,  and  in  his  speech  he  said  : — 

"  I  have  often  tried  to  picture  to  myself  what  famine  is,  but  the  human  mind  is 
not  capable  of  drawing  any  form,  any  scene,  that  will  realise  the  horrors  which  are 
included  in  that  term.  The  men  who  made  the  Corn  Law  are  totally  ignorant  of 
what  it  means.  The  agricultural  labourers  know  something  of  it  in  some  counties — 
the  worst-farmed  counties  in  the  kingdom — and  there  are  some  hand-loom  weavers 
in  Lancashire  who  know  what  it  is.  I  saw  the  other  night,  late  at  night,  a  light  in 
a  cottage  window,  and  heard  the  loom  busy  at  work,  the  shuttle  flying  rapidly.  It 
ought  to  have  a  cheerful  sound,  and  naturally  it  has  a  cheerful  sound,  but  when  it 
is  at  work  near  midnight,  when  there  is  care  upon  the  brow  of  the  workman  lest  he 
should  not  be  able  to  secure  that  which  will  maintain  his  wife  and  his  children,  then 
there  is  a  foretaste  of  that  which  is  meant  by  the  word  'famine.'  (Hear,  hear.) 
Oh,  if  these  men  who  made  the  Corn  Law,  if  these  men  who  step  in  between  the 
Creator  and  His  creatures,  could  for  only  one  short  twelvemonth — I  would  inflict 
upon  them  no  harder  punishment  for  all  their  guilt — if  they  for  one  single 
twelvemonth  might  sit  at  the  loom  and  throw  the  shuttle  (cheers).  I  will  not  ask 
that  they  should  have  the  rest  of  the  evils ;  I  will  not  ask  that '  they  should  be 
torn  by  the  harrowing  feelings  which  must  exist  when  a  beloved  wife  and  helpless 
children  are  suffering  the  horrors  which  this  Corn  Law  has  inflicted  upon  millions. 
(Renewed  cheering) .  ...  From  all  I  have  been  able  to  see  and  read  of  him  (Sir 
R.  Peel)  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  whatever  his  faults  may  be  as  a  states- 
man, he  does  hope  that  future  times  shall  speak  of  him  as  a  man  who  did  some  good 
to  the  country  over  which  he  was  called  to  rule.  He  has  stated  that  he  does  look  to 
the  time  when  his  name  is  to  be  read  amongst  those  who  are  not  wholly  to  be  despised 
by  posterity.  Then  is  there  in  the  whole  range  of  politics,  of  legislative  acting,  any 
single  question  upon  which  he  could  base  so  great  a  name  as  on  this  ?  Is  there  any 


1845.]  BANQUET   TO   ME.   VTLLIERS.  213 

principle  so  worthy  of  the  highest  statesmanship  and  the  purest  patriotism  ?  I  have 
som»>  hope  that  Sir  Robert  Peel  will  see  this  ;  that  he  will  not  fall  into  the  trap  which 
his  political  adversaries  have  set  for  him ;  that  he  will  not  support  that  principle  of  a 
fixed  duty  which  he  has  constantly  for  the  last  two  years  said  was  altogether  un- 
souiid  and  untenable ;  but  that  as  his  policy  has  been  signalised  by  relaxations  in  the 
commercial  code,  he  will  now  complete  the  work  he  kas  begun,  by  carrying  out 
fully  upon  the  statute  book  a  principle  so  essential  to  his  country's  safety.  (Cheers.) 
.  .  .  Not  a  week  ago  this  hall  was  filled  by  a  meeting  almost  as  large  as  this — a 
meeting  which  I  cannot  but  think  had  an  object  kindred  to  our  own.  (Hear,  hear.) 
We  would  feed  the  body ;  we  would  give  every  man  the  means  of  cultivating  that 
which  is  of  more  value  than  the  body.  On  that  occasion  the  distinguished 
chairman,  in  a  speech  which  I  heard  with  more  delight  than  I  can  possibly  express, 
alluded  to  that  unfortunate  poet,  Chattertou,  whom  he  spoke  of  as  '  the  wondrous  boy 
of  Bristol.'  That  'wondrous  boy'  when  not  more  than  sixteen  or  seventeen 
years  of  age  wrote  a  poem  which  he  styled  'A  Prophecy,'  and  not  inaptly  styled 
it,  for  the  true*poet  is  always  a  prophet.  (Hear,  hear.)  He  said : — 

1  Commerce  o'er  Bondage  shall  prevail, 
Free  as  the  winds  that  fill  her  sail  5 
"When  she  complains  of  vile  restraint, 
And  power  is  deaf  to  her  complaint ; 
Look  up,  ye  Britons,  cease  to  sigh, 
For  your  redemption  draweth  nigh.' 

(Great  cheering.)  He  some  eighty  years  ago  foresaw  a  day  when,  through  the 
spread  of  manufactures  and  commerce,  there  would  be  a  new  people  created  in  this 
kingdom,  aud  with  a  new  people  a  new  mind,  and  with  a  new  mind  a  new  power — 
a  power  which  should  cope  with  the  elements  of  despotism,  which  he  saw  then 
gathering  and  strengthening  themselves  for  the  enslavement  of  his  country.  (Hear, 
hear.)  Now,  it  comes  to  us  to  be  fulfilled  that  which  he  foretold."  (Cheers.) 

A  banquet  was  given  in  honour  of  the  Hon.  C.  P.  Villiers, 
the  representative  of  Wolverhampton,  in  the  Town  Hall, 
Birmingham,  on  the  13th  of  November.  Upwards  of  600 
gentlemen  were  present,  and  hundreds  were  not  able  to  get 
admittance.  The  scene  of  so  many  eminent  men,  and  the  enthu- 
siasm that  prevailed,  was  heart-stirring.  Mr.  Henry  Smith,  the 
mayor,  presided,  and  in  the  course  of  his  speech  said  : — 

"Why  had  they  assembled  on  that  occasion  to  do  honour  to  Mr.  Villiers?  It 
was  because  they  had  seen  in  the  conduct  of  that  gentleman  since  the  commence- 
ment of  his  political  life  everything  to  admire  ;  that  they  had  witnessed  his  untiring 
advocacy  of  those  principles  in  which  they  most  concurred ;  and  because  they  afl 
admired  the  zeal  and  ability  with  which  he  had  advocated  the  principles  of  com- 
mercial freedom."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Villiers,  Earl  Ducie,  Mr.  R.  Cobden,  and  Mr.  J.  Bright 
addressed  the  gathering  in  lengthy  speeches. 

Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden,  at  the  large  manufacturing 
town  of  Burnley,  at  a  meeting  in  the  Court  House  on  the 
17th  of  November,  addressed  2,000  of  the  inhabitants. 
Nearly  every  mill  in  the  town  ceased  working  an  hour  earlier 
for  the  convenience  of  the  workpeople  attending  the  meeting. 
The  speeches  were  received  with  great  enthusiasm. 

They  were  next  in  the  Cutlers'  Hall,  Sheffield,  on  the  24th 
of  November,  and  a  large  audience  listened  to  them. 


214  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF  JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1845. 

"  Six  weeks  ago,"  said  Mr.  Bright  on  this  occasion,  "  there  was,  generally  speak- 
ing, a  fair  trade  throughout  the  cotton  districts,  and  in  some  parts  the  trade  was 
exceedingly  brisk,  and  more  than  ordinarily  profitable.  The  demand  was  then 
constant,  and  suffered  little  or  no  check  whatever,  until  after  a  long  period  of 
rainy  and  unfavourable  weather  the  harvest  was  found  to  be  deficient,  and  prices, 
gradually  rose ;  and,  in  addition  to  this,  an  alarming  rumour  was  spread  abroad 
of  the  almost  total  failure  of  the  potato  crop.  Now,  there  is  no  other  cause  what- 
ever to  which  the  present  depression  of  trade  in  the  cotton  districts  can  be  at- 
tributed, except  to  this,"  (Hear,  hear.) 

The  day  following,  the  25th  of  November,  Mr.  Bright  and 
Mr.  Cobden  went  to  Leeds,  and  were  received  with  "  vehement 
cheering- "  as  they  entered  the  Music  Hall,  in  which  the  meeting 
was  held.  Mr.  J.  D.  Luccock,  the  mayor,  presided-  . 

In  two  days  they  were  again  at  Preston,  and  held  a  meeting 
in  the  Corn  Exchange.  Hundreds  of  persons  were  unable  to  be 
present  in  consequence  of  the  comparative  smallness  of  the  room, 
but  accommodation  was  found  for  900  persons.  Mr.  Satterth- 
waite  was  in  the  chair. 

"  On  the  previous  night,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "I  made  inquiry  at  Blackburn,  and 
was  told  by  one  person  that  whereas  six  mouths  ago  he  got  eight  pounds  of  bread  for 
one  shilling  he  now  gets  only  five  pounds  and  a  quarter,  and  the  quality  is  not  so 
good,  for  the  wheat  this  harvest  is  of  an  inferior  quality,  and  the  Corn  Law  prevents 
good  qualities  from  coming  in  to  be  mixed  with  it.  This  is  just  the  same  as  if,  when 
a  working-man  comes  in  to  breakfast,  dinner,  or  tea,  and  proceeds  to  cut  some  slices 
of  bread  for  his  family,  he  should  find  that  out  of  three  loaves  somebody  had  walked 
off  with  one,  or  more  than  that,  nearly  one  and  a  half.  (Laughter.)  This  is  not  a 
figure  of  speech,  it  is  a  matter  of  fact.  The  same  person  told  me  that  240  pounds  of 
meal,  worth  28s.  6d.  or  29s.  six  mouths  ago,  are  worth  42s.  6d.  now.  I  don't  know 

whether  it  would  be  of  use  making  any  argument  after  such  a  statement 

During  my  eighteen  years'  connection  with  the  cotton  trade  of  Lancashire  I  have 
never  known  a  reverse  so  sudden,  and  sad,  and  universal,  as  has  taken  place  within 
the  last  six  weeks.  I  believe  there  never  was  anything  like  it  before— certainly 
nothing  like  it  since  the  peace.  There  is  no  cause  for  this,  I  believe,  but  that  which 
we  have  assigned,  viz.,  a  partial  failure  of  the  harvest  and  a  very  serious  and  almost 
universal  failure  of  the  potato  crop." 

The  two  eminent  members  of  the  League  were  in  the  Shire 
Hall,  Gloucester,  on  the  evening  of  the  1st  December,  addressing 
2,000  of  the  inhabitants.  Mr.  J.  W.  Hughes,  the  mayor,  was 
in  the  chair.  From  Gloucester  they  went  to  Stroud,  and  on  the 
3rd  of  December  they  spoke  to  1,600  persons/ who  had  assembled 
to  hear  them  in  the  large  Subscription  Room  of  the  town.  The 
following  evening  they  addressed  a  meeting  in  the  Corn 
Exchange,  Wakefield,  and  the  whole  of  the  proceedings  passed 
off  with  spirit  and  unanimity. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  4th  of  December  Mr.  Bright  and 
Mr.  Cobden  were  received  enthusiastically  by  2,000  persons 
assembled  in  the  Banqueting  Hall  of  the  opulent  city  of  Bath. 
Mr.  Samuel  Bachelor,  the  mayor,  occupied  the  chair.  Mr. 
Cobden  addressed  the  gathering,  and  Mr.  Bright  followed  in  a 
lengthy  speech,  during  which  he  said  he  loved  the  question 


1845.]  ENTHUSIASTIC    MEETING    AT    MANCHESTER.  21  o 

of  Free-trade,  not  only  because  Free-trade  would  feed  our 
countrymen,  and  clothe  the  Americans  and  other  people,  but 
because  it  had  some  great  features  which  distinguished  it  from 
almost  all  previous  popular  movements.  It  was  essentially  a 
forerunner  of  peace  throughout  the  world. 

Mr.  Bright  and  his  friend  Mr.  Cobden  travelled  to  Bristol, 
a  city  which  has  been  much  favoured  by  royalty,  and  the 
birthplace  of  Robert  Southey,  "  the  marvellous  boy "  Chatter- 
ton,  "  the  sleepless  soul  that  perished  in  his  pride,"  and  Hannah 
More.  A  meeting  was  held  in  a  large  public  room  in  Broad- 
mead.  1,100  of  the  inhabitants  were  present,  and  hundreds  of 
others  were  unable  to  gain  admittance  on  account  of  the  crowded 
state  of  the  room.  A  sovereign  premium  was  offered  for  the 
tickets,  so  anxious  were  the  residents  to  see  and  hear  the  great 
Free-trade  apostles.  Earl  Ducie  presided.  Next  morning  they 
went  on  to  Wootton-Under-Edge,  and  2,000  persons  assembled 
in  the  National  School-room  to  listen  to  their  speeches. 

They  were  back  again  in  Manchester  on  the  10th  of 
December  at  a  meeting  in  the  Free-trade  Hall.  The  greatest 
excitement  had  prevailed  for  several  days  previously  on  the  part 
of  the  public  to  get  tickets  of  admission,  and  many  persons  came 
a  distance  of  thirty  miles  to  be  present.  The  hall  was  crowded, 
hundreds  of  persons  not  being  able  to  gain  admittance.  Mr. 
George  Wilson  was  the  chairman,  and  in  opening  the  meeting 
he  said : — 

"  From  one  end  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other  the  cry  has  been,  ringing  in  the  ears 
of  her  Majesty's  ministers,  '  Open  the  ports,  and  let  the  corn  in  free ! '  (Cheers.) 
Coincident  with  these  meetings,  our  friends,  Messrs.  Cobden  and  Bright,  have  been 
conducting  the  attacks  of  the  League  upon  the  counties.  (Cheers.)  I  have  in  my 
pocket  a  list  of  the  meetings  these  patriotic  gentlemen  have  attended  since  we  last 
assembled  together  in  this  Hall,  and  I  will  read  it — Halifax,  Huddersfield,  Birming- 
ham, Blackburn,  Burnley,  Leeds,  Sheffield,  Preston,  Wakefield,  Gloucester,  Stroud, 
Bristol,  Bath,  Nottingham,  Derby,  and  Wootton-under-Edge — in  all,  sixteen  meet- 
ings." (Loud  cheers.) 

Mr.  T.  M.  Gibson  was  the  next  to  address  the  meeting,  and 
he  stated : — 

"  Unquestionably  no  public  movement  has  ever  made  such  rapid  advances  as 
the  movement  for  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and  none  has  been  led  with  greater 
intelligence  than  this  movement  by  our  excellent  friends,  Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr. 
Bright."  (Loud  cheers.) 

Mr.  W.  J.  Fox  next  remarked  : — 

"Julius  Caesar  is  said  to  have  been  so  pleased  with  the  statue  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  by  Aristippus,  that  he  ordered  the  head  to  betaken  off,  and  his  own  countenance 
to  be  put  on  its  shoulders.  (Laughter.)  And  I  myself  once  lived  in  a  cathedral  town 
where  there  was  a  statue  of  St.  Paul  over  the  great  western  entrance  of  the  church. 
The  men  at  work  on  the  repairs  knocked  St.  Paul's  head  off ;  the  dean  and  chapter, 
being  too  stingy  to  employ  a  sculptor,  went  to  some  old  stonemason's  shop  in  the 


216  LITE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  T184& 

town,  where  they  found  a  judge's  head,  with  a  wig  on,  and  there  St.  Paul  stands  to 
this  day  with  a  judge's  wig  and  curls  on  his  head !  (Loud  laughter.)  Now,  as 
preposterous  a  trausformatiou  as  this  would  it  be,  when  in  a  coming  time — I  hope 
in  tine  new  Houses  of  Parliament — the  statues  shall  he  erected  to  the  founders  of 
Free-trade,  if  on  those  statues  should  be  placed  the  heads  of  Russell,  Peel,  and 
Wellington,  instead  of  those  of  Cobden,  Bright,  and  Yilliers.  (Cheers.)  Great  as 
may  be  the  political  advantage,  the  advantage  in  Parliamentary  tactics  of  these 
eminent  names,  that  is  all  we  can  plead  for  them.  The  work  has  been  done — the 
chariot  of  Free-trade  has  been  driven  within  sight  of  the  goal ;  and  Russell, 
Peel  and  "Wellington,  at  best,  are  only  yoked  to  it  to  drag  it  along  the  few  remain- 
ing paces  to  its  flnal  destination.  (Cheers.)  It  is  an  honour  for  them  to  do  that, 
and  I  hope  they  will  put  their  shoulders  to  the  yoke  kindly,  and  let  it  not  be  a 
moment  longer  in  the  country  than  is  absolutely  necessary.  (Cheers.)  .  .  . 
'  Powder-day ! '  No ;  our  cause  is  not  like  a  cannon — it  is  more  like  a  steam- 
engine.  (Cheers.)  It  is  preparing  for  its  journey;  the  hour  of  starting  is  come; 
the  bell  rings,  and  it  rings  the  death-knell  of  monopoly.  (Cheers.)  There  is  a 
steady  hand  (pointing  to  the  chairman)  to  steer  the  engine.  (Cheers.)  There  are 
active  stokers  to  keep  up  the  bright  fire  (pointing  to  Messrs.  Cobden  and  Bright). 
(Cheers.)  On  it  then  moves.  Out  of  the  way,  calves  and  pigs ! — (laughter) — out  of 
the  way,  or  you're  veal  and  pork  in  no  time !  (Laughter.)  Booted  squires  and 
sportsmen,  clear  the  line,  or  down  you  go,  horse  and  rider,  in  spite  of  all  your  game 
laws !  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  Such  a  train  as  that  would  dash  through  a  house 
if  it  stood  in  the  way,  though  it  should  be  a  house  as  old,  and  as  strong  for  its  age, 
as  the  House  of  Lords  itself.  (Cheers.)  On  it  goes,  brightened  in  the  sun,  careless 
of  the  storm,  all  good  spirits  in  heaven  and  earth  in  sympathy  with  its  progress ; 
nor  shall  it  rest  until  it  reaches  its  flnal  destination,  until  we  are  home,  in  the 
people's  home, — a  home  made  happy  by  freedom,  peace,  plenty,  and  progress." 
(Cheers.) 

A  large  number  of  persons  here  called  for  "  Cobden/'  and 
at  length  the  distinguished  member  for  Stockport  came  forward 
and  addressed  the  meeting  : — 

"Within  the  last  nine  days  my  honourable  friend,  Mr.  Bright,  and  I  have 
addressed  seven  meetings.  We  have  been  in  the  cathedral  city  of  Bath,  and  the 
mountains  of  Derbyshire.  We  have  been  in  Gloucestershire.  Wherever  we  have 
gone  there  is  the  same  unanimous  feeling  that  we  find  amongst  our  tall  chimneys  in 
Lancashire.  (Cheers.)  Everywhere  the  only  complaint  is,  there  is  no  place  large 
enough  to  receive  the  Free-traders."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright,  who  had  attended  this  meeting  only  as  a 
spectator,  was  also  loudly  called  for,  and  consenting  was  loudly 
cheered. 

"  You  are  recommended  by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,"  he  said,  "  to  feed  upon  warm 
water  and  curry  powder ;  and  as  if  this  was  not  absurd  enough,  you  are  recommended 
by  Dr.  Buckland  to  try  mangel-wurzel."  (Laughter.) 

The  frequent  absence  from  home  of  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr. 
Cobden  was  of  course  a  loss  to  their  families,  but  the  "  children 
of  the  League/'  as  theirs  were  sometimes  called,  used  to  be  told 
that  their  fathers  were  working  hard  in  order  to  get  cheap 
and  plentiful  bread  for  the  little  children  of  the  poor.  So  much 
was  Mr.  Cobden  necessarily  absent  from  his  family  that  when  he 
was  amongst  them,  his  eldest  child,  Richard,  used  to  ask,  when 
he  was  going  home;  thinking  his  home  must  be  where  he 
spent  most  time. 

On  the  19th  of  December  a  meeting  was  held  in  Covent 


1845.]  AT   COVENT-GABDEN    THEATRE.  217 

Garden  Theatre,  and  from  floor  to  roof  it  was  a  living  human 
pile  of  both  sexes.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden 
appeared  on  the  stage  the  entire  audience  cheered  lustily.  The 
Right  Hon.  C.  P.  Villiers  was  the  chairman.  Mr.  R.  Cobden 
first  addressed  the  meeting.  Mr.  Bright  was  the  next ;  and  he 
said: — 

"  Within  the  last  fifty  years  trade  has  done  much  for  the  people  of  England. 
Our  population  has  greatly  increased.  Our  villages  have  become  towns,  and  our 
small  towns  large  cities.  The  contemned  class  of  manufacturers  and  traders  have 
assumed  another  and  very  different  position,  and  the  great  proprietors  of  the  soil 
now  find  that  there  are  other  men  and  interests  to  be  consulted  in  this  kingdom 
besides  those  of  whom  they  have  taken  such  great  care  through  the  legislation 
which  they  have  managed.  In  the  varying  fortunes  of  this  contest  we  have  pre- 
viously seen  one  somewhat  feeble  and  attenuated  administration  overthrown,  and 
now  we  see  another,  which  every  man  thought  powerful  and  robust,  prostrate  in 
the  dust.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  Since  the  time  when  we  first  came  to  London  to  ask 
the  attention  of  Parliament  to  the  question  of  the  Corn  Laws,  two  millions  of 
human  beings  have  been  added  to  the  population  of  the  United  Kingdom.  (Hear, 
hear.)  The  table  is  here  as  before ;  the  food  is  spread  in  about  the  same  quantity 
as  before;  but  two  millions  of  fresh  guests  have  arrived,  and  the  circumstance 
makes  the  question  a  serious  one,  both  for  the  Government  and  for  us.  Those  two 
millions  are  so  many  arguments  for  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League — so  many  emphatic 
condemnations  of  the  policy  of  this  iniquitous  law.  Why,  I  see  them  now  in  my 
mind's  eye  ranged  before  me,  old  men  and  young  children,  all  looking  to  the 
Government  for  bread ;  some  endeavouring  to  resist  the  stroke  of  famine,  clamorous 
and  turbulent,  but  still  arguing  with  us ;  others  dying  mute  and  uncomplaining. 
Multitudes  have  died  of  hunger  in  the  United  Kingdom  since  we  first  asked  the 
Government  to  repeal  the  Corn  Law ;  and  although  the  great  and  the  powerful  may 
not  regard  those  who  suffer  mutely  and  die  in  silence,  yet  the  recording  angel  will 
note  down  their  patient  endurance  and  the  heavy  guilt  of  those  by  whom  they  have 
been  sacrificed.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  We  have  had  landlord  rule  longer,  far  longer, 
than  the  life  of  the  oldest  man  in  this  vast  assembly,  and  I  would  ask  you  to  look 
at  the  results  of  that  rule,  and  then  decide  whether  it  be  not  necessary  to  interpose 
some  check  on  the  extravagance  of  such  legislation.  They  have  unlimited  sway  in 
Parliament  and  in  the  provinces.  Abroad  the  history  of  our  country  is  the  history 
of  war  and  rapine :  at  home,  of  debt,  taxes,  and  rapine  too.  (Hear,  hear.)  In  all 
the  great  contests  in  which  we  have  been  engaged  we  have  found  that  this  ruling 
class  have  taken  all  the  honours,  while  the  people  have  taken  all  the  scars.  (Hear, 
hear,  and  cheers.)  No  sooner  was  the  country  freed  from  the  horrible  contest 
which  was  so  long  carried  on  with  the  powers  of  Europe,  than  this  law,  by  their 
partial  legislation,  was  enacted — far  more  hostile  to  British  interests  than  any  com- 
bination of  foreign  powers  has  ever  proved.  (Cheers.)  We  find  them  legislating 
corruptly ;  going  to  the  table  of  each  House  of  Parliament,  and  making  oath  that 
in  their  legislation  they  would*  altogether  discard  all  private  ends  and  partial 
affections,  and  the  very  same  day,  it  may  be,  sitting  down  to  make  a  law  for  the 
purpose  of  extorting  from  all  the  consumers  of  food  a  higher  price  than  it  is  worth, 
that  that  extra  price  may  be  placed  in  the  pockets  of  the  proprietors  of  land,  they 
themselves  being  the  very  men  by  whom  this  infamous  law  was  made.  (Cheers.) 
.  .  .  The  bad  cultivation  of  the  land  provides  scarcely  any  employment  for  the 
labourers,  who  become  more  and  more  numerous  in  the  parish ;  the  competition 
which  there  is  amongst  these  labourers  for  the  little  employment  to  be  had  bringing 
down  the  wages  to  the  very  lowest  point  at  which  their  lives  can  be  kept  in  them. 
They  are  heart-broken,  spirit-broken,  despairing  men.  They  have  been  accustomed 
to  this  from  their  youth,  and  there  is  nothing  in  the  future  which  affords  a  single 
ray  of  hope.  We  have  attended  meetings  in  those  districts  (Wiltshire),  and  have 
been  received  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm  by_  theso  round-frocked  labourers.  They 
would  have  carried  us  from  the  carriage  which  we  had  travelled  in  to  the  hustings ; 
and  if  a  silly  squire  or  a  foolish  farmer  attempted  any  disturbance  or  improper 
interference,  the  round-frocked  men  were  all  round  us  in  an  instant,  ready  to  defend 
us ;  and  I  have  seen  them  hustle  many  a  powerful  man  from  the  field  in  which 
the  meeting  was  being  held.  (Cheers.)  If  there  be  one  view  of  this  question  which 


218  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF -JOHN   BRIGHT. 

more  stimulates  me  to  hard  work  in  this  cause  thau  another,  it  is  the  fearful  suffer- 
ings which  I  know  to  exist  amongst  the  rural  labourers  iu  almost  every  part  of  this 
kingdom.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  How  can  they  be  men  under  the  circum- 
stances in  which  they  live  ?  During  the  period  of  their  growing  up  to  manhood  they 
are  employed  at  odd  jobs  about  the  farm  or  farm-yard,  for  wages  which  are  merely 
those  of  little  children  in  Lancashire.  Every  man  who  marries  is  considered  an 
enemy  to  the  parish ;  every  child  who  is  born  into  the  world,  instead  of  being  a 
subject  of  rejoicing  to  its  parents  and  to  the  community,  is  considered  as  an 
intruder  come  to  compete  for  the  little  work  and  the  small  quantity  of  food  which 
is  left  to  the  population.  (Cheers.)  And  then  comes  toil,  year  after  year,  long 
years  of  labour,  with  little  remuneration ;  but  perhaps  at  sixty  or  seventy  a  gift  of 
20s.  and  a  coat,  or  of  £2  from  the  Agricultural  Society, because  they  have  brought  up 
a  large  family,  and  have  not  committed  that  worst  of  all  sins,  taking  money  from 
the  parochial  rates.  (Hear,  hear.)  One  of  their  own  poets  has  well  expressed 
their  condition : — 

'  A  blessed  prospect — 

To  slave  while  there  is  strength— in  age  the  workhouse, 

A  parish  shell  at  last,  and  the  little  bell 

Toll'd  hastily  for  a  pauper's  funeral.' 

.  .  .  Now  centuries  ago  the  people  of  this  country  were  engaged  in  a  fearful 
conflict  with  the  crown.  A  despotic  and  treacherous  monarch  assumed  to  himself 
the  right  to  levy  taxes  without  the  consent  of  Parliament  and  the  people.  That 
assumption  was  resisted.  This  fair  land  became  a  battle-field,  the  kingdom  was 
convulsed,  and  an  ancient  throne  overturned.  Well,  if  our  forefathers  200  years 
ago  resisted  the  attempt — if  they  refused  to  be  the  bondsmen  of  a  king,  shall  we  be 
the  born  thralls  of  an  aristocracy^  like  ours  ?  (Loud  cheers,  and  shouts  of  '  No,  no, 
no.')  Shall  we  who  struck  the  lion  down,  shall  we  pay  the  wolf  homage  ?  or  shall 
we  not,  by  a  manly  and  united  expression  of  public  opinion,  at  once,  and  for  ever, 
put  an  end  to  this  giant  wrong  ?  "  (Loud  cheers.) 

» 

Mr.  W.  J.  Fox  was  the  next  speaker : — 

"When  experience  has  taught  the  most  backward  of  them  to  acknowledge  that 
at  last  you  have  rightly  guided  them  in  the  course  of  peace,  prosperity,  and  of 
social  advancement ;  oh,  then,  it  will  be  the  disposition  of  mankind  at  large  to 
render  honour  to  the  record  of  the  historians  to  whom  honour  is  due,  and  in  that 
sort  of  pyramid  which  the  world  will  pile  in  commemoration  of  this  grand  event, 
of  this  peaceful,  just,  and  fraternal  policy,  there  may  be  the  names  of  political  and 
parliamentary  leaders  at  the  base,  but  above  them  will  be  the  names  of  philosophers, 
our  Adam  Smith,  and  other  enlightened  men,  whose  works  made  the  subject  under- 
stood, and  prepared  the  way  for  those  blessed  changes ;  and  above  them  will  be  the 
practical  men,  your  Bright  and  Cobden,  and  their  fellow-labourers — (cheers) — the 
real  abolishers  of  the  Corn  Law,  so  far  as  individuals  are  able— above  them,  and 
above  all,  will  be  the  inscription  of  the  world's  gratitude  to  the  people  of  England, 
for  that  they  enforced  the  adoption  of  a  Free  Trade  policy."  (Vehement  cheering.) 

A  meeting  of  merchants,  bankers,  manufacturers,  traders 
and  others  was  held  at  the  Manchester  Town  Hall,  on  the 
23rd  of  December,  to  consider  the  best  means  of  aiding  the 
operations  of  the  National  Anti-Corn-Law  League.  Mr. 
Robert  Hyde  Greg  was  the  chairman.  Upwards  of  £60,000 
were  subscribed  iu  the  course  of  a  few  hours.  Twenty-three 
firms  gave  £1,000  each,  and  amongst  the  number  was  the  firm 
"  Messrs.  John  Bright  and  Brothers/' 

On  the  night  of  the  5th  of  January,  1846,  a  remarkable 
meeting  was  held  at  Goatacre,  a  village  six  miles  from  the 
town  of  Wootton-Basset,  Wiltshire.  The  population  of  Goatacre 
at  that  time  scarcely  exceeded  200,  and  consisted  nearly  altogether 


1846.J  AGITATING    UNDER    DIFFICULTIES.  219 

of  agricultural  labourers.  Similar  villages  or  hamlets  surrounded 
it  at  various  distances.  The  inhabitants  of  this  district  had 
suffered  severely  by  the  action  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and  some 
time  previously  they  formed  a  "  Reform  Society  "  and  decided 
to  hold  a  m.eeting  in  a  tent,  on  the  night  of  the  5th  of 
January,  for  the  purpose  of  petitioning  the  Queen  for  the 
total  abolition  of  the  Corn-Law.  However,  to  provide  a  tent 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  inhabitants  was  beyond  the 
combined  contributions  of  these  poor  people,  therefore  they  were 
compelled  to  assemble  together  in  the  cross  road  of  the 
village,  and  to  endure  the  inclemency  of  the  winter  night 
while  they  talked  over  their  common  sufferings.  A  hurdle 
supported  by  four  stakes,  driven  into  the  ground  beneath  a 
hedge  on  the  road-side,  formed  a  narrow  and  unsteady  platform, 
capable  of  supporting  only  the  chairman  and  one  speaker  at  a 
time.  Below  this  rustic  erection  were  placed  a  small  deal 
table  and  some  rush-seated  chairs,  borrowed  from  a  neighbour- 
ing cottage,  for  the  accommodation  of  the  reporters.  Four  or 
five  candles,  some  in  lanterns  and  others  sheltered  from  the 
wind  by  the  hands  that  held  them,  threw  a  dim  and  flickering 
light  upon  the  groups  on  this  spot,  around  which  were 
gathered  nearly  one  thousand  of  the  peasantry  of  Wiltshire, 
some  of  them  accompanied  by  their  wives  and  children,  who, 
thus  collected,  presented  a  wild  and  painful  appearance.  In 
the  shadows  of  the  night  the  distinctive  garb  of  their  class 
was  everywhere  discernible,  but  when  the  flitting  clouds  per- 
mitted the  moon  to  shine  brightly  on  their  faces,  in  them 
might  be  seen  written,  in  strong  and  unmistakeable  lines, 
anxiety,  supplication,  want,  hunger,  ever  responsive  in  expres- 
sion to  the  sentiments  and  statements  delivered  by  the  speakers, 
who  merely  described  in  plain,  unvarnished  language  the  miseries 
of  their  rural  auditors. 

David  Kell,  a  man  of  rather  advanced  age,  was  finally 
called  upon  to  preside,  and  he  stated  that  he  had  only  six 
shillings  a  week  for  his  labour  to  keep  himself,  his  wife,  and 
two  small  children.  £6  10s.  a  year  he  paid  for  his  house 
and  garden.  He  asked  what  was  it  they  were  sent  into  the 
world  for?  Was  it  not  for  the  benefit  of  society?  Had  God 
not  committed  to  them  a  talent,  and  would  He  not  require  the 
use  of  it  at  their  hands  ?  He  had  looked  upon  His  people  in 
Egypt,  had  seen  their  afflictions,  and  had  raised  up  Moses  to  be 
their  deliverer.  Again,  He  raised  up  Gideon  .to  deliver  them 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Midianites;  and  Cyrus  to  deliver  them 
from  Babylon,  when  His  people  were  in  captivity ;  and  to  come 


22ft  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (1846. 

nearer  to  their  own  time,  He  raised  up  Oliver  Cromwell  and 
many  others  to  do  what  was  to  be  done.  And  to-day,  had 
they  not  a  Cobden,  a  Bright,  and  a  Radnor. 

William  Burchell  next  climbed  on  to  the  hurdle  to  address 
the  gathering,  but  finding  a  difficulty  at  first  in  speaking,  one  of 
his  fellow-labourers  called  out : — "  Never  mind  about  a  word  or 
two;  hungry  men  can  understand  what  you  mean/'  The 
remark  was  re-echoed  by  many  voices.  He  said  that  those 
who  were  in  distress  should  come  forward  and  manfully  make 
their  distress  known  :  they  would  thus  show  the  necessity  for 
Free  Trade,  which  he  believed  to  be  the  only  remedy.  He  heard 
that  in  centuries  past  labouring  men  had  for  food,  bread,  butter, 
cheese,  beef,  pork  and  beer;  now  they  had  bad  potatoes  and 
salt.  He  was  often  thankful  that  the  streams  and  rivulets  were 
so  bountifully  spread  around  their  neighbourhood,  and  that 
taxation  could  not  be  written  on  their  bosoms.  He  was  past  forty 
years  of  age,  and  he  could  say  that  he  never  purchased  a  pound 
of  good  slaughtered  beef  fit  to  be  carried  into  the  market.  As 
to  mutton  he  had  purchased  a  little  of  that,  but  never  as  much 
as  would  average  a  pound  a  year  in  the  forty  years.  He  knew 
what  veal  was,  but  he  had  never  had  any  at  all.  Several  other 
labourers  gave  similar  testimony,  and  the  proposal  to  petition 
Her  Majesty  was  carried  unanimously. 

On  the  6th  of  January  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Corn 
Market,  St.  Nicholas  Square,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  and  6,000 
persons  assembled  there  to  welcome  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr. 
Cobden,  and  to  listen  to  their  speeches.  The  "  rnerrie  bells  " 
of  St.  Nicholas  rang  out  joyfully  in  commemoration  of 
the  event.  Special  trains  were  run  from  the  neighbouring 
towns  of  North  and  South  Shields,  Sunderland,  .and  Durham, 
for  the  convenience  of  persons  attending  the  meeting.  Sir 
John  Fife  was  in  the  chair. 

The  Liverpool  Amphitheatre  from  the  ground  floor  to  the  very 
roof  was  crowded  on  the  9th  of  January,  and  appeared  instinct 
with  life  and  animation.  Mr.  W.  Brown  was  in  the  chair.  Mr. 
William  Rathbone,  Mr.  Lawrence  Heywovth,  Mr.  R.  Cobden, 
Colonel  Thompson,  and  John  Bright  addressed  the  meeting. 

"At  this  moment  I  cannot  help  looking  back,"  said  Mr.  Bright;  "to  the  period 
when  I  first  formed  one  of  a  deputation  from  the  Anti- Corn-Law  League  to  visit  the 
town  and  port  of  Liverpool,  to  invite  its  large  and  enterprising  and  intelligent  popu- 
lation to  assist  us  in  the  great  contest  upon  which  we  were  then  entering.  I  -recol- 
lect that  although  there  was  then  a  large  audience  to  greet  us,  yet  it  was  felt  by 
everybody  that  in  your  town,  amongst  many  very  influential  persons,  there  was  an 
extreme  apathy  to  the  object  we  had  in  view.  We  have  proved,  however,  that  here, 
as  elsewhere,  by  persevering  labour,  by  honest  devotion  to  the  great  question,  and 
on  good  principle,  we  have  gradually  stimulated  our  friends  to  renewed  and  increased 


1846.J  AT    LEEDS.  221 

exertions,  and  have  diminished  to  a  very  large  extent  the  opposition  with  which  we 
were  met  by  those  who  did  not  coincide  with  us.  At  present  we  have,  I  believe, 
almost  the  whole  kingdom  in  favour  of  the  principles  which  we  have  expounded." 
(Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.) 

The  amount  subscribed  to  the  League  Fund  at  this  meeting 
was  £13,000. 

A  banquet  was  held  in  the  Music  Hall,  Leeds,  on  the  14th 
of  January,  and  about  400  of  the  inhabitants  were  present.  Mr. 
John  Druton  Ancock,  the  mayor,  presided.  Mr.  W.  Aldam, 
M.P.,  Mr.  E.  Baines,  jun.,  Colonel  Thompson,  and  Mr.  Cobden 
addressed  the  meeting.  "  We  have  had  hard  labours,  true 
enough/-*  said  Mr.  Bright  in  his  speech,  "  but  we  have  been 
cheered  by  your  approbation,  and  not  less  by  the  glorious  pro- 
spect which  is  ever  increasing/'  On  the  following  evening  both 
Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Bright  were  in  the  AthenaBum,  Carlisle, 
speaking  to  a  large  gathering,  which  had  assembled  under  the 
presidency  of  the  Mayor,  Mr.  J.  Steel. 

A  meeting  was  held  in  the  Free-trade  Hall,  on  the  16th  of 
January,  and  so  eager  were  the  people  to  gain  admission  that 
a  large  portion  of  the  seats  were  removed  from  the  platform  and 
the  body  of  the  hall  to  make  more  room,  and  yet  5,000  persons, 
it  was  reckoned,  had  to  be  shut  out.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Bright, 
Mr.  Cobden,  Mr.  Fox,  and  Mr.  George  Wilson  appeared  on  the 
platform,  handkerchiefs  and  hats  were  waved,  and  the  huzzas 
were  lusty  and  grand.  Mr.  Gr.  Wilson  was,  as  usual,  in  the 
chair,  and  Mr.  Cobden  said : — 

"I  believe  that  the  physical  gain  will  be  the  smallest  gain  to  humanity  from  the 
success  of  this  principle.  I  look  further ;  I  see  in  the  Free  Trade  principle  that 
which  shall  act  on  the  moral  world  as  the  principle  of  gravitation  in  the  universe — 
drawing  men  together,  thrusting  aside  the  antagonism  of  race,  and  creed,  and  lan- 
guage, and  uniting  us  in  the  bonds  of  eternal  peace.  (Cheers.)  I  have  looked  even 
further.  I  have  speculated  and  probably  dreamt,  in  the  dim  future — ay,  a  thousand 
years  hence — I  have  speculated  on  what  the  effect  of  the  triumph  of  this  principle 
may  be.  I  believe  that  the  effect  will  be  to  change  the  face  of  the  world,  so  as  to 
introduce  a  system  of  government  entirely  distinct  from  that  which  now  prevails. 
I  believe  that  the  desire  and  the  motives  for  large  and  mighty  empires — for  gigantic 
armies  and  great  navies — for  those  materials  which  are  used  for  the  destruction  of 
life  and  the  desolation  of  the  rewards  of  labour — will  die  away ;  I  believe  that  such 
things  will  cease  to  be  necessary  or  to  be  used,  when  man  becomes  one  family,  and 
freely  exchanges  the  fruits  of  his  labour  with  his  brother- man  ''  (Cheers.) 

"I  do  not  pretend  to  understand  exactly  what  our  constitution  is  made  of," 
next  remarked  Mr.  Bright  during  the  course  of  his  lengthy  speech;  "whether  it 
stands  upon  a  point  or  a  pivot  so  nicely  balanced  that  it  may  be  easily  overturned ; 
but  I  have  no  idea  that  it  is  of  a  construction  so  fragile  that  it  will  be  overturned 
because  we  have  plenty  to  eat.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  .  .  .  Have  not  you 
found  that  whenever  they  (the  Protectionists)  have  been  the  nursing-fathers  of  trade 
it  has  not  answered :  the  child  of  Protection  has  always  been  a  starved  child  and 
decrepit,  and  has  never  attained  to  maturity  and  manhood.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  Wo 
ask  for  what  is  very  simple.  We  say,  Surely  as  much  food  as  a  man  can  buy,  with 
as  much  wages  as  a  man  can  get,  for  as  much  work  as  a  man  can  do,  is  not  more 
than  the  natural,  inalienable  birthright  of  every  man  whom  God  has  created  with 
strength  to  labour  and  with  hands  to  work.  Now  that  is  the  question ;  that  is  th» 


222  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  p846. 

petition ;  that  is  the  simple  demand  which  now  arises  from  this  great  meeting,  and 
made  by  the  millions  who  are  represented  here."     (Cheers.) 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  did  not  dispute  the  existence  of 
the  distress,  had  the  effrontery  to  recommend  the  destitute  to 
take  a  pinch  of  curry  powder  in  water,  to  allay  their  cravings  for 
food.  The  noble  Duke  might  have  further  pointed  out  that  it  was 
amazing  how  little  people  could  live  upon  if  they  tried,  and 
quoted,  for  example,  that  Franklin  and  his  fellow-travellers  on 
the  North  Pole  Expedition  fared  on  a  pair  of  leather  breeches  for 
many  days,  but,  of  course,  not  for  the  poor  people  to  imitate  the 
experiment ;  for  leather  breeches  would  be  too  expensive  a  diet, 
and  if  taught  to  indulge  in  it,  they  might  have  a  hankering  for 
the  dukes'  and  the  squires'  nether  garments. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

OVERTHROW  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS. 

Opening  of  Parliament,  and  the  Discussions  respecting  the  Corn  Laws  and  the  Dis- 
tress— Sir  R.  Peel's  Recommendation — Mr.  Bright  speaking  on  behalf  of  his 
absent  Friend — The  Breaking-up  of  Political  Ties — Mr.  Disraeli's  Attacks  on 
Sir  Robert  Peel — The  Corn  Laws  Abolished  by  the  House  of  Lords. 

THE  session  of  Parliament  of  1846  opened  on  the  22nd  of  January, 
and  it  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  the  history  of  Free 
Trade.  Her  Majesty,  in  her  speech,  which  was  delivered  in 
person,  shadowed  forth  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws.  The 
House  of  Commons  was  crowded,  and  when  Sir  Robert  Peel  rose 
the  full  gaze  and  attention  of  all  were  directed  to  him.  Early  in 
his  speech  he  admitted  that  on  the  question  of  the  Corn  Laws  his 
opinions  had  undergone  a  complete  change.  This  announcement 
was  received  with  triumphant  cheering  from  the  opposition 
benches,  but  the  ministerial  was  silent.  The  Prime  Minister 
then  proceeded  to  show  that  all  the  grounds  on  which  "  Pro- 
tection to  native  industry  "  was  advocated,  had  been  proved  to 
be  wholly  untenable,  and  he  thus  concluded  his  speech : — 

"I  am  ready  to  incur  its  responsibilities,  to  bear  its  sacrifices,  to  confront  its 
honourable  penis ;  but  I  will  not  retain  it  with  mutilated  power  and  shackled  au- 
thority. (Cheers.)  I  will  not  stand  at  the  helm  during  the  tempestuous  night,  if 
the  helm  is  not  allowed  freely  to  traverse.  I  will  not  undertake  to  direct  the  course 
of  the  vessel  by  observations  taken  in  the  year  1842.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  will  reserve  to 
myself  the  unfettered  power  of  judging  what  will  be  for  the  public  interest.  I  do 
not  desire  to  be  the  minister  of  England ;  but  while  I  am  minister  of  England  I  will 
hold  office  by  no  servile  tenure  (loud  cheers).  I  will  hold  office  unshackled  by  any 
other  obligation  than  that  of  consulting  the  public  interests,  and  providing  for  the 
public  safety."  (Great  cheering.) 

On  the  27th  of  January  the  Strangers'  Gallery  of  the  House 
of  Commons  was  crowded,  and  the  passages  and  the  streets  to 
the  House  were  hardly  passable.  There  were  not  less  than  400 
members  of  Parliament  in  their  seats,  and  the  seats  below  the 
bar  were  filled  with  peers  and  other  distinguished  visitors.  Prince 
Albert,  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  and  the  Earl  of  Jersey  were 
present.  Sir  Robert  Peel,  in  the  midst  of  great  interest,  un- 
folded the  ministerial  plan  of  Free  Trade.  Its  chief  charac- 
teristic was  the  elaborate  attempt  at  equalisation.  It  embraced 
every  class,  and  touched  every  article.  The  debate  was  adjourned 
to  the  9th  of  February,  and  was  continued  on  the  10th,  lltb, 


224  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  \184A 

12th,  13th,  and  16th.  On  the  latter  date  Sir  Robert  Peel  rose 
about  a  quarter  to  ten  o'clock,  and  spoke  till  one  o'clock,  deliver- 
ing a  most  powerful  and  earnest  speech  with  remarkable  grace, 
which  seemed  to  entrance  his  auditors. 

"These  sad  times  may  recur,"  said  Sir  R.  Peel.  "The  years  of  plenteousness 
may  have  ended  and  the  years  of  dearth  may  have  come;  and  again  you  may  have  to 
offer  the  unavailing  expressions  of  sympathy,  and  the  urgent  exhortations  to  patient 
resignation.  Commune  with  your  own  hearts  and  answer  me  this  question :  Will 
your  assurances  of  sympathy  be  less  consolatory,  will  your  exhortations  to  patience 
be  less  impressive,  if,  with  your  willing  consent,  the  Corn  Law  shall  have  then  ceased 
to  exist  ?  Will  it  be  no  satisfaction  to  you  to  reflect  that  by  your  own  act  you  have 
been  relieved  of  the  grievous  responsibility  of  regulating  the  supply  of  food? 
(Cheers.)  Will  you  not  then  cherish  with  delight  the  reflection  that,  in  this  the 
present  hour  of  comparative  prosperity,  yielding  to  no  clamour,  impelled  by  no  fear 
— except,  indeed,  that  provident  fear  which  is  the  mother  of  safety— you  had 
anticipated  the  evil  day,  and  long  before  its  advent  had  trampled  on  every  impedi- 
ment to  the  free  circulation  of  the  Creator's  bounty?  (Cheers.)  When  you  are 
again  exhorting  a  suffering  people  to  fortitude  under  their  privations,  when  you  are 
telling  them,  '  These  are  the  chastenings  of  an  allwise  and  merciful  Providence,  sent 
for  some  inscrutable  but  just  and  beneficent  purpose — it  maybe,  to  humble  our  pride,  or 
to  punish  our  unfaithfulness,  or  to  impress  us  with  the  sense  of  our  own  nothingness 
and  dependence  on  His  mercy; '  when  you  are  thus  addressing  your  fellow- subjects, 
and  encouraging  them  to  bear  without  repining  the  dispensations  of  Providence,  may 
God  grant  that  by  your  decision  of  this  night  you  may  have  laid  in  store  for  your- 
selves the  consolation  of  reflecting  that  such  calamities  are,  in  truth,  the  dispensation 
of  Providence — that  they  have  not  been  caused,  they  have  not  been  aggravated  by 
laws  of  man  restricting,  in  the  hour  of  scarcity,  the  supply  of  food."  (Loud  and 
prolonged  cheering.) 

The  following  evening,  the  1 7th  of  February,  the  debate  was 
resumed,  and  its  great  feature  was  that  the  most  prominent 
members  of  the  League  broke  silence,  and  descended  among  the 
rhetorical  gladiators  of  the'  Commons.  At  this  time  Mr. 
Cobden  was  seriously  ill  through  over-exhaustion  and  a  severe 
cold,  which  brought  on  nervous  pains  in  the  side  of  the  head  and 
terminated  in  an  abscess.  Mr.  John  Bright  was  therefore 
selected  by  the  Free-traders  to  express  their  intentions.  In 
one  journal  the  scene  was  thus  described  : — "  The  singularity 
of  his  position  as  he  rose  to  address  the  (miscalled)  Oppo- 
sitionists and  Ministerialists,  seemed  to  animate  him  to  an 
unwonted  pitch  of  rhetorical  excellence;  his  periods  were,  as 
usual,  adroitly  and  elegantly  turned ;  but,  in  addition  to  this, 
they  alternately  glittered  with  satire  and  burnt  with  energy,  and 
thrilled  with  a  tone  even  occasionally  pathetic.  Nor  was  there 
anything  forced  or  conventional  in  his  speech ;  he  became 
effective  without  apparent  labour,  and  never  appeared  to  strive 
for  the  attention  of  his  auditors.  And,  indeed,  this  very  aspect 
of  being  spontaneous  and  unaffected  lent  to  each  opinion  its 
principal  interest.  There  is  something  absolutely  noble,  there  is 
something  admirable,  there  is  something  great  in  the  pure  and 
generous  eloquence  with  which  the  hon.  member  eulogised  his 


1&46.]  DEBATE   ON   THE   CORN   LAWS.  226 

former  antagonist,  the  courageous,  the  large-spirited,  and  now 
popular  Sir  Robert  Peel." 

Mr.  B  right's  speech  was  four  columns  and  a-half  in  length. 
Referring  to  the  Protectionists,  he  said : — 

11  All  the  newspapers  which  have  the  widest  circulation  are  almost  without 
exception  in  favour  of  the  Government  proposal.  The  public  laugh  at  your  predic- 
tions, and  you  yourselves  disbelieve  them.  We  have  heard  of  men  going  merrily  to 
battle;  there  is  the  chance  of  escape,  and  the  hope  of  such  renown  as  successful 
battle  gives ;  we  have  even  heard  of  some  reckless  and  daring  criminals  who  have 
joked  upon  the  scaffold ;  but  never  have  we  seen  men  sliding  into  the  unfathomable 
abyss  of  ruin  with  faces  so  jovial  and  complacent  as  those  of  the  honourable  Pro- 
tectionists opposite.  (Loud  laughter  from  both  sides.;  You  say  the  right  hon. 
baronet  is  a  traitor.  It  would  ill  become  me  to  attempt  his  defence  after  the  speech 
he  delivered  last  night— (loud  cheers  from  the  Opposition) — a  speech  I  will  venture 
to  say  more  powerful  and  more  to  be  admired  than  any  speech  which  has  been 
delivered  in  this  House  within  the  memory  of  any  member  of  it.  (Hear,  hear,  and 
cheers.)  I  watched  the  right  hon.  baronet  as  he  went  home  last  night,  and  for  the 
first  time  I  envied  his  feelings.  (Cheers.)  That  speech  has  been  circulated  by  scores 
of  thousands  throughout  this  kingdom  and  is  speeding  to  every  part  of  the  world, 
and  wherever  there  is  a  man  who  loves  justice,  and  wherever  there  is  a  suffering 
creature  whom  you  have  trampled  under  foot,  that  speech  will  give  joy  to  the  heart 
of  the  one  and  hope  to  the  heart  of  the  other.  (Loud  cheers.  At  these  words  Sir 
K.  Peel  was  moved,  and  the  tears  rose  to  his  eyes.)  You  chose  the  right  hon.  baronet 
— why  ?  because  he  was  the  ablest  man  of  the  party.  You  always  said  so,  and  you 
will  not  deny  it  now.  Why  was  he  the  ablest  ?  Because  he  had  great  experience, 
profound  attainments,  and,  as  you  have  always  said,  an  honest  regard  for  the  good 
of  the  country.  You  placed  him  in  office.  When  a  man  is  in  office  he  is  not  the 
same  man  that  he  is  when  in  opposition.  (Laughter.)  The  present  generation, 
or  posterity,  does  not  deal  as  mildly  with  men  in  government  as  with  those  in  oppo- 
sition. There  are  such  things  as  responsibilities  of  office.  (Cheers.)  Look  at  the 
population  of  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire,  and  ask  yourselves  whether,  with  all  your 
valour,  although  you  talk  of  raising  the  standard  of  Protection,  and  cry  'Down  with 
the  An  ti- Corn-Law  League,'  there  are  not  men  in  your  ranks — and  I  defy  them — 
who  will  take  the  bench  (the  Treasury)  pledged  to  a  maintenance  of  this  law  ? 
(Cheers.)  The  right  hon.  baronet  took  the  only  honourable  course.  He  resigned. 
He  told  you  by_  that  act,  '  I  can't  any  longer  do  what  you  want — I  can't  defend  your 
cause.'  The  right  hon.  baronet,  no  longer  your  minister,  came  back  the  minister  of 
the  Sovereign  and  of  the  people,  and  not  the  advocate  of  a  class  who  placed  him  at 
their  head  for  their  own  special  and  private  objects." 

The  cheers  and  expressions  of  approval  which  resounded 
through  the  House  indicated  that  what  had  been  uttered  was 
just  the  opinion  of  the  majority  present. 

The  debate  was  continued  on  the  19th,  and  on  the  evening  of 
the  20th  February,  when  Mr.  Disraeli  spoke  on  the  subject  and 
everybody  expected  a  treat,  the  hon.  gentleman  on  this  occasion 
dropped  his  style  of  invective,  and  made  a  plain  speech. 

The  debate  was  again  adjourned  to  the  23rd  of  February, 
and  continued  on  the  24th,  26th  and  27th.  Mr.  Cobden,  on  the 
latter  date,  addressed  the  House,  and  when  he  rose,  all  round 
him,  both  Ministers,  Free-traders,  and  Protectionists  set  up  a 
hearty  cheer,  as  if  to  mark  their  gratification  that  his  recent  ill- 
ness had  not  prevented  him  from  showing  himself  at  the  close  of 
the  scene  of  the  Corn  Law  discussion.  This  grateful  tribute  over, 
dead  silence  ensued,  amid  which  Mr.  Cobden  began  in  a  low 


226  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1840. 

voice.  As  he  went  on,  however,  he  gathered  strength  and 
warmed  to  his  subject.  He  stated  that  he  had  carefully  read 
over  every  word  of  the  debate,  and  it  appeared  to  him  that  all 
that  had  been  said  might  be  conveniently  distributed  under  two 
heads.  The  first  was  merely  the  invective  of  an  angry  party 
against  the  chief  whom  they  had  lost ;  the  second  treated  mainly 
of  the  propriety  of  appealing  to  the  country  before  legislating 
on  this  measure,  and  slightly  on  the  merits  of  the  case. 

The  division  took  place  the  same  evening,  when  the  Govern- 
ment gained  a  majority  of  97.  The  House  then  resolved  itself 
pro  forma  into  committee.  The  examination  of  the  voting 
showed  that  the  strength  of  the  Protectionists  consisted  mainly 
in  pocket  boroughs  and  nomination  counties,  and  that  in  al) 
large  constituencies  the  repealers  of  the  Corn  Laws  were  found 
to  predominate. 

On  the  2nd  of  March  the  House  went  again  into  committee, 
when  Mr.  Bright  spoke  in  favour  of  immediate  abolition.  The 
House  sat  again  on  the  3rd  and  6th  of  March,  and  on  the  last 
date  the  amendments  which  had  been  proposed  and  which 
threatened  fixed  duties  and  fixed  miniature  sliding  scales  were 
overthrown.  The  debate  was  continued  on  the  9th,  10th,  13th, 
16th,  17th,  20th,  23rd,  24th,  26th  and  27th  of  March.  The 
Protectionists,  chiefly  led  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  Lord  Worcester,  Lord 
George  Bentinck,  and  Mr.  Borthwick,  attempted  again  to  delay 
the  progress  or  mutilate  the  efficiency  of  the  bill,  but  they  were 
unsuccessful,  and  the  second  reading  was  carried  by  a  majority 
of  88  on  the  27th  of  March.  Sir  Robert  Peel  on  this  occasion 
nobly  observed  : — 

"  I  shall  carry  with,  me  the  satisfaction  of  reflecting  that,  during  the  course  of  my 
official  career,  my  object  has  been  to  mitigate  monopoly,  to  increase  the  demand  for 
industry,  to  remove  the  restrictions  upon  commerce,  to  equalise  the  burden  of  taxa- 
tion, and  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  those  who  toil." 

Lord  Palmerston  closed  the  debate  in  a  skilful  speech. 
Formerly  he  used  to  refer  to  Mr.  Cobden  as  "the  hon.  member 
for  Stockport,"  and  to  Mr.  Bright  as  "the  hon.  member  for 
Durham ; "  but  he  now  said  that  the  change  of  opinion  and 
policy  on  the  subject  of  the  Corn  Law,  which  the  Government 
had  so  practically  exhibited,  was  to  be  traced,  not  so  much  to 
the  experience  of  the  last  three  years  as  to  the  effect  of  the 
debates  of  the  last  four  sessions,  and,  turning  round  to  Mr. 
Cobden,  who  sat  behind  him,  "  to  the  exertions  of  my  hon. 
friend,  the  member  for  Stockport." 

The  delay  in  the  progress  of  the  measure  embarrassed  trade, 
as  all  commercial  transactions  had  for  a  long  period  been  suspended. 


1846.1       DIVISION   ON   THE   REPEAL   OF   THE   COEN   LAWS.          227 

The  staple  manufacture  of  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  was  almost 
paralyse*  1,  and  both  masters  and  men  were  driven  nearly  to  the 
verge  of  ruin.  The  delav  also  deranged  the  state  of  the  Corn 
Trade. 

On  the  4th  of  May  the  debate  was  renewed,  and  continued  on 
the  5th,  8th,  llth,  12th,  and  15th  of  May.  On  the  morning  of 
the  16th,  at  half-past  four,  as  the  sun  rose  and  broad  daylight 
streamed  into  the  FLmse,  the  division  took  place  on  the  third 
reading,  and  the  bill  was  passed  by  a  majority  of  98.  Mr.  Dis- 
raeli took  part  in  the  closing  scene,  contending  that  nothing  in 
the  condition  of  the  country — not  even  in  that  of  Ireland — jus- 
tified so  great  a  change  as  the  one  proposed.  The  change  he 
attributed  to  the  effects  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League — the  cause 
of  it  must  be  traced  to  the  energy  and  eloquence  of  a  commercial 
federation,  which, however,  was  more  remarkable  for  these  qualities 
than  for  knowledge  of  human  nature  or  of  political  science.  He 
next  slided  into  an  attack  upon  the  Premier,  stating  that  Sir  R. 
Peel  throughout  his  political  life  had  traded  on  the  intelligence 
of  others  ;  that  his  career  was  a  great  appropriation  clause;  that 
he  was  the  burglar  of  other  men's  intellects ;  that  in  our  whole 
history  there  was  no  statesman  who  had  committed  so  much  petty 
larceny  on  so  great  a  scale.  True,  that  minister  avowed  that  he 
was  not  humiliated  by  his  change  of  policy.  Humiliation  was  a 
matter  of  feeling,  depending  much  on  the  idiosyncrasy  of  the 
animal ;  but  if  Sir  Robert  Peel  did  not  feel  humiliated,  his  country 
ought.  He  had  bought  his  party  on  the  cheapest  and  had  sold 
it  on  the  dearest  terms.  Lord  John  Russell  pointed  out  that 
Mr.  Disraeli  was  much  happier  in  invective  than  in  argument, 
and  that  his  speech  had  little  relation  to  the  bill  before  them. 

Sir  R.  Peel  informed  the  House  that  he  foresaw  the  breaking 
up  of  political  ties  and  the  bitter  attacks  that  would  be  the 
consequence  of  the  change  in  his  policy ;  but  the  smallest  of 
the  penalties  which  he  contemplated  was  the  continuance 
of  the  venomous  assaults  of  Mr.  Disraeli.  He  who  now  re- 
viewed his  whole  political  career,  and  charged  him  with  con- 
tinuous petty  larcenies,  had  been  willing  in  1841  and  1842  to 
unite  with  him  in  his  political  fortunes,  and  had  given  him  the 
strongest  proof  of  political  confidence. 

"  I  have  a  strong  belief,"  added  Sir  R.  Peel,  "  that  the  greatest  object  which  we 
or  any  other  Government  can  contemplate  should  be  to  elevate  the  social  condition 
of  that  class  of  people  with  whom  we  are  brought  into  direct  relationship  by  the 
exercise  of  the  elective  franchise.  (Cheers.)  I  wish  to  convince  them  that  our 
object  has  been  so  to  apportion  taxation  that  we  shall  relieve  industry  and  labour 
from  any  undue  burden,  and  transfer  it  so  far  as  is  consistent  with  the  public  good 
to  those  who  are  better  enabled  to  bear  it.  I  look  to  the  present  peace  of  this 
country  ;  I  look  to  the  absence  of  all  sedition — to  the  absence  of  any  commitment 

p  2 


228  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1846. 

for  a  seditious  offence ;  I  look  to  the  calm  that  prevails  in  the  public  mind ;  I  look  to 
the  absence  of  all  disaffection  ;  I  look  to  the  increased  and  growing  public  confidence 
on  account  of  the  course  you  have  taken  in  relieving  trade  from  restrictions,  and 
industry  from  unjust  burdens ;  where  there  was  dissatisfaction,  I  see  contentment ; 
where  there  was  turbulence,  I  see  peace ;  where  there  was  disloyalty,  I  see  loyalty ; 
I  see  the  disposition  to  confide  in  you,  and  not  to  agitate  questions  that  are  at  the 
foundations  of  your  institutions ;  deprive  me  of  power  to-morrow ;  you  can  be 
neither  depriving  me  of  the  consciousness  that  I  have  exercised  the  powers  committed 
to  me  from  no  corrupt  or  interested  motives  (loud  cheers),  nor  for  the  gratification  of 
ambition  or  any  personal  object.  (Cheers.)  But  I  have  laboured  to  maintain  peace 
abroad  consistently  with  national  honour  and  dignity — to  uphold  every  public  right — 
to  increase  public  confidence  in  the  justice  of  your  decisions,  and,  by  the  means  of  equal 
law,  to  dispense  with  all  coercive  powers,  relying  on  the  attachment  and  loyalty  of 
the  great  body  of  the  people."  (Protracted  cheering.) 

Mr.  Villiers's  speech  most  fitly  closed  this  debate. 

During  the  debates  Mr.  JB.  Disraeli  and  Lord  G.  Bentinck 
charged  Sir  R.  Peel  with  urging  Lord  Liverpool  in  1825  to 
settle  the  Catholic  Question,  and  with  joining  in  1827  the 
persecution  unscrupulously  raised  against  Canning,  under  the 
pretence  that  he  was  about  to  undertake  the  settlement  of  the 
question.  The  charge  was  denied  by  Sir  Robert  Peel.  "Among 
the  libellers  of  Mr.  Canning/'  retorted  an  editor  of  that  day, 
"  Mr.  Disraeli  stood  prominent  as  the  most  virulent  and  the 
most  vindictive.  The  grave  itself  afforded  no  shelter  from  his 
persevering  enmity. 

'  So  fierce  or  furious  was  his  hate, 
It  passed  the  bounds  of  mortal  fate, 
And  died  not  with  the  dead.'  " 

The  quietude  of  the  country  in  the  midst  of  much  privation 
and  commercial  suffering  arose  from  the  confident  hope  of  the 
ministerial  measures,  and  great  interest  was  taken  in  the  intro- 
duction of  the  bill  into  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  25th  of 
May.  The  body  of  the  House  was  filled  with  a  greater  throng 
of  peers  than  had  been  there  since  the  days  of  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion and  the  Reform  Bill.  The  gallery  was  crowded,  and 
altogether  the  scene  was  exceedingly  animated,  evincing  the 
grave  importance  of  the  measure.  The  Earl  of  Ripon  moved 
the  second  reading  of  the  bill.  Lord  Stanley  made  a  speech 
against  the  bill,  which  was  a  brilliant  piece  of  declamation; 
he  spoke  for  upwards  of  three  hours,  and  during  the  whole  of 
that  time  sustained  the  attention  of  the  House.  Lord  Gran- 
ville,  in  his  first  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords,  which  was  a 
neat  and  pointed  one,  advocated  Free-trade  principles ;  but  the 
most  philosophical  of  all  the  speeches  was  delivered  by  Earl 
Grey.  He  dispelled  the  visionary  prairies,  where  harvests  spring 
without  labour,  and  corn  might  be  had  for  the  asking.  "  While 
it  expounded  the  past,  it  illuminated  the  future.  It  was  a 


1846.1  THE   BILL   IN   THE   HOUSE   OP   LORDS.  229 

chart  that  laid  down  the  rocks  and  quicksands  to  be  avoided, 
and  at  the  same  time  pointed  out 

'  Each  beacon  light 
For  pilots  to  hold  course  aright.'  " 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  29th  of  May  the 
division  on  the  second  reading  took  place,  and  was  carried  by 
a  majority  of  47.  Mr.  John  Bright  listened  to  most  of  the 
debates  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

The  jubilation  at  the  victory  in  passing  the  bill  in  the  House 
of  Lords  was  not  confined  to  the  factory  operative  and  agri- 
cultural labourer,  but  even  farmers  rejoiced ;  and  a  farmer  at 
Furness,  Derbyshire,  in  order  to  mark  the  event,  invited  his 
neighbours  to  witness  the  christening  and  turning  out  to  grass 
of  three  fine  heifers,  to  which  he  gave  the  names  of  Cobden, 
Bright,  and  Wilson. 

The  quiet  undercurrent  of  agricultural  opinion  was  setting 
strongly  and  steadily  towards  Free  Trade,  and  farmers  adopted 
improvements  for  the  better  cultivation  of  their  land.  They 
were  aware  that  while  the  Corn  Laws  were  in  operation  agricul- 
ture was  miserably  depressed,  and  that  no  less  than  five  com- 
mittees of  the  House  of  Commons  were  appointed  to  investigate 
the  causes  of  its  misfortune,  but  the  landed  gentry  and  the 
aristocracy  were  against  the  abolition  of  laws  that  had  done  so 
much  to  increase  the  value  of  their  property.  The  leaders  of 
these  gentlemen  who  professed  to  be  learned  filled  their  heads  with 
the  opinions  of  other  learned  professors,  in  preference  to  think- 
ing for'  themselves,  and  their  admirers  followed  them  like  pack- 
horses  in  the  same  track. 

On  the  25th  of  June,  after  seven  years  of  popular  agitation, 
and  the  last  five  months  of  Parliament  conflict,  the  bill  for  the 
repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  was  carried  in  the  House  of  Lords ;  and, 
strange  to  state,  the  same  night  Sir  R.  Peel  was  defeated  in  the 
House  of  Commons  by  a  majority  of  73  on  a  Coercion  Bill  for 
Ireland,  and  his  tenure  of  power  was  thus  brought  to  a  close. 
The  noble  baronet  saw  the  issue  from  the  beginning,  and 
was  aware  that  the  prosperity  of  his  country  could  be  pur- 
chased only  by  a  greater  amount  of  self-sacrifice  than  was  ever 
yet  required  of  any  minister. 

After  the  division  a  large  number  of  Free-traders  remained 
in  the  lobby  of  the  House,  and  as  Sir  Robert  Peel  passed 
through  to  the  cloak-room  he  was  greeted  with  several  rounds 
of  enthusiastic  cheers.  During  the  last  six  months  he  had  been 
"  the  butt  of  every  shaft  which  faction  could  aim,  disappoint- 


230  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BEIGHT.  [1846 

inent  wing,  and  malignity  tip  with  poison/'  but  his  labours 
were  for  the  public  good,  and  he  held  his  position  firmly  until 
he  had  accomplished  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws.  On  the 
evening  of  the  29th  of  June,  in  announcing  in  the  House  of 
Commons  the  resignation  of  the  Cabinet,  he  thus  concluded  his 
speech,  while  the  rows  of  squires  on  the  back  benches,  whose 
lungs  had  many  times  bellowed  defiance  to  the  modest  apostles, 
were  silent : — 

"  The  name  which  ought  to  be,  and  will  be,  associated  with  the  success  of  those 
measures,  is  the  name  of  a  man  who,  acting  I  believe  from  pure  and  disinterested 
motives,  has  with  untiring  energy,  by  appeals  to  reason  (loud  cheers),  enforced 
their  necessity  with  an  eloquence  the  more  to  be  admired  because  it  was  unaffected 
and  unadorned  (cheers)  ;  the  name  which  ought  to  be  associated  with  the  success 
of  these  measures  is  the  name  of  Richard  Cobden  (loud  and  protracted  cheering) . 
Sir,  I  now  close  the  address  which  it  has  been  my  duty  to  make  to  the  House,  thank- 
ing them  sincerely  for  the  favour  with  which  they  have  listened  to  me  in  performiug 
this  last  act  of  my  official  career.  Within  a  few  hours,  probably,  the  power  which 
I  have  held  for  the  period  of  five  years  will  be  surrendered  into  the  hands  of 
another — without  repining — I  can  say  without  complaint — with  a  more  lively 
recollection  of  the  support  and  confidence  I  have  received  than  of  the  opposition 
which  during  the  recent  period  I  met  with.  (Cheers.)  I  shall  leave  office,  I  fear, 
with  a  name  severely  censured  by  many  hon.  gentlemen,  who,  on  public  principle, 
deeply  regret  the  severance  of  party  ties — who  deeply  regret  the  severance,  not  f mm 
any  interested  or  personal  motives,  but  because  they  believe  fidelity  to  party 
engagements — the  existence  and  maintenance  of  a  great  party — to  constitute  a 

fowerful  instrument  of  government ;  I  shall  surrender  power  severely  censured, 
fear  again,  by  many  hon.  gentlemen,  who,  from  no  interested  motive,  have  adhered 
to  the  principle  of  protection  as  important  to  the  welfare  and  interest  of  the 
country ;  I  shall  leave  a  name  execrated  by  every  monopolist — (loud  cheering  from 
the  Opposition) — who,  from  less  honourable  motives  maintained  protection  for  his 
own  individual  benefit  (continued  cheering),  but  it  may  be  that  I  shall  leave  a 
name  sometimes  remembered  with  expressions  of  goodwill  in  those  places  which  are 
the  abodes  of  men  whose  lot  it  is  to  labour,  and  to  earn  their  daily  bread  by  the 
sweat  of  their  brow — a  name  remembered  with  expressions  of  goodwill,  when  they 
shall  recreate  their  exhausted  strength  with  abundant  and  uutaxed  food,  the 
sweeter  because  it  is  no  longer  leavened  by  a  sense  of  injustice  !  " 

Both  sides  of  the  House  applauded,  and  when  Sir  Robert 
Peel  was  leaving  the  House  of  Commons,  the  multitude  unbared 
their  heads  out  of  profound  respect  to  him  who  finally  assisted 
in  permanently  placing  on  the  keystone  that  completed  the 
arch  over  which  was  to  be  conveyed  cheap  bread  to  feed  the 
poor ;  and  this  was  the  first  step  to  the  fulfilment  of  that  grand 
vision  of  Christianity — the  coming  of  that  time  towards  which 
prophecy  points  and  faith  gazes — the  time  when  the  dividing 
walls  of  a  narrow  nationalism  shall  be  thrown  down,  and  all  the 
nations  of  the  world  at  heart  be  blended  into  one  great  and  free 
commonwealth, 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

CELEBRATING  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  LEAGUE. 

Rejoicing  at  Rochdale — Anti-Corn-Law  League  Suspended — Handsome  Present  to 
Mr.  R.  Cobden — An  Incident  in  the  Early  Career  of  Cobden — A  National  Gift 
to  Mr.  Bright — His  Library. 

THERE  was  great  rejoicing  throughout  the  country  when  the 
Corn  Laws  were  abolished,  and  the  men  who  pressed  the  Bill 
forward  to  its  completion  became  illustrious,  for — 

"  The  path  of  duty  is  the  way  to  glory." 

The  staunch  Free-traders  of  Rochdale  being  anxious  to 
testify  to  their  exultation  at  the  passing  of  the  Bill  repealing  the 
Corn  Laws  by  ringing  the  bells  of  the  parish  church,  the 
churchwardens  held  a  meeting  on  the  26th  of  June,  1846,  in 
the  vestry,  which  gave  them  the  full  possession  of  the  church, 
and  the  ringers  were  outside,  ready  for  action  as  soon  as  they 
received  instructions  from  within.  At  two  o'clock  a  train  from 
Manchester  arrived,  and  a  gentleman  brought  a  newspaper, 
which  contained  a  report  of  the  passing  of  the  Bill  on  the  25th 
in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  wardens,  ringers,  and  a  few  friends 
proceeded  to  the  belfry  at  once,  and  locked  the  door  and  barri- 
caded it  with  a  large  piece  of  wood,  to  prevent  any  one 
without  from  interfering.  This  being  done,  the  bells  struck  up 
a  merry  peal — 

"  In  cadence  sweet !  now  dying  all  away, 
Now  pealing  loud  again,  and  louder  still, 
Clear  and  sonorous  as  the  gale  comes  on." 

But  hark !  what  is  that  knocking?  It  is  the  vicar,  Dr.  Moles- 
worth,  demanding  admittance.  No  attention  was  paid  to  him. 
His  reverence  went  away,  but  soon  returned,  accompanied  by  his 
own  warden,  the  clerk,  and  the  grave-digger.  Admittance 
being  still  refused,  a  crowbar  was  inserted  by  the  grave-digger, 
which  threatened  the  destruction  of  the  door.  Seeing  it  give 
way  Mr.  Procter,  one  of  the  wardens,  opened  it,  and  let  the 
party  in.  The  vicar  ordered  the  ringers  to  desist,  and  leave  the 
steeple  immediately,  requesting  the  clerk  to  record  the  names 
of  those  present.  Mr.  Procter  said  he  had  given  the  orders  and 
would  take  the  responsibility,  and  that  the  bells  were  under  the 


232  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

control  of  the  wardens,  and  not  the  vicar.  The  clerk  seized  Mr. 
Thomas  Livsey,  a  formidable  Free-trader,  by  the  collar,  with  the 
intention  of  turning  him  out,  but  finding  that  he  had  over- 
estimated his  strength,  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  the  task.  Mr. 
Procter  appealed  to  the  vicar  on  the  propriety  of  ringing  the  bells 
on  such  an  occasion,  but  Dr.  Molesworth  would  not  consent,  and 
the  Free-traders  consoled  themselves  with  the  fact  that  they  had 
rung  the  bells  for  more  than  an  hour  in  commemoration  of  the 
triumphant  issue  of  their  cause. 

During  the  seven  years'  campaign,  Rochdale  had  played  an 
important  part,  and  was  one  of  the  most  Liberal  supporters  of 
the  Anti-Corn-Law  League ;  moreover,  it  was  the  first  to  cele- 
brate the  Free-trade  victory,  and,  on  the  8th  of  July,  1846,  the 
celebration  took  place  amid  great  enthusiasm.  The  morning 
opened  with  a  drizzling  rain,  that  continued  almost  without 
intermission  during  the  whole  of  the  day.  The  party,  notwith- 
standing this,  began  to  assemble  before  nine  in  the  morning,  and 
happiness  beamed  on  every  face,  and — 

"  Swept  the  furrow'd  lines  of  anxious  thought  away." 

There  were  hundreds  of  flags,  made  specially  for  the  occasion. 
Some  were  very  beautiful,  being  made  of  silk  of  the  brightest 
hue.  Those  who  had  no  flags  or  banners  displayed  their  in- 
genuity in  contriving  substitutes.  Branches  of  oak,  sycamore, 
laurel,  rhododendron,  and  holly,  intermingled  with  flowers,  were 
displayed  before  places  of  business  and  at  private  residences. 
The  procession  started  from  Cronkeyshaw,  near  Mr.  Bright's 
factories,  at  ten  o'clock.  The  following  was  the  order  : — Band ; 
horsemen,  three  abreast ;  tradesmen,  four  abreast ;  band ;  the 
trades,  four  abreast — viz.,  bricklayers,  ironfounders,  stonemasons, 
printers,  painters,  and  plasterers ;  machine-makers,  skip-makers, 
corn-millers,  who  carried  on  a  square  tastily-decorated  base  a 
huge  loaf,  weighing  about  60  Ibs.,  the  sides  of  which  were  in- 
scribed with  the  names  of  Cobden  and  'Bright.  Beside  it 
was  carried  on  a  thin  pole  a  loaf  of  ridiculously  diminutive  dimen- 
sions, emblematic  of  the  stinted  weight  given  by  Monopoly. 
Next  followed  the  calico-printers,  fullers,  curriers,  lamplighters, 
scavengers,  band,  and  mill  hands,  four  abreast,  from  the  fac- 
tories of  E.  and  H.  Howard,  Jacob  Tweedale  and  Sons,  J.  and  R. 
Tweedale,  Charles  Haigh,  Thomas  Holland  and  Son,  E.  G.  Kay, 
John  Hargreaves,  John  Whitworth,  John  Rhodes  and  Bros., 
Samuel  Taylor  and  Sons,  James  Kay  and  Sons ;  band,  John 
Bright  Bros.  Here  we  may  remark  that  one  of  the  largest  and 
g;iyest-looking  devices  in  the  procession  belonged  to  this  firm. 


1846.]         CELEBRATING   THE   TRIUMPH   OP   THE   LEAGUE.  233 

In  a  large  waggon,  drawn  by  six  fine  horses,  there  had  been  con- 
structed a  large  apartment,  the  pillars,  sides,  and  roof  of  which 
were  neatly  formed  of  intermingled  leaves  and  flowers.  Several 
large  openings  were  left  to  serve  as  windows,  and  underneath  the 
roof  there  were  perched  several  stuffed  birds.  The  interior  of  this 
floral  house  was  occupied  by  merchants  of  various  countries — 
Egyptian,  Turkish,  Greek,  American,  all  in  appropriate  costume, 
and  around  and  before  them  were  arranged  the  various  commo- 
dities in  which  they  dealt,  either  as  purchasers  or  sellers,  such  as 
raw  cotton,  twist,  calico  pieces,  &c.  Next  followed  the  hands  of 
Lord  and  Ashworth,  John  Butterworth  and  Bros.,  James 
Procter  and  Sons,  Collinge  and  Ashworth,  Booth  and  Hoyle; 
band  ;  E.  Briggs  and  Co.,  George  Haworth,  Pagan,  Ogden,  and 
Hastings  and  Co.,  Lumb  and  Boswell,  J.  and  J.  Bottomley, 
Robert  Kelsall,  John  Ashworth  and  Sons ;  band ;  Kelsall  and 
Bartlemore,  William  Holt,  Shawcross,  James  Butterworth; 
band.  The  rear  of  the  procession  was  brought  up  by  fifty-five 
carriages,  many  of  them  belonging  to  the  mill-owners  of  the 
town  and  neighbourhood.  One  of  the  carriages  in  the  procession 
was  that  of  Mr.  John  Bright,  containing  the  hon.  member 
himself,  Mr.  Elihu  Burritt,  who  was  then  the  American  Consul 
at  Birmingham,  Mr.  Henry  Clapp,  of  the  United  States,  and 
Mr.  Henry  Rawson,  one  of  the  executive  council  of  the  League. 
Another  carriage,  drawn  by  four  horses,  contained  Mr.  Thomas 
Woolley  and  Mr.  Hickin,  secretary  of  the  League.  Amongst 
the  other  carriages  were  those  of  Mr.  Thomas  Bright,  Miss 
Bright,  Mr.  William  Petrie,  Mr.  John  Petrie,  Mr.  Joseph 
Schofield,  Mr.  James Tweedale,  Mr.  Abraham  Tweedale,  Mr.  James 
King,  Mr.  Henry  Kelsall,  Mr.  George  Ashworth,  and  Mr.  Midgley. 
The  number  of  persons  that  walked  in  the  procession  was  esti- 
mated at  12,000.  It  occupied  one  hour  and  thirty-five  minutes 
in  passing  a  certain  point  on  the  route.  The  workpeople  of  Messrs. 
Bright  numbered  700,  and  carried  25  silk  flags.  The  following 
gentlemen  on  horseback,  and  bearing  white  batons,  acted  as 
marshals : — Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  jun.,  Mr.  Samuel  Taylor,  jun., 
Mr.  G.  Procter,  Mr.  Charles  Walker,  Mr.  Thomas  Livsey,  Mr. 
Grattan  Bright,  Mr.  Samuel  Heape,  Mr.  William  James  Sleath, 
Mr.  Samuel  Bright,  Mr.  Thomas  Hoyle,  Mr.  Robert  Ashworth, 
Mr.  Robert  Tweedale,  Mr.  R.  L.  Tweedale,  Mr.  Charles  Heape, . 
Mr.  James  Pilling,  Mr.  Samuel  Stott,  Mr.  Thomas  B.  Stephens, 
Mr.  R.  Leach,  Mr.  E.  T.  Jones,  Mr.  William  Petrie,  Mr.  John 
Gibson  and  Mr.  John  Pagan.  The  manufacturers  and  other 
employers  treated  their  workpeople  to  sumptuous  dinners.  In 
the  evening,  a  meeting  of  Messrs.  Bright's  workpeople  was  held 


234  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  UWA 

in  the  school-room  connected  with  the  mill ;  Mr.  Jacob  Bright 
occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  Elihu  Burritt,  in  the  course  of  his 
speech,  said  that  years  ago  the  hearty  sons  of  labour  of  this  land 
were  summoned  to  the  fields  in  Europe  to  crush  Napoleon  Buona- 
parte, and  those  labourers  were  promised  glory  and  immortality, 
and  the  everlasting  credit  of  this  nation,  for  fighting.  After 
thousands  upon  thousands  had  fallen,  and  poured  out  their  blood 
on  the  earth,  there  was  a  triumph  proclaimed.  The  news  of  the 
great  victory  of  Waterloo  rang  through  the  land ;  and  perhaps 
the  bells  of  the  Rochdale  Parish  Church,  although  they  were 
not  permitted  to  be  rung  on  the  consummation  of  this  glorious 
conquest — the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws — rang  out  in  triumph 
for  the  bloody  victory  of  Waterloo.  A  great  conquest  it  was 
proclaimed  to  be,  and  gladness  seemed  to  fill  the  hearts  of  the 
people  of  this  kingdom ;  but  he  would  ask  them  whether  upon 
any  victory  achieved  by  the  sword,  however  splendid  it  might  be 
called,  they  ever  received  any  more  food  or  freedom,  or 
any  more  hope  of  immortality  ?  In  connection  with  that  san- 
guinary victory  of  Waterloo,  there  was  a  scene  that  was 
ever  present  to  him.  A  few  years  ago  the  bones  of  those 
hard-labouring  men  who  perished  in  that  gory  field  were 
gathered  up  and  imported  into  this  country — the  bones  of 
those  men  who  were  promised  glory  and  immortality,  and 
the  undying  gratitude  of  the  country — and  those  bones  were 
burned  and  ground  to  lime,  and  sold  to  the  farmers  by  the 
bushel  to  manure  their  fields.  He  rejoiced  that  day  to  see 
that  they  had  recognised  the  power  which  had  brought  cheap 
bread  to  their  doors.  It  did  his  heart  good  when  he  "looked 
upon  their  standards,  and  saw  in  large  letters,  waving  to 
the  glistening  eyes  of  the  multitude,  "Peace  on  earth  and 
good-will  to  men."  He  wished,  that  a  League  might  be 
started — a  great  League  of  universal  brotherhood,  which  his 
kinsmen  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  might  join,  and 
that  all  might  be  pledged  for  ever,  that,  come  what  would, 
they  would  never  imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  their 
fellow-beings  any  more.  Mr.  Henry  Clapp  also  addressed 
the  meeting.  Mr.  John  Bright  felt  disposed  to  say  a  few  words 
with  reference  to  this  particular  day,  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
Rochdale  had  celebrated  it. 

"  From  the  beginning  of  the  agitation  for  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  I  believe 
that  Rochdale  has  done  as  much  as,  probably  more  than,  any  other  town  in  the 
kingdom,  of  the  same  means  and  population,  to  forward  the  great  cause.  (Cheers.) 
But  I  believe  there  is  no  town  in  the  kingdom  which  has  had  a  greater  or  more 
enduring  interest  in  this  question  than  Rochdale.  You  have  here  two  great  staple 
trades  of  the  North  of  England,  the  cotton  and  the  woollen  trades;  and  you  have 


CELEBRATING   THE   TRIUMPH   OF   THE   LEAGUE.  235 

also  coal  and  stone ;  in  fact,  such  is  your  position  that  you  have  every  advantage 
which  a  manufacturing  population  can  possess.  You  have  a  world  spread  out  before 
you  anxious  to  receive  the  produce  of  your  spindles  and  looms,  and  to  return  back 
to  you,  in  greater  abundance,  I  believe,  than  you  ever  had,  the  riches  and  plenty 
•with  which  God  has  blessed  the  various  countries  of  the  earth.  (Cheers.)  Why  it 
was  found  that  this  town,  after  having  endured  the  tyranny  more  odious,  I  believe, 
than  that  which  took  the  shape  of  war, — after  having  struggled  for  several  years 
continuously,  with  heavy  sacrifices,  to  repeal  that  law — after  having  the  front  ranks 
amongst  the  assembling  forces,  which  gradually  gathered  strength  until  the  enemy 
has  surrendered  without  conditions ;  I  say,  it  was  but  fitting  that  a  town  so  circum- 
stanced, and  which  has  so  acted,  should  take  a  front  rank  in  the  rejoicing  and  cele- 
bration and  ceremonies  which  the  day  of  victory  has  given  birth  to.  The  heavens 
certainly  have  not  smiled  propitiously — there  has  been  more  rain  than  was  desirable, 
and  less  sunshine ;  but  if  it  was  not  outside,  there  was  sunshine  in  your  hearts ;  and 
as  I  passed  through  the  ranks  of  the  people,  and  stood  to  watch  the  procession,  or 
those  who  formed  it,  I  thought  I  could  see  in  their  countenances  an  acknowledg- 
ment that  this  was  a  day  of  deliverance,  a  day  to  be  marked  with  a  white  stone,  as 
one  on  which  they  and  their  children  had  been  delivered  from  tyranny  and  injustice 
which  no  Government  should  ever  have  perpetrated,  or  which  those  same  people  at 
least  could  no  longer  endure.  Now,  when  this  Corn  Law  has  gone,  I  take  it  that  we 
shall  have  a  better  state  of  things.  Not  that  people  can  live  without  work,  or  have 
large  incomes  without  toiling  at  some  honest  industry ;  but  that  there  will  be  a  great 
demand  for  labour,  and  more  regular  income  for  those  who  live  by  labour ;  for  such 
years  as  1841  and  1842,  when  your  employers  were  making  no  profits,  and  when 
thousands  of  your  fellow-workmen  were  getting  no  work — such  times  as  those 
will  not  return.  We  shall  have  a  steadier  trade,  a  steadier  increase  of  prosperity, 
a  steadier  profit  for  capital,  steadier  wages  for  workpeople,  and  I  trust  that  these 
things  shall  cause  a  continuance  of  that  harmony  and  good  feeling  which  now 
happily  prevail  amongst  all  classes  in  this  great  populous  manufacturing  district. 
I  am  persuaded  that  there  are  a  great  number  of  employers  disposed  to  do  justice 
to  their  workpeople,  and  I  believe  that  amongst  the  vast  majority  of  the  workpeople 
there  is  a  disposition  to  do  justice  to  their  employers.  (Cheers.)  And  if  in  both 
classes  we  cultivate  these  feelings — justice  to  each  other,  kindness  to  each  other, 
sympathy  and  respect  and  honour  for  each  other— if  we  cultivate  all  this — I  do  look 
forward  for  a  great  and  striking  and  permanent  improvement  of  this  district ;  and  if 
there  be  political  institutions  which  it  may  become  us,  before  long,  to  struggle  to 
remove,  I  trust  that  as  we  have  struggled  for  this  great  blessing,  and  achieved  this 
great  conquest,  we  may  struggle  in  a  like  spirit  of  harmony  for  other  gains  that 
are  before  us ;  and  that,  whilst  endeavouring  to  improve  the  state  of  things  around  us, 
we  may  look  into  our  homes  and  houses  and  cottages — that  we  may  educate  our 
children,  and  see  cordial  sympathy  and  co-operation  spread  amongst  the  whole 
society  of  which  we  are  members."  (Cheers.) 

And  so  ended  the  celebration  of  that  memorable  event  in 
Rochdale  ;  and  the  inhabitants  felt  proud  of  the  conspicuous 
part  Mr.  Bright  had  taken  in  procuring  cheap  bread  for 
those  steeped  in  misery,  and  of  the  well-earned  homage  paid  to 
him  in  other  towns.  His  honest  devotion  to  the  cause  of  peace- 
able improvement,  his  labours  bestowed  in  advancing  the 
happiness  of  his  fellow-creatures,  his  losses  encountered  in 
defence  of  the  rights  of  the  oppressed,  are  glorious  titles  to  the 
veneration  of  the  good  and  wise.  He  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  he  had  done  his  duty,  and  the  consolation  of 
feeling  "  a  peace  above  all  earthly  dignities,  a  still  and  quiet 
conscience,"  for  "  blessed  is  he  that  considereth  the  poor  and 
needy/'  Stars,  garters,  and  ribbons  glitter  upon  those  who 
have  taken  part  in  accomplishing  less  noble  work ;  and  who, 


236  LITE   AND   TIMES   OP  JOHN   BRIGHT.  1816. 

perhaps,  attach  more  importance  to  the  brightness  of  their 
garments  than  to  the  welfare  of  mankind. 

Time  has  shown  that  the  outcry  of  the  Protectionists  that 
Free  Trade  in  corn  would  ruin  England  was  altogether  founded 
on  fiction.  According  to  their  statements  England  was  to 
descend  in  the  scale  of  nations,  her  constitution  to  become 
not  worth  the  parchment  it  was  written  on,  and  her  wealth  and 
prosperity  were  to  be  beyond  all  hope.  Yet  the  fact  was  that 
when  the  obnoxious  laws  were  abolished  England  became  more 
prosperous,  her  people  better  fed  and  more  contented,  and  the 
farmers'  condition  was  improved. 

A  great  meeting  of  the  Council  of  the  National  Anti-Corn- 
Law  League  was  held  in  the  large  room  of  the  Manchester 
Town  Hall  on  the  2nd  of  July,  1846,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering what  course  the  League  should  take  now  that  the  bill 
for  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  had  received  the  Royal  assent, 
There  was  present  a  large  assemblage  of  gentlemen  who  had 
taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  great 
victory.  Mr.  George  Wilson  was  in  the  chair.  Mr.  Richard 
Cobden  moved  "  That  an  Act  of  Parliament  having  been  passed, 
providing  for  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws  in  February,  1849, 
it  is  deemed  expedient  to  suspend  the  active  operation  of  the 
Anti-Corn-Law  League."  Mr.  John  Bright,  in  seconding  the 
resolution,  said  : — 

"We  need  not  raise  a  monument  of  stone  or  brass,  or  of  any  other  durable 
material,  to  the  honour  of  this  League.  If  we  have  not  been  mistaken  for  the  seven 
years  •which  we  have  worked  ;  if  we  are  not  mistaken  now — and  I  think  I  may  say 
tor  all  who  have  been  working  in  this  cause  that  we  do  not  believe  ourselves  to  be 
mistaken,  and  that  we  are  confirmed  in  our  convictions — we  shall  find  the  result  of 
the  measure  now  obtained  to  be  extended  freedom  to  all  classes  in  this  country — with 
extended  freedom,  increased  security — an  increased  security  not  only  for  property, 
but  also  for  labour  and  for  the  rewards  and  enjoyments  which  are  procured 
by  labour ;  and  I  trust — I  believe  (I  speak  conscientiously,  and  after  years  of  con- 
sideration) I  believe  that  we  have  overturned  the  great  obstacle  which  sat  in  the 
path  of  the  people  of  this  country — that  we  now  stand,  as  it  were,  on  the  threshold 
of  a  new  career.  And  if  we  have  the  spirit,  the  energy,  and  the  intelligence,  and  the 
great  and  noble  qualities  of  which  we  boast  ourselves,  and  which  we  have  to  some 
extent  seen  exhibited  in  the  working  of  this  League — if  we  still  possess  those  qualities 
and  still  bring  them  into  action,  I  know  not  any  height  to  which  this  nation  may  not 
aspire ;  I  know  not  whether  we  may  not  in  all  good  things,  as  we  have  often  done 
in  all  bad  things,  lead  forward  all  other  nations  in  the  same  career."  (Great 
cheering.) 

Mr.  Cobden  acquainted  those  present  that  they  were  indebted  to 
the  Queen,  who  had  favoured  their  cause  as  one  of  humanity  and 
justice,  and  three  hearty  cheers  were  given  for  Her  Majesty;  and 
so  ended  the  labours  of  the  League,  after  completing  the  work 
or  which  it  was  originally  called  into  being. 


1848.J  PRESENTATION   TO   MB.    COBDEN.  237 

Thirty  years  after  this  event,  Mr.  Bright  thus  beautifully 
describes  the  blessing's  which  flowed  from  it : — 

"And  now,  Sir,  if  you  cast  your  eyes  over  the  globe,  what  is  it  you  see?  Look 
at  Canada,  look  at  the  United  States,  whether  on  the  Atlantic  Sea  or  on  the  Pacific 
slope ;  look  at  Chili,  look  at  the  Australian  colonies,  look  at  the  great  and  rich 
province  of  Bengal,  look  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  or  of  the  Baltic,  wherever 
the  rain  falls,  wherever  the  sun  shines,  wherever  there  are  markets  and  granaries 
and  harvest  fields,  there  are  men  and  women  everywhere  gathering  that  which 
comes  to  this  country  for  the  sustenance  of  her  people  (loud  applause) ;  and  our 
fleets  traverse  every  sea  and  visit  every  port,  and  bring  us  the  food  which  only  thirty 
years  ago  the  laws  of  this  civilised  and  Christian  country  denied  to  its  people. 
(Cheers.)  You  find  it  in  Holy  Writ,  '  The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness 
thereof.'  We  have  put  Holy  Writ  into  an  Act  of  Parliament,  and  since  then  of  that 
fulness  every  man  and  woman  and  little  child  in  this  country  may  freely  and 
abundantly  partake."  (Cheers.) 

In  September,  1845,  Mr.  R.  Cobden  discovered  that  through 
devoting  so  much  of  his  time  to  public  affairs  his  business  had 
been  neglected  and  had  fallen  off  considerably.  His  most 
intimate  friends,  learning  the  position  of  his  affairs,  raised  a 
voluntary  contribution,  which  amounted  to  £76,759  14s  Od.  The 
inhabitants  of  Rochdale  contributed  £314  8s.  9d.  towards  this 
sum.  Mr.  Cobden,  in  acknowledging  the  munificent  contribu- 
tions, stated : — 

"  At  the  time  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  circumstances  had 
determined  me  to  withdraw  from  public  life  and  to  devote  myself  for  some  time  to 
the  exclusive  care  of  my  private  affairs,  when  the  proposal  which  was  unexpectedly 
made  to  raise  a  fund  for  me  by  public  subscription,  and  the  generous  response  with 
which  it  was  met  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  induced  me  to  abandon  my  deter- 
mination. Since  my  return  from  the  Continent,  I  have,  by  the  advice  of  my  friends, 
withdrawn  altogether  from  the  risks  and  anxieties  of  business.  By  this  arrangement 
I  have  incurred  some  heavy  sacrifices ;  but  through  your  liberality,  I  am  left  in 
possession  of  an  ample  competence." 

The  noble  subscription  indicated  to  what  extent  Mr.  Cobden's 
services  had  been  appreciated,  and  the  wish  that  he  should  still 
pursue  his  brilliant  career.  There  is  no  doubt  that  if  he  had 
applied  that  arduous  energy  to  his  own  business  which  he 
devoted  to  public  affairs,  he  could  have  realised  a  handsome 
fortune.  However,  he  neglected  his  own  personal  interests  for 
the  public  welfare  when  he  was  scarcely  in  a  position  to 
afford  it.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  sincerity  and  generosity, 
and  his  reputation  was  spotless;  and  where  such  qualities  as 
these  are  wanting, 

"  Men  are  but  gilded  loam,  or  painted  clay." 

Mr.  Cobden,  in  writing  to  a  friend  in  1856,  thus  referred  to 
his  early  business  life  : — 

"  I  began  business  in  partnership  with  two  other  young  men,  and  we  onJj 
mustered  a  thousand  pounds  amongst  us,  and  more  than  half  of  it  was  borrowed. 


238  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (1846. 

We  all  got  on  the  "Peveril  of  the  Peak"  coach,  and  went  from  London  to  Man- 
chester in  the,  at  that  day,  marvellously  short  space  of  twenty  hours.  "We  were 
literally  so  ignorant  of  Manchester  houses  that  we  called  for  a  directory  at  the 
hotel,  and  turned  to  the  list  of  "calico  printers,"  theirs  being  the  business  with 
which  we  were  acquainted,  and  they  being  the  people  from  whom  we  felt  confident 
we  could  obtain  credit.  And  why  ?  Because  we  knew  we  should  be  able  to  satisfy 
them  that  we  had  advantages,  from  our  large  connections,  our  knowledge  of  the  best 
branch  of  the  business  in  London,  and  our  superior  taste  in  design,  which  would 
insure  success.  We  introduced  ourselves  to  Fort  Brothers  and  Co.,  a  rich  house, 
and  told  our  tale,  honestly  concealing  nothing.  In  less  than  two  years  from  1830 
we  owed  them  forty  thousand  pounds  for  goods  which  they  had  sent  to  us  in  Watling 
Street,  upon  no  other  security  than  our  characters  and  knowledge  of  our  business. 
I  had  frequently  talked  with  them  in  later  times  upon  the  great  confidence  they 
showed  in  men  who  avowed  that  they  were  not  possessed  of  £200  each.  Their 
answer  was  that  they  would  always  prefer  to  trust  young  men  with  connections  and 
with  a  knowledge  of  their  trade,  if  they  knew  them  to  possess  character  and  ability, 
to  those  who  started  with  capital  without  these  advantages,  and  that  they  had  acted 
on  this  principle  successfully  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  We  did  not  disappoint  them 
or  ourselves.  In  1884-1835  our  stock-takings  showed  a  net  balance  of  £20,000  a 
year  profit.  Then  I  began  to  write  pamphlets  and  to  talk  politics,  and  from  that 
moment  I  ceased  to  make  money,  and  in  1846,  when  the  League  finished  its  labours, 
my  children  must  have  been  beggars,  had  not  my  neighbours,  who  knew  my  circum- 
stances, originated  the  subscription  which  restored  me  to  independence.  I  took  the 
money  without  shame,  because  I  had  earned  it.  If  money  had  been  my  sole  object 
in  life,  I  should  have  been  a  more  successful  man  by  sticking  to  my  calicoes,  for  my 
partners  have  grown  richer  than  I  by  doing  so,  and  young  men  taken  into  the  con- 
cern since  I  left  have  made  fortunes.  I  may  add  that  the  original  formation  of  the 
partnership,  and  the  whole  scheme  of  the  business,  sprang  exclusively  from  myself." 

The  Englishman,  although  of  a  retiring  disposition,  certainly 
stands  foremost  in  sincerity  and  solid  goodness  of  heart.  He 
may  not  have  the  rich  humour  of  the  Italian  or  the  Spaniard, 
nor  the  vivacity  and  gaiety  of  the  French,  but  his  appreciation 
of  benevolence  and  nobility  of  soul  often  finds  expression  in 
something  more  tangible  than  outward  demonstration.  The 
abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws  was  brought  about  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  a  large  body  of  gentlemen,  yet  the  contest  was  led 
on  and  directed  by  a  few  master-minds. 

"By  how  much  more  the  ship  her  safety  owes 
To  him  who  steers,  than  him  that  only  rows  : 
By  how  much  more  the  captain  merits  praise, 
Than  he  who  fights,  and,  fighting,  but  obeys." 

A  deep  sense  of  gratitude  was  felt  by  the  nation  to  Mr. 
Bright  for  his  arduous  exertions  and  influence  in  bringing  about 
the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and  a  few  friends  met  in  Roch- 
dale, on  the  4th  of  July,  1846,  to  devise  some  scheme  by  which 
they  could  testify  to  their  approval  of  his  labours.  His  fellow- 
townsmen  bore  testimony  "  to  the  great  sacrifices  he  has  made — 
the  unwearied  devotion  he  has  manifested — the  untiring  energy 
with  which  he  has  laboured  in  the  good  cause.  The  whole 
country  can  testify  to  the  powerful  influence  which,  during  a 
protracted  agitation  of  seven  years'  duration,  his  energy  and  elo- 
quence have  exercised  upon  the  final  issue  of  the  contest/' 


1846.  J  PRESENTATION   TO   MR.    BRIGHT.  239 

It  was  no  sooner  broached  in  Rochdale  than  the  praiseworthy 
object  was  warmly  approved  of  in  other  towns,  and  a  subscrip- 
tion was  easily  set  in  motion  and  £5,048  8s.  Id.  were  contributed 
by  3,647  subscribers,  and  the  towns  and  villages  which  responded 
to  the  call  of  the  committee  amounted  to  172. 

The  testimonial  took  the  form  of  a  library  of  1,200  volumes, 
the  selection  of  which  was  left  to  the  hon.  gentleman.  From 
the  bent  of  the  man  it  is  easy  to  call  up  the  stamp  of  the  books 
chosen.  There  are  amongst  them  many  of  the  brightest  gems 
of  English  literature.  History  and  biography  fill  up  the  bulk 
of  the  space,  but  the  place  of  honour  is  given  to  the  works  of  the 
great  poets,  whose  thoughts,  purified  and  condensed  in  simple, 
terse  diction,  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Bright. 
Here,  as  in  one  focus,  are  concentrated  the  rays  of  nearly  all  the 
great  luminaries. 

Mr.  Bright  has  found  himself  strengthened  by  the  wholesome 
study  of  the  past,  and,  like  the  matine  bee,  extracted  from  what- 
ever he  settled  upon  additional  information  and  sweets.  He 
understands  the  injunction  of  Wordsworth  : — 

"With  gentle  hand 
Touch,  for  there  is  a  spirit  in  the  leaves." 

His  selections  from  the  poets  are  numerous,  and  he  derives  much 
delight  in  reading  them.  The  books  are  placed  in  a  casket  worthy 
of  them.  A  large  oak  bookcase,  running  the  whole  length  of  one 
side  of  the  library  at  "  One  Ash,"  forms  part  of  the  testimonial. 
Its  design  is  in  consonance  with  the  deed  to  signalise  which  it 
was  presented.  The  supports  between  the  large  glass  panels  are 
elaborately  carved  into  sheaves  of  corn,  figs,  grapes,  apples,  and 
pears,  while  surmounting  the  cornice  is  a  relief  showing  a  vessel 
homeward  bound,  and  on  the  quay  representations  of  barrels  of 
flour  and  bales  of  cotton.  "  Free  Trade  "  is  the  burden  of  the 
design.  Needless  to  say  the  bookcase  and  its  contents  form  the 
most  prominent  features  of  the  library.  Two  other  sides  of  the 
room  are  also  occupied  with  bookcases,  filled  with  miscellaneous 
literature,  and  the  little  remaining  space  is  devoted  to  portraits 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  George  Washington,  Daniel  O'Connell, 
Joseph  Hume,  Charles  P.  Villiers,  and  a  bust  of  Mr.  Gladstone 
in  mature  life.  His  cabinet  is  placed  between  two  windows, 
which  command  a  view  of  the  lawn,  beyond  which,  through  the 
encircling  trees,  is  the  town  and  the  distant  hills. 

Here  it  is  that  the  right  hon.  gentleman  when  at  home 
delights  to  spend  most  of  his  time.  His  favourite  walk  is 
on  the  terrace  in  front  of  his  residence,  which  commands  a  fine 


240  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1848. 

view  of  Rochdale  in  the  valley  below  :  with  its  forest  of  factory 
chimneys, 

"  Steeple-towers, 
And  spires  whose  silent  finger  points  to  heaven." 

The  old  parish  church,  in  the  yard  of  which  was  delivered  the 
celebrated  "  tombstone  speech  "  that  heralded  the  abolition  of 
Church  Rates,  stands  out  sturdily  through  the  smoke  of  the 
town ;  while  t'ar  away  a  solitary  clump  of  trees  on  the  knoll, 
breaking  the  sky-line,  marks  Tandle  Hill,  where  the  Chartists 
met  for  training.  Those  days  are  gone,  and  a  generation  has 
arisen  which,  viewing  with  tenderness  the  faults  of  the  patriots 
who  manfully  struggled  for  their  political  freedom,  must  en- 
dorse the  policy  of  John  Bright  as  against  that  of  the  Chartists. 
Their  cry  was,  "  The  Charter,  then  cheap  bread ;  "  his  counsel 
was,  "  Cheap  bread  first."  Cheap  bread  came,  and  brought  with 
it  the  stamina  by  which  the  people  of  this  land  were  enabled  to 
develop  a  waiting,  patient  policy,  of  forcing  from  unwilling 
Governments  the  concessions  which  open  violence  could  never 
have  obtained.  Away  in  the  distance,  on  the  left  of  the  terrace, 
ranges  Blackstone  Edge,  which  divides  Lancashire  from  York- 
shire. Over  this  mountainous  district  the  legions  of  Rome  con- 
structed a  road,  which  the  effacing  influences  of  fifteen  centuries 
have  yet  been  compelled  to  spare,  and  which  still  crops  out  in 
sturdy  squares  of  stone  pavement.  Those  soldiers  had  their  day 
of  glory,  but  it  has  passed  like  sounds  away.  In  the  remem- 
brance of  Mr.  Bright,  pack-horses,  with  their  tinkling  bells, 
traversed  this  mountain  and  its  moorlands,  and  later  on  the 
stage-coach  made  its  appearance  up  the  winding  roadway  into 
Yorkshire.  In  those  days  the  "  White  House  "  that  is  perched 
nearly  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  and  is  plainly  visible, 
was  a  famous  hostelry  where  the  jaded  travellers  and  smoking 
steeds  were  refreshed. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE   MONOPOLISTS'   EETALIATION. 

Prophecies  regarding  Bright— Villiers's  and  Kinglake's  opinion  of  Bright  and 
Cobden — Mr.  Bright  entertained  by  the  Corporation  of  Durham — The  new 
Cabinet — The  Ten  Hours  Bill — Mr.  Bright's  opposition — His  workpeople  in 
favour  of  the  Bill — He  consents  to  become  a  candidate  for  Manchester. 

MR.  BRIGHT  having  completed  the  task  which  had  called  forth 
his  best  energies  and  given  a  strong  impetus  to  his  oratorical 
powers,  it  was  circulated  as  the  general  opinion  among  his  oppo- 
nents that,  in  his  earnestness,  "  his  defects  were  likely  to  have 
been  overlooked  in  the  strong  light  which  the  triumphant  suc- 
cess of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  agitation  threw  round  the  leaders  of 
that  movement ; "  and  it  was  further  stated  that,  "  had  he  been 
left  to  pursue  his  path  alone,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  he 
would  never  have  emerged  from  the  dead  level  of  the  society  in 
which  he  bad  moved ;  or  that  if  he  had  attained  any  eminence 
at  all,  it  would  have  been  to  achieve  a  distinction  not  more  illus- 
trious than  that  of  a  noisy  and  arrogant  orator  of  a  parish 
vestry/' 

These  critics  seemed  to  overlook  the  fact  that  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  where  able  speakers  and  critics  are  always  to  be  found, 
Mr.  Bright  had  gained  an  honourable  position  as  a  rising  orator, 
and  had  been  applauded  by  both  sides  of  the  House.  The  opposi- 
tion that  he  encountered  brought  forth  abilities  that  might  have 
otherwise  lain  dormant.  "  A  certain  amount  of  opposition  is  a 
great  help  to  a  man.  Kites  rise  against,  not  with,  the  wind. 
Even  a  head  wind  is  better  than  nothing.  No  man  ever  worked 
his  voyage  in  a  dead  calm."  Still,  it  must  be  admitted  that, 
owing  to  the  times  and  circumstances  by  which  he  was  surrounded, 
his  powers  were  not  fully  developed.  There  had  certainly  been 
sufficient  to  call  forth  his  antagonistic  and  debating  skill ;  but 
the  artistic  and  fascinating  style  of  which  he  is  now  master  had 
as  yet  to  be  evolved  by  circumstances  and  cultivation. 

"  Perfection  is  attained  by  slow  degrees, 
She  requires  the  hand  of  time." 

Erroneous  judgments  arc  always,  sooner  or  later,  reversed  by 
time.  In  an  evil  hour  for  himself  did  Bishop  Hacket  call 


242  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (T84«. 

Milton  "  a  petty  schf olboy  scribbler."  Winstanley  was  not  more 
fortunate  in  saying  that  "  his  fame  was  gone  out  like  a  candle 
in  a  stink ;  "  and  Burnet  drew  upon  himself  more  popular  cen- 
sure by  the  unlucky  sentence  in  which  he  spoke  of  one  Prior 
than  by  all  the  inaccuracies  of  his  statements  and  his  style. 

The  Right  Hon.  C.  P.  Villiers  has  kindly  furnished  the 
following  interesting  information  for  this  biography  : — 

"I  have  been  a  close  observer  of  Mr.  Bright's  public  career  for  the  last  forty 
years,  and  nobody,  I  am  sure,  could  be  found  who  would  more  readily  and  amply  bear 
testimony  to  the  extraordinary  ability  that  he  displayed  in  all  his  addresses  on  public 
questions  of  interest  during  that  time.  It  was,  indeed,  an  observation  made  by  many, 
and  in  which  I  shared  myself,  that  during  the  fiercest  times  of  the  great  Anti-Corn- 
Law  struggle,  and  when  he  and  Mr.  Cobden  used  to  be  thrown  upon  their  defence 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  League  out  of  the  House,  that  Mr.  Bright  was  thought  to 
be  far  more  prompt  and  effective  in  his  replies  than  Mr.  Cobden ;  for  though  the 
latter  used  to  assail  the  Prime  Minister  (Sir  Robert  Peel)  with  peculiar  severity, 
owing  to  his  conviction  (often  expressed  to  myself)  that  he  (Sir  Robert  Peel)  was 
not  sincere  in  supporting  the  Corn  Laws,  yet  Mr.  Bright  used,  both  in  and  out  of  the 
House,  boldly  and  plainly  to  charge  the  whole  land- owning  class  with  the  deliberate 
selfishness  of  their  Corn  Law  policy,  and  was  always  ready  to  meet  the  reproaches 
with  which  he  was  fiercely  visited  in  consequence  (by  his  opponents  in  the  House) . 
I  am,  however,  of  opinion,  with  many  others,  that  Mr.  Bright  became  a  much  more 
finished  orator  after  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  than  he  had  ever  been  before,  as  if 
he  had  almost  taken  pains  with  himself  to  acquire  the  art  of  speaking.  In  some  of 
his  speeches,  indeed,  especially  when  he  was  advocating  the  lowering  of  the  suffrage 
(when  it  was  difficult  to  raise  any  feeling  on  the  subject),  and  also  in  favour  of  dis- 
establishing the  Irish  Church,  he  was  not  exceeded  in  style  and  effect  by  any  of  the 
greatest  efforts  made  by  Mr.  Gladstone  himself." 

Mr.  Kinglake,  who  had  no  great  sympathy  with  the  prin- 
ciples advocated  by  John  Bright  and  Cobden,  acknowledged  their 
argumentative  power  and  their  influence  over  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  these  words  : — 

"  The  two  orators  had  shown  with  what  a  strength,  with  what  a  masterly  skill, 
with  what  patience,  with  what  a  high  courage  they  could  carry  a  scientific  truth 
through  the  storm  of  politics.  They  had  shown  that  they  could  arouse  and  govern 
assenting  thousands,  who  listened  to  them  with  delight— that  they  could  bend  the 
House  of  Commons — that  they  could  press  their  creed  upon  a  Prime  Minister,  and 
put  upon  his  mind  so  hard  a  stress,  that  after  a  while  he  felt  it  to  be  a  torture  and  a 
violence  to  his  reason  to  have  to  make  a  stand  against  them.  Nay,  more.  Each  of 
these  gifted  men  had  proved  that  he  could  go  bravely  into  the  midst  of  angry  oppo- 
nents, and  show  them  their  fallacies  one  by  one— ^destroy  their  favourite  theories 
before  their  very  faces,  and  triumphantly  argue  them  down." 

As  for  those  whose  names  have  been  handed  down  to  us  as 
eminent  in  oratory,  we  find  them,  in  the  course  of  their  lives, 
seldom  fatigued  with  poring  over  their  studies.  They  devoted 
much  time  to  grammar,  music,  and  poetry;  painting,  sculpture, 
and  architecture;  mathematics,  astronomy,  philosophy,  and  his- 
tory— subjects  that  they  cultivated  as  so  many  handmaids  of 
eloquence.  Even  at  advanced  periods  of  life  they  attended  the 
schools  of  the  rhetoricians,  exercising  themselves  constantly  in 
elocution,  endeavouring  to  attain  gracefulness  in  gesture,  correct- 


1816.]  THE    OEATOE.  243 

ness  in  pronunciation,  and  a  flowing-  and  varied  modulation  of 
voice.  They  travelled  into  foreign  countries  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving  instruction  in  foreign  schools.  What  sensibility  must 
an  audience  have  possessed  for  whose  ear  such  speakers  thought 
it  necessary  to  give  harmony  to  their  periods,  and  whose  tastes 
they  found  capable  of  discriminating  a  common  from  a  graceful 
expression,  and  a  loose  from  a  compact  style  !  Their  language 
possessed  the  spell  which  awakened  or  composed  the  emotions  ; 
and  whether  they  had  to  contend  with  power  or  prejudice,  with 
the  passions  of  the  rude  or  the  interests  of  the  enlightened,  they 
bore  down  every  obstacle  by  the  irresistible  torrent  of  their 
eloquence.  But  where,  in  this  cold  climate,  shall  we  find  an 
audience  capable  of  allowing  their  feelings  to  be  wound  up  to 
such  a  height  that  they  will  recognise  and  exult  in  the  sway  of 
such  extravagant  oratory  ?  Mr.  Burke,  in  the  fine  frenzy  of 
his  indignation  against  the  French  Revolution,  produced  a  dagger 
from  his  bosom,  one  night  in  the  House  of  Commons,  as  the  most 
expressive  emblem  of  the  designs  which  the  Republicans  had  in 
contemplation.  But  what  was  the  effect  of  this  extraordinary 
illustration?  Some  members  deemed  the  sage  mad,  others 
scarcely  suppressed  their  laughter  ;  and  his  most  attached  friends 
blushed  for  the  eccentricity  of  the  thing.  He  was  mistaken  in 
thinking  that  his  auditors  were  as  ardently  excited  as  himself, 
or  that  they  were  sufficiently  prepared  for  such  an  illustration  as 
this.  For  him  it  was  scarcely  strong  enough  ;  for  them  it  was 
extravagant. 

Mr.  Bright  has  never  undergone  a  course  of  training  in  elocu- 
tion. His  ambition  was  to  speak  plainly,  so  that  he  might  be  under- 
stood by  the  working  class,  and  to  give  his  words  force  without 
theatrical  gesture.  His  earnestness  in  the  cause  brought  out  his 
natural  oratorical  powers,  and  together  with  his  thorough  study  of 
the  subject  matter  upon  which  he  speaks,  produces  the  influence  he 
exercises  over  his  audience.  One  of  the  chief  excellences  of 
his  style  is  the  power  of  adorning  barren  and  tame  subjects, 
elevating  them  into  something  piquant  and  interesting.  It  can- 
not be  called  florid  in  style,  for  it  is  the  luxuriance  of  natural 
feeling  and  fancy.  The  summer  rose,  in  unfolding  its  leaves 
to  the  dawn,  is  not  less  guilty  of  vanity,  or  the  hawthorn 
that  puts  forth  its  blossoms  in  the  genial  warmth  of  spring,  of 
affecting  to  be  fine.  He  looks  abroad  with  the  eye  of  a  poet, 
with  the  minuteness  of  a  naturalist,  and  the  comprehensiveness 
of  a  historian  ;  and  the  intelligence  he  gleans  he  devotes  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind. 

Mr.  John  Bright's  constituents  determined  to  celebrate  the 

Q  2 


244  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.     ^  [1846. 

event  of  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws  by  inviting  their 
member  to  dinner.  The  invitation  came  through  the  Mayor 
and  Corporation  of  Durham,  who  were  "  desirous  of  testifying 
their  high  admiration  of  his  independent  and  honourable  charac- 
ter, his  efficient  services  in  Parliament,  and,  above  all,  his  eminent 
advocacy  of  the  recent  important  national  measure."  The  cele- 
bration took  place  on  the  15th  of  August,  1846.  The  Mayor, 
Mr.  John  Bramwell,  presided,  and  gave  as  a  toast  the  health  of 
"  Mr.  John  Bright,  the  worthy  member  for  the  City  of  Durham." 
Mr.  Bright,  in  responding,  said  : — 

' '  I  am  disposed  to  take  this  meeting  as  an  approval  that  I  have  not  left  altogether 
unfulfilled  the  promises  and  expectations  which  I  held  out  three  years  ago ;  and  I 
shall  also  take  it  as  some  proof  that  the  inhabitants  of  Durham  are  willing  to  give 
their  sanction  to  this  great  measure  which  has  passed  the  Legislature  during  the 
present  Session,  and  to  those  great  and  sacred  principles  which  were  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  the  electors  of  this  city  at  the  time  I  became  your  representative  in 
Parliament.  (Cheers.)  You  all  know  the  accident  that  brought  me  to  this  city 
three  years  ago :  and,  although  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  schism  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  ranks  of  our  opponents  weakened  them  and  strengthened  us,  yet  it  must 
be  admitted  that  there  was  something  in  the  principles  laid  before  the  electors  of 
Durham  which  raised  them  to  more  virtuous  action  than  constituencies  are  generally 
noted  for,  and  which  tended  to  bring  about  the  success  of  that  great  and  glorious 
measure — the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  (Cheers.)  "We  never  said  we  should  resort 
to  force  to  obtain  the  political  revolution  we  sought  to  effect.  That  would  have  done 
nothing  for  the  people  in  this  struggle.  I  believe  if  you  employed  those  weapons 
you  would  greatly  err ;  but,  if  you  go  on  as  you  have  gone  on — converting  men  and 
not  destroying  them — they  can  never  rise  against  you,  for  they  come  and  join  the 
same  ranks  as  yourselves;  and,  more  than  that,  these  revolutions  are  not  to  be 
effected  by  merely  vapouring  about  freedom.  There  have  been  demagogues  in  this 
country  whose  hands  are  never  out  of  their  kid  gloves,  and  whose  feet  are  always 
in  boots  of  japanned  leather.  (Laughter.)  Now  these  are  the  men  who  can  never 
obtain  such  triumphs  as  have  been  obtained  this  year.  (Cheers.)  It  requires  that 
they  should  be  not  only  themselves  the  advocates  of  a  just  policy,  but  also  that  they 
should  show  their  willingness  to  make  sacrifices,  and  to  work  continually  until  the 
public  mind  is  leavened  and  saturated  with  the  truths  they  would  teach,  and  that 
this  is  the  only  way,  in  this  age,  whereby  great  and  beneficial  changes  can  be  effected. 
(Cheers.)  I  do  not  wish  to  boast  of  myself,  and  all  those  with  whom  I  acted,  but  I 
do  think  that  w,hen  men  for  many  years  have  seen  the  necessity  of  the  application 
of  a  great  principle,  and  have  devoted  themselves  without  intermission  for  its  esta- 
blishment, and  at  length  succeed  against  the  most  tremendous  obstacles — I  do  think 
they  have  a  right  to  look  to  their  fellow-countrymen  for  some  degree  of  approval — 
that,  at  least,  they  are  men  entitled  to  be  heard  when  they  express  their  opinions 
on  any  great  national  or  political  question."  (Cheers.) 

On  the  29th  of  June  Sir  Robert  Peel  appeared  in  the  House 
of  Commons  for  the  last  time  as  minister,  and  Lord  John  Russell 
was  sent  for  by  Her  Majesty  and  consented  to  form  a  cabinet. 
Earl  Grey  accepted  the  post  of  Secretary  for  the  Colonies,  and 
Lord  Palmerston  returned  to  the  Foreign  Office.  Reverting, 
however,  to  his  previous  management  of  foreign  affairs,  we  find 
that  it  was  not  creditable  to  him.  An  Afghan  expedition  which 
he  inaugurated  terminated  disastrously.  He  undertook  to  force 
upon  the  Afghans  a  sovereign  whom  they  did  not  desire,  and 
made  war  against  the  prince  of  their  choice.  But  even  this  error 
would  not  have  led  to  the  slaughter  of  Macnaghten,  and  that 


1846.]  THE    TEN   HOUES   BILL.  245 

disastrous  retreat  in  which  there  was  but  one  survivor  out  of 
16,500  men,  had  it  not  been  for  the  appointment  to  the  command 
at  Cabul  of  a  gouty  Waterloo  general,  whose  utter  unfitness  was 
paralleled  sixteen  years  later  at  Cawnpore.  Another  matter  was 
a  quarrel  with  the  Emperor  of  China,  brought  about  in  a  manner 
discreditable  to  this  country,  and  terminating  to  the  advantage 
of  the  opium  smugglers,  whose  cause  Lord  Palmerston  espoused, 
although  he  told  them  that  they  were  in  the  wrong.  The  only 
other  foreign  question  of  importance  which  arose  during  the 
Peel  administration  was  the  Tahiti  dispute,  which  at  one  time 
threatened  to  involve  England  and  France  in  war,  but  which, 
by  the  moderation  of  Lord  Aberdeen  and  M.  Guizot,  was  settled 
amicably. 

The  agitation  in  favour  of  the  Ten  Hours  Bill  followed  upon 
the  heels  of  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and  its  origin  was 
attributed  to  the  Protectionists,  who  it  was  alleged  wished  to 
retaliate  upon  the  Free-traders.  It  was  certainly  an  unaccount- 
able paradox  that  noble  lords  and  gentlemen  should  come  from 
amongst  their  farm  labourers — who  in  those  days  had  barely  a 
change  of  clothing,  and  scarcely  enough  of  potatoes,  bacon,  and 
bread  to  eat,  and  seldom  if  ever  were  able  to  get  beef  or  mutton 
for  dinner — should  come  to  the  relief  of  the  factory  operatives, 
who  were  better  fed,  better  clothed,  and  better  lodged. 

Mr.  J.  Bright,  in  a  speech  in  Birmingham  in  November, 
1868,  alluding  to  this  event,  said: — 

"  I  think  I  ought  to  be  held,  politically  at  least,  to  be  a  person  of  almost  stainless 
character,  because  I  find  that  when  they  have  anything  to  say  to  the  working  men 
about  me  they  generally  go  back  to  rather  more  than  twenty  years  ago.  I  could 
not  go  back  nearly  so  far  if  I  were  speaking  about  them.  (Laughter.)  They  tell 
the  working  men  of  Birmingham  that  I  was  one  of  the  opponents  of  the  Factory 
Act.  Well,  if  it  were  true  that  the  Factory  Act  was  all  good,  and  that  the  opponents 
of  it  were  all  wrong,  it  still  would  not  be  wondered  at  that  I — who  was  myself  con- 
cerned in  the  trade  which  was  to  be  mainly  affected,  I  who  represented  the  great 
city  of  Manchester — it  would  not  be  wondered  at  so  much  if  I  took  in  some  degree 
a  one-sided  view  of  the  question.  I  do  not  pretend  to  infallibility,  but  this  is  a  fact 
which  they  never  care  to  tell  you — that  when  the  Bill  was  introduced  into  the  House  of 
Commons,  about  the  year  1845,  at  a  time  when  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
country  were  assailing  the  Corn  Laws  with  constantly-increasing  force  of  argument, 
it  was  thought  a  very  lucky  thing  that  a  Protectionist  Parliament  should  be  able  to 
assail  the  manufacturers  through  the  Factory  Bill.  When  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  in 
power,  on  the  first  great  vote  which  made  it  apparent  that  the  bill  was  going  to  pass, 
the  whole  Protectionist  party,  joined  by  some  of  the  Whigs,  voted  against  us, 
and  against  the  government  of  Sir  Robert  Peel ;  the  Protectionist  party  for  the 
reason  I  said,  and  the  Whigs  for  a  reason  that  was  no  better — that  they  might  join 
some  of  Peel's  opponents  in  worrying  him.  And  now  you  will  probably  be  surprised 
to  hear — I  have  no  doubt  our  Conservative-Liberal-coustitutional  candidate  will  be 
surprised  to  learn — the  men  that,  I  believe  in  that  very  year,  I  found  with  me  when 
I  went  into  the  lobby  against  the  Factory  Bill.  I  am  not  positive  as  to  all  of  them, 
I  speak  merely  from  memory,  and  I  have  made  no  recent  reference  to  the  particulars, 
but  I  believe  I  was  in  the  same  lobby  with  Lord  Derby  and  Lord  Chelmsford,  then 
both  in  the  House  of  Commons,  with  General  Peel,  with  Sir  J.  Packington,  and  many 
other  leaders  of  the  Conservative  party.  Perhaps  it  was  bad  company,  but  at  least 


346  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [is«. 

I  think  the  supporters  of  those  gentlemen  now  ought  to  admit  that,  if  they  have 
nothing  since  then  to  lay  to  my  charge,  my  character  will  at  least  bear  comparison 
with  these  eminent  chiefs  of  their  party.  (Cheers.)  And  bear  in  mind,  too,  that 
the  great  party  which  on  that  occasion  voted  for  that  Bill,  voted  in  the  same 
session  of  Parliament  to  keep  your  loaf  small.  They  had  not  much  affection  for 
the  working  man  when  with  one  vote  they  diminished  the  size  of  his  loaf,  and  with 
another  vote  they  lessened  the  number  of  hours  during  which  he  was  permitted 
to  earn  it.  Why,  as  to  short  time,  there  is  no  man  in  England  who  has  ever  been 
more  in  favour  of  short  time  work  than  I  have  been.  My  own  hours  of  work  are 
sometimes  far  too  long,  and  I  believe  that  it  is  true  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
people  of  this  country,  but  I  believe  that  if  the  Government  of  England  had  been 
in  past  times  prudent,  economical  and  just,  and  even  if  it  were  to  become  so  now, 
every  man  in  England  might  have  his  daily  labour  lessened  by  not  less  than  two 
hours  without  the  slightest  diminution  of  his  comforts." 

Advocates  went  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land 
urging  the  people  to  agitate  for  "  Less  work,  and  more  wages ; " 
but  this  was  no  party  measure,  for  it  was  supported  and  opposed 
by  members  of  both  parties.  However,  Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Cobden, 
Mr.  Joseph  Hume,  and  other  prominent  Free-traders,  opposed 
the  measure,  arguing  that  as  the  people  in  factories  were  generally 
paid  by  the  piece,  the  curtailment  of  two  hours*  labour  would 
reduce  their  income  proportionately,  which  would  be  a  serious 
loss  to  the  working  class.  Mr.  Bright  contended  that  "  the  real 
object  of  the  promoters  of  the  measure  was  not  to  take  care  of 
the  children  under  eighteen,  and  women  of  all  ages,  but  to 
interfere  by  law  with  the  labour  of  all  persons,  of  whatever  age 
and  whatever  sex  they  might  be,  who  were  engaged  in  the 
manufactures  of  this  country,  and  to  give  to  these  classes  that 
measure  of  legislative  protection — he  used  the  word  '  protection ' 
in  the  same  sense  in  which  it  had  been  used  by  all  who  were  in 
favour  of  monopolies — a  protection  that  would  diminish  the 
hours  of  labour  while  it  would  continue  a  rate  of  wages  which, 
from  the  days  of  Sadler  till  the  present  time,  was  clearly  a  rate 
higher  than  labour  in  a  free  market  could  command."  Mr. 
Bright  further  admitted  that  the  working  men  would  prefer 
working  ten  hours  to  twelve ;  he  believed  it  would  be  better  for 
them  to  work  ten  hours  than  twelve,  but  he  also  believed  that  if 
it  were  put  to  them  anywhere  that  they  should  work  ten  hours  a 
day  and  have  only  ten  hours'  wages,  there  was  not  a  single  case 
in  which  a  majority  would  vote  for  such  a  change.  In  several 
cases  the  offer  had  been  made  and  refused.  He  would  like,  just 
as  much  as  Lord  John  Manners,  to  see  the  people  playing  at 
cricket  and  climbing  maypoles ;  but  the  noble  lord  never  made  a 
greater  mistake  than  when  he  said  the  operative  classes  would  be 
content  to  accept  a  diminished  rate  of  wages.  The  relations 
between  the  manufacturers  and  operatives  were  steadily  improv- 
ing, and  he  believed  a  diminution  in  the  hours  of  labour  could 
and  would  be  made  without  the  interference  of  Parliament. 


1846.1  TEN    HOfJRS    BILL    PASSED.  247 

When  Mr.  Bright  pleaded  for  Free-trade,  supported  by  the 
acclamations  of  the  people,  he  was  described  by  his  opponents  as 
a  "demagogue;"  so  the  time  came  for  testing-  how  little  of  that 
character  belonged  to  him.  It  was  soon  observable  that  it 
mattered  little  to  him  whether  a  claim  which  he  considered, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  to  be  injurious  to  the  nation,  came  from  the 
territorial,  the  military,  or  the  working  class ;  and  it  was  not 
likely  that  he  who  had  given  the  best  of  the  energies  of  his  life 
to  break  down  an  arbitrary  limitation  of  the  people's  food  supply 
should  be  inimical  to  the  real  interests  of  women  and  children. 
"  He  believed  that  parliamentary  intervention  in  the  relations 
between  capital  and  labour  would  prove  radically  injurious  to 
both,  and  that  an  enlightened  public  opinion  and  the  infallible 
action  of  economic  law  would  give  to  the  working  classes  the 
power  to  right  their  own  wrongs.  He  did  not  hesitate  for  a 
moment  to  avow  his  unpopular  convictions.  He  was  unsuc- 
cessful ;  and  there  is  no  practical  ground  for  now  regretting  the 
anticipation  by  legal  enactment  of  the  certain  action  of  natural 
processes.  The  immense  access  of  commercial  prosperity  created 
by  Free-trade,  and  by  the  almost  concurrent  discoveries  of  the 
new  gold  mines,  floated  the  country  easily  over  any  dangers  that 
might  otherwise  have  resulted  from  statutory  interference  with 
freedom  of  contract.  Later  industrial  history,  however,  showing 
the  enormous  growth  of  the  power  of  labour,  penetrating  even 
the  dull  consciousness  of  the  agricultural  workman,  to  protect  its 
own  interests,  has  at  least  vindicated  the  reliance  of  the  econo- 
mists on  the  humane  tendency  of  a  free  natural  law." 

Mr.  Bright' s  workpeople  and  his  manager,  Mr.  Samuel 
Tweedale,  forwarded  a  petition  to  the  House  of  Commons,  which 
was  presented  by  Lord  John  Manners,  in  favour  of  the  Ten 
Hours  Bill,  and  their  worthy  and  honourable  employer  admired 
their  spirit  of  independence.  Shortly  after  Mr.  Bright  meeting 
Mr.  Tweedale  crossing-  Cronkeyshaw  Common,  they  had  a  friendly 
discussion  of  the  subject,  Mr.  Bright  contending  that  the  reduction 
of  the  hours  of  labour  should  have  been  by  mutual  agreement,  and 
that  he  did  not  like  the  Government  to  interfere  between  capital 
and  labour.  Many  years  before  this  event  Mr.  Bright  had  waited 
upon  manufacturers  in  the  Rochdale  district  and  tried  to  persuade 
them  to  reduce  the  working  hours  to  eleven,  but  as  the  majority 
were  not  in  favour  of  his  proposal,  the  matter  was  allowed  to 
stand  in  abeyance.  Ultimately  the  Bill  became  law  in  June, 
1847,  and  it  answered  perhaps  better  than  its  opponents  expected. 
After  the  Ten  Hours  Bill  was  passed,  Mr.  William  Taylor, 
manufacturer,  of  Vale  Mill,  Shaw,  a  Conservative,  accompanied 


248  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1846. 

by  a  gentleman  of  his  own  political  creed,  came  to  Fieldhouse 
Mills  in  search  of  Mr.  Samuel  Tweedale,  the  manager,  thinking 
that  he  might  be  either  discharged  or  under  notice  for  having 
headed  the  petition  in  favour  of  the  Ten  Hours  Bill,  and,  if  so, 
intending  to  assist  him  in  procuring  another  situation.  To  their 
great  surprise  they  rnet  him  in  the  mill-yard,  and  Mr.  Taylor 
told  him  that  they  had  expected  that  he  would  have  been 
discharged.  Mr.  Tweedale  assured  them  that  Mr.  John 
Bright  permitted  his  workpeople  to  express  openly  their  own 
opinions,  without  using  any  coercion.  Mr.  Taylor  thereupon 
energetically  remarked,  "  By  Jove  !  that  is  very  fair/'  and  ever 
after  entertained  the  highest  opinion  of  Mr.  John  Bright,  and 
nothing  pleased  him  better  than  to  listen  to  any  story  about  the 
illustrious  native  of  Rochdale. 

The  approach  of  the  general  election  prompted  the  Liberals 
of  Manchester  to  try  to  secure  the  services  of  Mr.  John  Bright 
to  represent  them  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Accordingly  on 
the  14th  of  October,  1846,  a  meeting  of  the  Reform  Association 
of  that  city  was  held,  and  it  was  resolved,  with  only  two  dissen- 
tients, that  Mr.  J.  Bright  should  be  requested  to  offer  himself 
as  a  candidate  for  the  representation  of  Manchester  at  the 
ensuing  general  election,  and  a  deputation  waited  on  the  hon. 
member.  Mr.  Bright  consented  to  be  put  in  nomination  should 
the  recommendation  of  the  Association  prove  acceptable  to  the 
electors.  In  a  letter  written  at  Rochdale,  dated  the  15th  of 
October,  1846,  Mr.  Bright  explained  : — 

"I  am  induced  to  consent  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  suffrages  of  the  electors 
of  Manchester  in  the  belief  that  to  a  large  extent  my  sentiments  accord  with  theirs, 
and  because  my  sympathies  are  bound  up  in  an  especial  manner  with  the  advance- 
ment of  the  interests  of  that  great  and  industrious  population  of  which  Manchester 
may  be  deemed  the  centre." 

A  meeting  of  the  electors  was  held  in  the  Free-trade  Hall  on 
the  18th  of  November,  Mr.  George  Wilson  occupying  the  chair, 
and,  in  the  course  of  his  speech,  he  said  : — 

"It  is  well  known  that  the  firm  with  which  he  is  connected,  Jacob  Bright  and 
Sous,  and  latterly  Bright  and  Brothers,  has  for  years  stood  second  to  none  in  the 
good  estimation  in  which  it  is  held  by  those  who  depend  upon  it  for  support. 
(Cheers.)  Well,  he  is  that  at  home.  What  is  he  from  home  ?  We  know  what  he 
has  been  in  this  movement — in  the  movement  in  connection  with  the  League,  side  by 
side  with  Mr.  Cobden,  in  agricultural  meetings  and  in  meetings  in  the  manufacturing 
districts,  often  three  and  four  in  a  week,  in  the  winter  mouths.  I  am  prepared  to 
say  that  Mr.  Bright  has  rallied,  by  his  own  unaided  eloquence,  the  Free-trade  party 
to  efforts  which  could  never  have  been  made  in  so  successful  a  mode  unless  we  had 
had  his  services.  (Much  cheering.)  He  has  for  three  years  been  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons ;  and  during  that  period  he  has  not  been  one  of  those  useful, 
steady-going,  respectable,  ministerial  sort  of  members,  who  vote  just  as  the  ministry 
require  for  the  moment.  From  the  first  he  took  up  a  position  in  that  House  among 
the  first-class  minds  in  that  brilliant  assembly.  (Loud  cheers.)  It  was  the  fashion 


INVITED   TO    CONTEST   MANCHESTER.  249 

to  retreat  whenever  League  doctrines  were  mentioned,  or  the  League  was  attacked, 
as  a  subject  that  was  unpopular.  Mr.  Bright  stood  true  to  his  principles  under 
those  circumstances,  as  he  was  found  true  to  his  principles  and  co-operating  with 
the  minister  in  the  hour  of  victory.  (Cheers.)  Well ;  it  is  said  that  he  has  used 
strong  language,  and  that  occasionally  he  has  not  been  very  conciliatory  to  the 
monopolists.  I  dare  say  it  is  true.  I  do  not  think  that  in  the  discussion  of  the 
Free-trade  question  much  conciliation  was  exhibited  by  Mr.  Cobden,  by  Mr.  Villiers. 
by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  or  by  Lord  John  Russell  to  the  monopolists,  any  more  than  by  the 
monopolists  to  them.  But  it  is  quite  easy  to  get  a  reputation  for  "being  conciliatory. 
It  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world ;  it  is  only  agreeing  with  all  men  upon  all  subjects, 
if  you  like.  You  have  only  to  pare  down  your  opinions  on  all  subjects  so  as  to 
agree  with  the  opinions  of  every  man  you  may  come  across ;  you  have  only  to  dilute 
your  principles  so  far  that  no  person  by  the  utmost  ingenuity  can  discover  the 
slightest  resemblance  to  a  principle  in  them ;  and  then  you  are  conciliatory.  (Cheers.) 
Now,  justice  to  Mr.  Bright  requires  that  he  should  never  be  confounded  with  that 
class  of  men.  (Cheers.)  Ay,  he  has  made  strong  speeches,  used  strong  language ; 
but  that  language  was  spoken  at  a  time  when  these  districts  were  suffering  under  the 
greatest  privation  and  distress.  He  saw  the  emigrant  ships  leaving  your  shores 
tilled  with  men  driven  from  this  country ;  the  best  bones  and  sinews  and  muscles  of 
the  country  driven  away  in  consequence  of  the  Corn  Law ;  he  saw  the  bankrupt 
list,  that  record  of  broken  hearts  and  ruined  families,  increasing  from  week  to  week ; 
he  saw  gaols  overflowing,  the  criminal  calendar  increased  and  enlarged,  the  tables" 
of  mortality  filled  with  starving  victims  from  week  to  week ;  and  he  has  felt  and 
spoken  as  a  man  against  the  burning  wrongs  which  were  endured  by  the  people  of 
this  district.  And  because  he  so  spoke,  and  so  acted,  and  so  thought,  and  so 
fought  your  battles — not  in  holiday  or  drawing-room  phraseology  to  suit  the  taste 
of  the  day— shall  it  be  said  that  we,  who  partook  of  the  victory,  measured  with 
hypercritical  severity  the  temper  of  the  weapon  with  which  our  battles  were  fought 
and  our  victories  gained. "  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Absalom  Watkin  next  moved: — 

"  '  That  this  meeting  of  the  Liberal  electors  of  the  borough  of  Manchester,  grate- 
fully acknowledging  the  distinguished  services  of  John  Bright,  Esq.,  M.P.,  in  the 
recent  struggle  for  commercial  freedom,  and  entertaining  a  high  sense  of  his  talents 
and  public  conduct,  resolves,  that  he  is  peculiarly  qualified  to  represent  this  borough 
in  Parliament,  and  pledges  itself  to  take  all  requisite  steps  for  securing  his  return.' 
The  influence  of  Manchester  should  never  be  forgotten  by  her  sons  in  the  exercise  of 
any  public  duty,"  said  Mr.  Watkin.  "It  was  in  Manchester  that  the  Corn  Laws 
were  denounced  as  unjust ;  and,  under  the  guidance  of  Manchester,  the  injustice 
was  exposed  and  overthrown.  (Cheers.)  This  has  been  our  first  great  triumph,  but 
many  others  remain  to  be  achieved ;  and  it  is  essential  to  our  success  that  we  should 
be  properly  and  efficiently  represented.  In  the  attainment  of  our  first  victory  Mr. 
Bright  was  one  of  those  who  led  the  van.  Side  by  side  with  Cobden  and  Villiers 
he  fought  the  good  fight,  exposing  injustice,  disentangling  sophistry,  setting  truth  in 
the  strongest  light,  and  finally  erecting  the  standard  of  Free-trade  in  the  very 
citadel  of  monopoly.  (Much  cheering.)  Gentlemen,  it  is  necessary  we  should 
remember  that  even  yet  Free-trade  has  not  been  finally  accomplished.  Mr.  Bright 
appears  amongst  us  crowned  with  the  laurels  of  his  former  victory.  He  does  not 
come  before  us  as  a  promising  recruit,  but  as  a  tried  and  triumphant  soldier.  I 
know  that  it  is  objected  to  him  that  he  was  violent.  They  accuse  him  of  having 
felt  too  keenly,  and  exposed  too  vehemently,  a  monstrous  and  impudent  injustice. 
He  refused  to  speak  of  the  evils  of  monopoly,  of  the  immolation  ot  industry  on  the 
altar  of  avarice,  and  of  the  dreadful  sufferings  of  the  poor,  in  smooth  language, 
'  with  taffeta  phrases,  and  silken  terms  precise ; '  and  their  notions  of  decorum  were 
offended.  Accustomed  to  sham  fights,  they  expected  a  tournament,  and  they  found 
a  battle.  It  was  no  longer  a  fencing  match,  but  a  combat,  a  contest  for  life 
or  death,  and  the  vanquished  naturally  complain  of  the  fury  of  the  assault  by  which 
they  were  overthrown.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  believe  the  worst  that  was  ever  said  of  Mr. 
Bright  by  his  bitterest  opponents  amounts  to  this :  that  he  pursued  a  great  object 
with  the  ardour  of  a  deep  conviction,  and  did  not  stay  to  bandy  courtesies  when  he 
sought  to  hew  down  giant  abuses.  (Cheers.)  Remember,  as  I  have  already  told 
you,  that  Free-trade  is  not  yet  fully  accomplished.  Monopoly  has  not  yet  uttered 
its  expiring  cry.  It  is  true,  you  have  scotched  the  snake ;  it  has  received  a  deep, 
perhaps  a  deadly  wound ;  its  grasp  is  relaxed,  but  it  still  folds  itself  around  your 


IV)  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1846. 

trade,  and  even  yet  its  venom  pollutes  your  daily  bread.  (Cheers.)  The  great 
principle  of  unshackled  commerce  has  yet  to  be  fully  established  ;  and  it  is  for  such 
men  as  Mr.  Bright  to  cause  it  to  be  extended  from  the  princely  merchant,  who 
unites  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth  by  his  operations,  down  to  the  poor  struggling 
hawker,  with  his  little  basket  of  wares,  who  is  now  cruelly  and  shamefully  taxed 
for  endeavouring  to  obtain  a  living  by  honest  industry."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.    Alderman    Bird   seconded   the    resolution,  which    was 
carried  unanimously.  * 

"  It  was  accident  alone  which  first  foew  me  from  private  life,"  said  Mr.  Bright. 
"  I  have  no  personal  object  whatever  in  being  in  Parliament ;  I  have  no  personal 
interest  to  serve.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  believe  that  there  is  no  office,  no  title,  no  honour 
whatever,  which  any  government  could  offer  to  me,  that  would  in  any  way  influence 
the  decision  to  which  I  should  come  on  any  question,  or  affect  the  vote  that  I 
should  give ;  and  on  all  those  questions  on  whicn  I  have  spoken  I  can  declare  with 
the  most  perfect  honesty  and  sincerity,  that  the  decision  to  which  I  have  come,  be  it 
right  or  be  it  wrong,  has  been  come  to  with  an  honest  desire  to  do  what  was  right. 
(Cheers.)  .  .  .  The  public  mind  is  occupied  just  now  with  the  politics  of  Ireland ; 
and  it  would  not  be  befitting  me,  perhaps,  to  let  this  opportunity  pass  without 
making  some  observations  on  the  condition  of  that  country.  I  am  not  disposed  to 
lay  all  the  blame  of  the  condition  of  Ireland  on  the  Government  of  Great  Britain.  I 
believe  that  Ireland  has  been  governed,  as  conquered  countries  mostly  are,  with  a 
great  ignorance  of  its  inhabitants  on  the  part  of  its  rulers,  and  with  great  disregard 
of  all  the  laws  of  justice  which  should  g_uide  the  rulers  of  every  country.  (Cheers.) 
My  opinion  is  that  much  of  its  evils  arises  from  the  prevailing  antagonism  which 
exists,  and  which  has  existed  for  generations  back,  between  religious  parties  in  that 
country  (cheers) ;  and  I  am  convinced  that  one  of  two  things  must  be  done — that 
either  the  Protestant  establishment,  so  called,  in  that  country,  must  be  given  up 
(hear,  hear,  and  cheers),  or  that,  by  some  mode  of  public  remuneration,  the  minis- 
ters of  the  Catholic  Church  must  be  placed  on  an  equality  with  the  ministers  of  the 
Established  Church.  (Cheers.)  I  need  not  say,  after  what  I  have  said  before, 
which  of  these  two  modes  of  settling  religious  disputes  in  that  country  would  be 
most  acceptable  to  me.  That  which  would  abolish  the  Protestant  Church  in  Ireland, 
so  far  as  it  is  a  political  organisation  (Loud  cheers) — that  is  the  measure  which  I 
should  recommend,  and  any  steps  in  that  direction  shall  have  my  cordial  support. 
(Cheers.)  I  would  give  to  Ireland,  'moreover,  a  system  of  electoral  registration 
(hear,  hear),  which  should  be  at  least  as  perfect  and  as  liberal  as  that  which  we 
possess.  (Cheers.)  And  I  would  give  it  also  such  a  description  of  franchise  as 
should  place  it  at  least  on  a  par  with  the  electoral  system  of  this  country." 
(Cheers.) 

Referring  to  foreign  aifairs,  Mr.  Bright  continued  : — 

It  has  been  known  for  years  that  there  was  a  scramble  for  the  sister  of 
the  Queen  of  Spain.  Louis  Philippe  appears  to  have  been  most  active,  and  his 
son  has  got  her  to  wife.  (Laughter.)  But  is  Louis  Philippe,  think  you,  so 
foolish  in  his  old  age  as  to  suppose  that  France  and  Spain  can  be  ever  united 
under  one  head,  and  ruled  by  one  sceptre?  Is  he  the  only  man  in  Europe 
not  to  know  that  there  is  a  division  between  France  and  Spain  a  thousand  times 
more  impassable  than  the  Pyrenees,  which  are  their  geographical  division  ?  Look 
at  the  proud,  the  stately,  and  the  haughty  Spaniard,  and  say  whether  you 
suppose  that  he  can  amalgamate  with  the  volatile  Frenchman  ?  There  is  a  differ- 
ence in  their  national  characteristics  which  makes  it  impossible  that  they  should 
ever  become  one  nation;  and  if  there  is  one  thing  of  which  the  Spanish  people 
are  more  jealous  than  another,  it  is  of  foreign  interference.  In  his  extremity  the 
Spaniard  will  ask  for  your  help;  but  the  moment  you  have  granted  it,  and 
relieved  him  of  his  difficulty,  he  becomes  more  jealous,  and  hates  you  with  a  bitterer 
hatred  than  ever  he  did  before.  (Cheers.)  Louis  Philippe  is  said  to  be  avaricious 
in  his  old  age ;  the  Infanta  of  Spain  is  said  to  have  a  very  large  fortune ;  and  there 
are  great  reasons  for  believing^  that  her  fortune  was  more  an  object  than  any  chance 
of  obtaining  the  crown  of  Spain  in  any  future  year.  Louis  Philippe  has  as  much  as 
he  can  do  to  keep  one  throne  for  his  family,  without  endeavouring  to  grasp  at  another. 
(Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  I  am  not  speaking  as  if  I  thought  that  we  were  going  to 


1847.]  A    CANDIDATE    FOB,   MANCHESTER,  251 

have  a  war  with  France  about  this.  There  will  be  no  war.  The  people  of  this 
country  have  not  been  learning  for  the  last  130  years  a  lesson  that  will  tempt  them 
to  enter  into  another  war  of  succession.  Still  we  may  have  these  menacing 
articles  in  the  newspapers.  The  articles  in  the  foreign  newspapers  will  grow  hotter 
and  hotter,  more  and  more  bitter.  Then  you  hear  of  great  activity  iii  our  dockyards : 
and  by-and-by  the  newspapers  will  say  it  is  necessary  that  all  the  defences  of  the 
country  should  be  placed  in  a  state  of  complete  repair.  Then,  when  Parliament 
meets,  the  navy  estimates  will  be  passed  by  acclamation ;  nobody  will  inquire  how 
much  is  asked  for ;  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  ministers  will  come  down,  and,  as 
they  did  last  year,  ask  for  an  extramiflion  of  money.  (Hear,  hear.)  Did  you  ever  know 
armies  and  navies  to  be  increased,  unless  during  a  period  of  general  war,  like  that 
previous  to  1815,  and  a  reduction  to  be  made  in  them  afterwards  ?  In  1834  or  1835 
there  was  great  talk  about  the  Russians  landing  iu  England,  and  we  expected  to 
have  a  hug  from  the  Russian  bear  some  fine  morning.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  Then 
an  increase  in  the  votes  took  place ;  additional  sums  were  granted  by  Parliament ; 
and  of  course  the  people  were  either  burdened  with  additional  taxes,  or  there  was 
not  that  reduction  of  taxation  which  might  otherwise  have  taken  place.  In  1840 
there  was  a  great  cry  that  the  Chartists  were  about  to  revolutionise  the  country : 
Government  asked  for  5,000  additional  troops,  and  they  were  granted.  We  have 
them  yet.  (Loud  cries  of  Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  ....  We  have  taught 
also  obedience  to  the  laws ;  we  have  taught  that  it  is  infinitely  better,  by  peaceful 
means,  to  work  out  a  peaceful  reform  of  abuses,  than  to  have  recourse  to  violence 
and  insurrection.  (Loud  cheers.)  And  whilst  one  class  have  been  insolently 
oppressing,  and  another,  craven  in  spirit,  have  submitted  tamely  to  the  oppression, 
we  roused  our  countrymen  throughout  the  kingdom,  we  overthrew  the  wrong,  and 
wrought  a  great  deliverance  for  the  industry  of  the  British  people.  (Cheers.)  It 
may  be  that  I  have  no  qualifications  which  should  entitle  me  to  ask  for  the  suffrages 
of  any  of  the  electors  of  Manchester.  I  boast  of  no  such  qualifications.  I  said 
before  that  accident  had  made  me  a  public  man ;  that  1  had  no  desire  to  leave  the 
occupation  in  which  I  was  brought  up  ;  and  I  can  say  now  that  home  and  domestic 
claims  have  to  me  lost  none  of  their  relish.  I  can  assure  this  meeting  that  there 
is  scarcely  any  occupation  in  life  which  is  a  more  chequered  one,  which  has  more 
trouble  to  balance  its  delights,  more  of  suffering  to  compensate  for  its  enjoyments, 
than  that  of  an  honest  representative  of  the  people.  (Cheers.)  But  if  this  meeting, 
and  after  this  meeting  the  still  larger  body  of  the  electors  whom  you  may  be  sup- 
posed to  represent,  should  think  me  a  fit  person  to  speak  in  your  name  in  the  British 
House  of  Commons,  I  will  not  shrink  from  the  heavy,  the  onerous  duties  which  that 
appointment  would  impose  upon  me.  (Loud  cheering.)  I  cannot  boast  of  blood 
and  of  ancestry.  My  ancestors  were  people  who  followed  an  honourable  industry— 
(Hear,  hear)  — such  as  I  myself  should  have  preferred  always  tof  olio  w,  such  as  you  follow 
now,  and  such  as  your  forefathers  followed.  My  sympathies  are  naturally  with  the 
class  with  which  I  am  connected  (great  cheering),  and  I  would  infinitely  prefer  to 
raise  the  class  of  which  I  am  one  than  by  any  means  whatever  to  creep  above  it 
or  out  of  it.  (Cheers.)  If  I  am  elected,  I  can  only  promise  you  a  zeal  which,  I 
think,  few  can  surpass  me  in  for  those  great  public  questions  with  which  I  have 
been  connected,  and  for  those  principles  which  I  have  espoused  (enthusiastic 
applause),  and  it  will  be  to  me  an  ample  compensation  for  any  labour  I  may  endure, 
for  any  obloquy  I  may  meet  with,  for  any  suffering  I  may  undergo,  if,  in  years 
to  come  (if  years  to  come  should  be  granted  me)  I  may  be  able  to  look  back  and 
reflect  that  I  have  done  something  for  the  furtherance  of  those  great  principles  and 
objects  with  which  the  name  of  Manchester  is  so  gloriously  identified."  (Much 
cheering.) 

The  Conservatives  tried  to  prevail  upon  Lord  Lincoln,  son  of 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  to  contest  the  election,  but  his  lordship 
declined  upon  hearing  the  result  of  the  canvass ;  consequently  a 
Conservative  candidate  was  not  brought  forward. 

On  the  29th  of  July,  1847,  Mr.  John  Bright  and  the  Eight 
Hon.  Thomas  Milner  Gibson  were  elected  to  represent  the 
famous  town  of  Manchester  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The 
ceremony  was  performed  in  St.  Ann's  Square,  and,  strange  to 


262  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1847 

state,  this  was  the  first  time  that  the  election  for  this  borough 
passed  over  without  a  contest.  There  were  about  10,000  persons 
present.  Mr.  Elkanah  Armitage,  the  mayor,  presided. 

Mr.  Alderman  "Watkin  nominated  the  Right  Hon.  Thomas 
Milner  Gibson  as  a  fit  and  proper  person  to  represent  the  con- 
stituency in  Parliament,  and  Mr.  Alderman  Walker  seconded 
the  motion. 

Mr.  George  Wilson  nominated  Mr.  John  Bright  for  the  same 
high  office,  and  Mr.  Absalom  Watkin,  in  seconding  the  motion, 
remarked  that  Mr.  Bright  was  invested  at  once  with  the  weight 
and  influence  proportionate  to  the  wealth,  intelligence,  and  inde- 
pendence of  that  great  constituency.  Their  choice  lifted  him  to 
a  distinguished  place  amongst  the  representatives  of  the  people. 
Mr.  Bright  would  enter  the  House  of  Commons,  not  fettered  by 
pledges  to  particular  measures  which  circumstances  might  render 
inexpedient  or  unwise,  but  bound  by  known  principles,  and 
guided  by  tried  integrity ;  and  he  would  be  there  on  their  behalf 
to  do  battle  with  the  enemy  for  the  public  weal — to  wage  a  war 
of  extermination  against  all  forms  of  bad  government,  and  to 
advocate  all  measures  of  political  and  social  improvement — 

"  With  lips  of  fire  to  plead  his  country's  cause, 
And  claim  for  freeborn  men  impartial  laws." 

Mr.  John  Bright  rose  amidst  considerable  cheering,  but 
about  300  persons,  who  had  assembled  in  close  proximity  to  the 
h  listings  in  front,  began  to  hiss  vehemently,  and  appeared  deter- 
mined to  drown  his  utterances  in  their  unseemly  noise.  Mr. 
Bright  graciously  acknowledged  the  attention  of  friends  and 
foes,  and  observed  : — 

"There  are  points  of  difference — serious  points  of  difference — between  me  and 
some  of  those  to  whom  I  now  speak  (hear,  hear,  and  hisses),  but  the  opinions 
I  hold,  I  hold  honestly  and  maintain  fearlessly ;  and  I  do  not  think  the  worse  of  any 
man  that  he  holds  opinions  different  from  mine.  (Cheers  and  hisses.)  I  have  seen 
many  instances  in  which  a  very  small  number  of  men  could  disturb  the  harmony  of 
a  very  large  assembly ;  and  although  there  are  those  here  of  the  operative  class  who 
consider  me  as  their  enemy,  I  can  tell  them  that  I  would  much  rather  have  their  ill- 
will  now  because  I  advocated  their  interests,  than  their  ill-will  hereafter  because  I 
had  betrayed  them.  I  am  blamed  because  I  did  not  give  my  assent  to  a  measure 
which  was  popular  with  a  portion  of  the  operatives ;  I  am  blamed  because  I  opposed 
the  Ten  Hours  Bill — (hisses) — because  I  did  not  consent  that  Parliament  should 
close  the  manufactories  of  this  country  for  two  hours  a  day.  Well,  I  may  be  wrong ; 
but  if  I  am  wrong,  I  am  wrong  in  ignorance  and  not  in  intention.  I  boldly  stated 
my  opinion  ;  I  have  argued  for  it,  spoke  for  it,  voted  for  it,  and  am  ready  to  main- 
tain it  (cheers  and  hisses),  but  henceforth  we  shall  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
which  is  right — the  advocates  of  the  measure  or  its  opponents.  If  it  be  successful 
I  shall  rejoice ;  if  it  be  not,  I  shall  be  willing  to  help  in  its  amendment."  (Hear, 
hear,  and  cheers.) 

Such  honesty  of  utterance  as  this  could  not  fail  to  make 
itself  felt  through  the  covering  of  prejudice  which  had  spread 


1647.  J  ELECTED    MEMBER   FOR   MANCHESTER.  268 

itself  round  the  hearts  of  the  operatives,  and  even  his  oppo- 
nents could  not  help  admiring  his  frankness  and  manly  conduct. 
An  important  feature  in  Mr.  John  Bright's  character  reveals 
itself  in  contending  for  his  own  principles,  whether  popular  or 
unpopular.  What  he  thinks  true  he  avows  openly  and  unreser- 
vedly, though  it  may  be  unpleasant,  and  though  it  may  bring  on 
him  public  disfavour.  He  at  least  is  not  disposed  to  swim 
always  with  the  stream,  or  to  wear  his  opinion  "  on  both  sides, 
like  a  leather  jerkin." 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

ME.    HEIGHT'S   PEIVATE   LIFE. 

His  Second  Marriage-^-Home  Life— His  Children — His  Study — His  Pets — Llaii- 
dudno  his  favourite  Besort  —  Death  of  his  beloved  Child  —  St.  Tudno's 
Churchyard — Out- door  Service. 

A  MAN  of  Mr.  Bright's  genial  and  social  nature,  who  had 
felt  so  severely  the  loss  of  the  sun  of  his  domestic  sphere — or,  as 
lie  has  recently  expressed  himself  when  speaking  of  the  death  of 
his  young  wife,  when  "the  light  and  the  sunshine  of  his  house 
were  extinguished  " — was  not  likely  soon  to  surmount  his  sorrow ; 
but  fortunately — 

"There  is  no  grief  which  time  does  not  lessen  and  soften." 

Some  years  after,  in  the  same  town,  Leamington,  where  his 
wife  had  sunk  to  rest,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  with  a 
lady  in  whom  he  found  a  suitable  substitute  for  the  dear  de- 
parted one.  This  young  lady  was  no  other  than  Miss  Margaret 
Elizabeth  Leatham,  daughter  of  Mr.  William  Leatham,  of  Heath 
House,  the  banker  of  Wakefield  and  other  towns. 

The  marriage  ceremony  was  performed  according  to  the  usual 
mode  of  the  "  Friends,"  in  their  homely  Meeting  House,  George 
Street,  Wakefield,  on  the  10th  of  June,  1847.  There  was  a  large 
assembly  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  to  witness  the  marriage  of  such 
distinguished  persons,  and  many  of  Mr.  Bright's  political  friends 
formed  the  majority  of  the  congregation.  In  accordance  with 
the  extreme  simplicity  and  deliberation  of  this  sect,  the  marriage 
party  sat  in  silence  as  Mr.  Bright  rose,  and  taking  the  right  hand 
of  Miss  Leatham,  pronounced  in  a  low  but  distinct  voice  the 
Friends'  formula  : — "  Friends,  I  take  my  friend,  Margaret  Eliza- 
beth Leatham,  to  be  my  wife,  promising  through  Divine  assis- 
tance to  be  unto  her  a  loving  and  faithful  husband  until  it  shall 
please  the  Lord  by  death  to  separate  us."  While  still  holding 
hands,  Miss  Leatham,  in  a  low  and  tremulous  voice,  pronounced 
words  of  similar  import  as  regarded  Mr.  Bright,  promising  to  be 
11  unto  him  a  loving  and  faithful  wife."  After  this  a  space  of 
some  minutes  occurred,  when  one  of  the  congregation  offered  up 
pruyer,  the  whole  assembly  standing.  There  was  another  period 


1847.]  HIS   SECOND    MARRIAGE.  265 

of  silence,  which  was  broken  by  Mr.  George  Bennington  who 
read  the  certificate  or  declaration.  This  was  signed  by  the  bride  and 
bridegroom,  by  their  relations,  friends,  and  afterwards  by  a  large 
number  of  the  congregation.  The  wedding  party  consisted  of 
the  bride  and  bridegroom,  Mrs.  Leatham  (mother  of  the  bride) , 
Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  of  Rochdale  (father  of  the  bridegroom) ;  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Leatham,  Miss  Priscilla  Leatham,  Miss  Priscilla  Bright, 
Mr.  C.  Albert  Leatham,  Miss  Esther  Bright,  Mr.  Edward  A. 
Leatham,  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  jun.  (the  present  member  for  Man- 
chester), Mrs.  M.  W.  Barclay,  Mr.  Joseph  Gurney  Barclay,  Miss 
J.  M.  Barclay,  Miss  Ann  F.  Barclay,  Mr.  J.  Priestman,  jun., 
and  Miss  Elizabeth  Thornhill.  The  whole  ceremony  lasted  about 
an  hour.  The  congratulations  of  those  present  were  hearty  and 
sincere,  and  the  union  proved  a  happy  one. 

"  Meantime  a  smiling  offspring  rises  round, 
And  mingles  both  their  graces." 

For  on  the  18th  March,  1848,  at  51,  Wimpole  Street,  Maryle- 
bone,  London,  Mr.  Bright  was  presented  with  a  son  and  heir,  to 
whom  was  given  the  name  of  John  Albert.  On  the  30th  Sept- 
ember, 1849,  at  "One  Ash,"  a  daughter  was  born,  and  named 
Mary  Harriet ;  on  the  12th  August,  18,51,  a  son — William 
Leatham  ;  on  the  1st  March,  1854,  a  daughter — Anna  Elizabeth ; 
on  the  27th  May,  1856,  a  daughter — Margaret  Sophia.  On  the 
24th  February,  1859,  a  son  was  born,  named  Leonard;  and  on 
the  23rd  of  April,  1863,  a  fourth  son,  who  received  the  name  of 
Philip,  thus  completing  the  number  of  seven  children. 

Mr.  Bright  is  a  gentleman  of  quiet  domestic  habits,  and 
when  at  home,  free  from  the  harass  of  public  duty,  he  would 
accompany  Mrs.  Bright  in  the  carriage,  or  go  for  a  stroll, 
and  during  the  evening  he  would  sit  reading  or  conversing 
with  her.  He  was  relieved  by  Mrs.  Bright  of  any  anxiety  on 
domestic  matters,  so  that  he  could  devote  his  whole  attention 
to  the  patriotic  work  he  had  undertaken.  No  father  could  be 
more  attached  to  his  children,  and  it  was  to  him  true  pleasure  to 
be  in  their  midst.  His  mind  was  of  that  happy  cast  which  can 
unbend  and  recreate  itself  in  the  simple  play  of  his  offspring,  and 
in  his  speeches  touches  of  tenderness  about  children  break  out 
occasionally,  as  well  as  advice  to  the  unruly  who  "make  their 
sires  stoop."  So  he  is 

"  In  private  amiable — in  public  great." 

In  such  amusements  great  minds  have  often  found  much  relief, 
for  it  transports  them  back  to  the  innocent  days  of  child- 


2W  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (1847. 

hood;  thus  their  minds  secure  mental  refreshment  and  escape 
serious  thought.  Agesilaus  diverted  his  children  and  himself 
with  riding  on  a  stick;  Scipio,  for  a  change,  picked  up  shells 
on  a  sea-shore;  Dean  Swift  amused  himself  by  driving  his 
friends,  the  Sheridans,  before  him  through  all  the  rooms  of 
the  deanery ;  and  thus  we  frequently  find  men  taking  pleasure 
in  pursuits  which  appear  entirely  foreign  to  their  usual  habits 
and  occupations.  This  seems  to  be  the  reason  why  mir  poets  do 
not  carry  their  poetry  into  life,  and  why  such  a  discrepancy 
exists  between  their  biography  and  their  verses.  Young,  in  pri- 
vate life,  possessed  nothing  of  the  sombre  character  which  appears 
in  his  poems. 

The  rambling  speeches  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons 
by  some  members  must  be  somewhat  irksome  to  the  ears  of  more 
accomplished  orators,  and  provocative  of  nodding,  for  what  they 
want  in  depth  they  give  in  length.  The  idiosyncrasies  of  some 
are  truly  amusing ;  as  Churchill  says — 

"  Adepts  in  the  speaking  trade 
Keep  a  cough  by  them  ready  made." 

Mr.  Bright,  in  delivering  his  speeches,  has  none  of  the 
drawling  mannerism  of  many  of  the  speakers  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  but  marches  right  on  in  a  free,  fresh,  direct  current 
of  remark,  nothing  equalling  his  straightforward  plainness,  and 
condensed  expression.  His  diction  is  drawn  from  the  pure  wells 
of  English  undefiled.  "The  use  of  Scriptural  imagery  is  a 
marked  feature  of  his  orations,  and  no  imagery  can  be  more 
appropriately  employed  to  illustrate  his  views ;  for  Mr.  Bright, 
in  all  his  grand  efforts,  rises  far  above  the  loaded,  unwholesome 
atmosphere  of  party  politics  into  the  purer  air  and  brighter  skies 
of  patriotism  and  philanthropy.  We  may  differ  about  his  means 
or  measures,  but  no  one  can  differ  about  his  aims  when  he  puts 
forth  his  strength  to  raise  Ireland  and  India  in  the  scale  of 
civilisation,  to  mitigate  the  evils  of  war,  or  to  promote  the  spread 
of  toleration  and  Christian  charity  throughout  the  world. " 

Mr.  Bright's  study,  or  library,  is  situated  in  the  western 
part  of  his  residence,  and  he  repairs  to  the  privacy  of  this  room, 
when  at  home,  to  consider  the  subject  of  any  approaching  speech 
that  he  is  called  upon  to  deliver.  When  in  such  deep  study  it  has 
been  his  habit,  after  being  tired  of  the  room,  to  stroll  into  the 
dining-room — which  is  opposite,  and  has  a  south  view — and  there 
resume  his  mental  labour.  No  one  enters  this  room,  there  being  a 
tacit  understanding  amongst  the  members  of  his  household  that 
he  should  not  be  interrupted.  He  very  carefully  examines  the 


1847.]  HIS  PRIVATE   LITE.  257 

points  upon  which  he  is  to  express  opinions,  and  deliberates  long 
before  coming  to  a  conclusion.  He  examines  the  subject  from 
all  points  of  view,  and  after  he  has  arrived  at  a  final  decision, 
he  writes  out  the  heads  of  the  different  thoughts,  to  recall  the 
various  views  he  intends  to  enumerate,  and  trusts  to  his  com- 
mand of  language  in  the  expressing  of  them.  He  is  careful 
never  to  make  a  statement  without  assuring  himself  of  its 
correctness,  and  never  draws  an  inference  from  facts  which  he 
does  not  believe  to  be  sound.  He  is  most  conscientious,  and 
what  he  believes  to  be  right  he  will  maintain  with  the  unflinch- 
ing spirit  of  a  martyr.  Although  he  has  a  strong  moral  tone,  it 
is  mellowed  and  tempered  largely  by  kindness.  Hence  follow 
the  worth,  weight,  and  importance  of  all  his  opinions ;  and  this 
is  the  secret  of  his  success  as  a  statesman,  and  how  it  is  that  the 
opinions  he  has  expressed  have  ultimately  been  found  to  be 
correct,  and  have  been  embodied  in  Acts  of  Parliament  of  consti- 
tutional utility.  From  an  early  date  in  his  public  career  he  has 
prepared  only  a  few  notes,  even  for  his  lengthened  speeches;  but 
the  subject  has  been  so  thoroughly  mastered,  that  he  is  able 
coolly  and  collectively  to  express  his  views  clearly  in  his  own 
rich  and  elastic  language  as  he  proceeds.  At  one  of  the  great 
meetings  in  the  Birmingham  Town  Hall  a  few  years  ago  an 
incident  occurred,  which  was  watched  by  the  vast  multitude 
present  with  curious  interest.  As  was  his  custom,  Mr.  Bright 
placed  his  notes  on  his  hat,  which  early  in  his  speech  he  over- 
turned by  a  slight  gesticulation.  The  notes  were  wafted 
below  the  platform  and  found  their  way  to  a  crevice,  where 
they  could  not  then  be  recovered.  The  whole  audience  at  once 
became  more  interested,  for  they  knew  that  the  power  of  the 
orator  would  undergo  a  severe  test.  He,  however,  merely 
smiled,  and  proceeded  withoilt  hesitation,  seeming  to  be 
less  concerned  than  any  one  else  about  the  event,  which 
did  not  prevent  him  from  delivering  a  powerful  and  eloquent 
speech. 

A  common  vice  of  public  men  is  that  they  appear  in  a  two- 
fold character :  one  phase  is  seen  at  home,  the  other  is  acted 
before  the  public ;  but  in  John  Bright,  the  statesman,  the 
husband,  the  father,  are  all  centred,  and  are  but  varied  aspects 
of  one  pure,  great,  and  harmonious  life.  In  him  there  are  no 
extremes.  He  is  unostentatious,  and  no  man  was  ever  farther 
removed  from  vanity.  He  loves  simplicity,  and  is  gentle  and 
affable  to  those  about  him.  Many  years  ago  a  Christmas  tree 
was  prepared  for  the  entertainment  of  Mr.  Bright's  children. 
At  that  time  a  few  intimate  friends  were  spending  the  Christ- 


268  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BEIGHT. 

mas  at  "  One  Ash/'  and  during  the  evening  the  servants  of  the 
household  were  called  in  by  Mrs.  Bright  to  inspect  the  tree  and 
receive  their  Christmas  presents.  Mr.  Bright,  noticing  the 
absence  of  an  elderly  person,  named  Ann  Sladen,  who  had  for 
many  years  been  employed  to  assist  the  servants,  enquired 
where  "  Ann  "  was.  She  was  called,  but  declined  to  come,  her 
excuse  being  that  she  was  in  her  working  attire.  Whereupon  Mr. 
Bright  politely  requested  the  company  to  retire  for  a  short  time,  to 
allow  Ann  to  inspect  the  tree  and  receive  her  gift,  and  the  guests 
readily  complied.  Ann  felt  grateful  for  this  kind  consideration ; 
and  this  is  only  one  of  the  many  benevolent  acts  done  for  the 
poor  by  Mr.  Bright,  who  ever  acts  on  the  principle  that  "  Happi- 
ness seems  made  to  be  shared." 

Footmen  in  gaudy  trappings  and  with  pretentious  grimace 
are  never  seen  at  "  One  Ash ;  "  but  "  neat-handed  Phillis,"  with 
simple  mien  and  unaffected  air,  admits  the  visitor.  In  fact,  the 
illustrious  head  of  that  establishment  requires  but  little  attention 
from  his  servants.  The  early  training  inculcated  by  his  excel- 
lent mother  has  never  been  eradicated.  She  always  impressed 
upon  her  children  the  duty  of  self-reliance  and  systematic 
arrangement,  and  so  well  has  this  early  training  been  acted  upon, 
that  even  up  to  the  present  time  of  his  advanced  life  Mr.  Bright 
packs  up  his  own  travelling  requisites ;  and  before  his  declining 
years" commenced,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  walking  from  his  resi- 
dence to  the  railway  station,  as  any  humble  pedestrian  does — 
although  a  carriage  and  pair  awaited  his  bidding.  Never  during 
the  busiest  time  of  his  public  career  has  he  employed  any 
regular  amanuensis. 

Throughout  Mr.  Bright's  life  he  has  been  fond  of  dogs,  and 
as  many  as  three  or  four  are  to  be  seen  at  his  home.  It  may 
be  remembered  that  during  the  Reform  Bill  debate  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  Mr.  Bright,  in  alluding  to  Messrs.  Lowe  and 
Horsman's  opposition,  said  that  they  reminded  him  of  a  Scotch 
terrier,  which  was  so  covered  with  hair  that  it  was  difficult  to 
tell  which  was  the  head  and  which  was  the  tail.  The  com- 
parison was  so  true  that  it  caused  an  outburst  of  hearty  laughter 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  it  became  a  traditional  joke, 
but  it  was  not  generally  known  that  the  homely  illustration 
was  suggested  by  the  appearance  of  the  shaggy  Tiff,  whom  he 
had  left  behind  him  at  "  One  Ash/'  This  Tiff,  a  Scotch  terrier, 
was  a  great  favourite  of  Mr.  Bright' s,  and  would  scarcely  allow 
any  person  to  intrude  upon  the  privacy  of  his  master  without 
receiving  permission  in  unmistakeable  language.  Tiff  in  the 
course  of  time  died,  and,  with  other  predecessors  of  the  canine 


1815.]  ILLUSTRIOUS  VISITORS.  269 

race,  was  honoured  with  a  burial-place  in  the  garden,  in  the  rear 
of  the  mansion. 

Mr.  Bright  is  a  great  admirer  not  only  of  dogs,  but  of  the 
nobler  animal,  the  steed.  For  many  years  his  carriage  had  been 
drawn  by  a  pair  of  chestnut  horses,  and  so  attached  did  he 
become  to  them,  that  at  their  death  they  were  buried  in  a  field 
at  the  back  of  the  mansion. 

Mr.  B  right's  home  has  attracted  the  citizen  of  the  world. 
To  Englishmen  and  Americans  it  is  especially  interesting,  and 
strangers  often  visit  Rochdale,  when  they  learn  that  the  dis- 
tinguished Quaker  has  returned  to  "  One  Ash/'  so  that  they 
might  have  the  opportunity  of  seeing  him  in  his  house. 
Though  the  picture  possesses  no  strong  features,  it  breathes  a 
beautiful  tranquillity,  and  suggests  a  comfortable  home.  The 
late  Mr.  Charles  Sumner,  one  of  the  United  States'  greatest 
senators,  visited  him,  and  spent  his  last  night  in  England 
at  this  mansion.  These  two  eloquent  men  had  corresponded 
with  each  other  for  years,  and  great  was  the  joy  with  which  they 
met  each  other.  It  has  been  a  custom  with  the  Americans  for 
many  years  to  commemorate  by  an  oration  annually  "The 
Boston  Massacre  : "  the  encounter  between  the  British  troops  and 
the  populace  of  Boston,  on  the  5th  of  March,  1770,  which 
resulted  in  the  death  of  five  of  the  inhabitants.  The  anniversary 
was  ultimately  changed  from  the  5th  of  March  to  the  4th  of 
July,  the  anniversary  of  the  National  Independence.  Mr. 
Charles  Sumner  was  the  chosen  orator  in  1845,  and  his  subject 
was  based  chiefly  on  peace  : — 

"  It  was  a  very  beautiful  picture  from  Grecian  history,"  said  he,  "  that  there 
was  at  least  one  spot — the  small  island  of  Delos — dedicated  to  the  gods,  and  kept  at 
all  times  sacred  from  war,  where  the  citizens  of  all  hostile  countries  met  and  united 
in  a  common  worship.  So  let  us  dedicate  our  broad  country.  The  temple  of  honour 
shall  be  surrounded  by  the  temple  of  concord,  so  that  the  prince  shall  be  entertained 
only  through  the  portals  of  the  latter ;  the  horn  of  abundance  shall  overflow  at  its 
gates,  and  religion  shall  be  the  guide  over  its  steps  of  flashing  adamant;  while 
within,  justice,  returned  to  the  earth  from  her  long  exile  in  the  skies,  shall  rear 
her  serene  and  majestic  front.  And  the  future  chiefs  of  the  republic,  destined  to 
uphold  the  glories  of  a  new  era,  unspotted  by  human  blood,  shall  be  '  the  first  in 
peace,  and  the  first  in  the  hearts  of  their  countrymen.'  " 

The  Duke  of  Connaught,  passing  through  Rochdale  with  his 
regiment,  called  to  see  Mr.  Bright.  The  present  Lord  Derby 
also  visited  Mr.  Bright  some  years  ago.  Of  other  dis- 
tinguished men  who  have  sojourned  at  "  One  Ash/'  Mr.  Cobden 
was  the  most  frequent  visitor,  and  many  an  important  event  in 
the  political  world  emanated  from  their  conversations  during 
their  strolls  in  this  garden,  or  from  their  fireside  deliberations; 
E  2 


260  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

but  these  men  were  playful  as  well  as  grave.  Cobden,  on  the 
occasion  of  one  of  these  visits  on  a  summer's  morning,  was 
walking  in  the  garden  with  Bright,  who  came  up  to  the  gardener, 
and  said,  "  Ben,  do  you  know  who  this  is  ? "  "  It  is  Mr. 
Cobden,"  replied  Ben  Oldham,  and  thereupon  Cobden  took  the 
gardener  by  the  hand,  and  after  a  hearty  shake,  Oldham 
remarked,  "  Ah,  Mr.  Cobden,  you  are  getting  to  look  much 
older."  "  Yes/'  said  Mr.  Cobden,  adding  in  a  whisper,  "  and  if 
you'll  not  say  anything  about  my  grey  hairs  Pll  say  nothing 
about  yours/'  The  three  laughed  merrily,  and  the  two  states- 
men continued  their  walk  light-hearted. 

Mr.  Bright  never  forgets  an  old  friend,  nor  does  he  neglect 
the  kind  duties  towards  neighbour  acquaintances.  In  cases 
of  sickness  his  visits  are  constant  if  he  is  at  home ;  in  cases 
of  death  his  sympathy  with  the  bereaved  is  touching  and 
affectionate;  and  in  cases  of  poverty  it  sometimes  takes  the 
form  of  substantial  assistance. 

Llandudno  has  been  one  of  Mr.  Bright's  favourite  resorts 
for  many  years.  Accidentally  meeting  Joseph  and  Charles 
Sturge  at  this  marine  town  on  one  occasion,  he  remarked  in  con- 
versation to  them  that  Llandudno  might  be  called  "the  Child 
of  Birmingham."  This  expression  no  doubt  rose  from  the  fact 
that  some  enterprising  Birmingham  gentlemen  were  amongst  the 
first  to  take  advantage  of  the  beauty  of  this  place,  and  its  capa- 
bilities as  a  first-rate  sea-bathing  resort,  and  who  erected  some 
houses  in  the  Crescent  there.  Ever  since  then  it  has  been  largelv 
patronised  by  Birmingham  pleasure-seekers  in  the  summer 
season.  Mr.  Bright  was  attracted  to  it  by  the  softness  of  its 
air,  the  refreshing  sea-breeze,  the  bracing  mountain  atmosphere, 
and  its  picturesque  surroundings.  These  retired  scenes  must 
have  been  conducive  to  contemplation,  and  inspired  him  with 
many  noble  thoughts.  From  its  fine  promontory  of  stern  grey 
rocks,  "  which  shoulder  the  broken  tide  away/'  he  has  doubtless 
often  witnessed  the  busy  ships  that  shadow  the  sea,  linking  clime 
to  clime,  and  land  to  land.  For  homeward-scudding  ships  can 
be  descried  steering  their  course  to  the  Mersey,  while  outward- 
bound  are  leaving  to  cross  the  broad  Atlantic,  or  "  to  realms 
beyond  yon  highway  of  the  world."  It  is  this  commercial  spirit 
of  enterprise  which  has  dotted  the  surface  of  the  globe  with  our 
possessions ;  and  few  are  the  harbours  of  the  whole  circle  of  the 
world  which  are  not  visited  by  the  ships  of  England. 

"  Where'er  she  drops  her  anchor, 
The  peasant's  heart  is  glad ; 
Where'er  she  spreads  her  parting  saila, 
The  peasant's  heart  is  sad." 


1864.  r  LLANDHDNO.  261 

What  a  chain  of  reflections  must  have  passed  through  such  a 
mind  while  quietly  viewing  those  busy  far-off  white  sails  "  bend- 
ing and  bowing  o'er  the  billows/'  and  the  sea  curling  softly  on 
the  shore.  It  must  have  been  a  matter  of  congratulation  to 
reflect  that  in  a  great  degree  he  had  contributed  to  the  prosperous 
free  trade  in  which  those  vessels  were  engaged,  and  had  taken  a 
leading  part  in  effecting  the  abolition  of  those  Corn  Laws  which 
had  been  the  chief  cause  of  the  want  and  concomitant  misery  of 
those  times.  The  time  was  not  long  past  when  merchants  had 
been  known  to  throw  their  corn  freights  overboard  in  the  ports, 
within  sight  of  starving  people,  who  were  guarded  from  receiving 
it  on  the  coast,  lest  heavy  losses  might  be  incurred,  consequent 
upon  the  drop  in  the  prices  of  corn,  while  the  tariff  had  to  be 
paid.  Yet  how  many  weary  months  had  the  crew  of  an  East 
Indiaman  been  shut  out  from  the  sight  of  land,  how  many 
storms  had  they  encountered,  when  the  strong  billows  wrestle 
with  the  land,  to  bring  home  that  pickle  which  the  English 
land-proprietor  swallows  at  a  mouthful,  not  to  satisfy  but  to 
promote  hunger — that  he  may  devour  some  production  im- 
ported at  equal  cost  from  another  hemisphere.  Lives  more 
valuable,  perhaps,  than  his  own,  may  have  been  sacrificed  to 
pamper  his  appetite.  Some  fisherman's  boat  may  have  perished 
in  the  night  storm,  in  sight  of  home,  before  that  turbot  was  torn 
from  the  raging  billows.  From  the  snow-covered  hunter  of  the 
north  to  the  sun-burnt  vintager  of  the  south,  all.  offered  up  to 
him  the  sacrifice  of  their  toils  and  dangers,  yet  he  in  return  wished 
to  deprive  even  the  poor  of  cheap  bread,  the  common  necessary  of 
life.  These  unnatural  laws  crippled  trade,  and  as  soon  as  they 
were  deservedly  abolished,  free  trade  and  plenty  took  the  place 
of  taxation  and  want ;  and  the  scene  from  the  Great  Orm's 
Head  became  more  animated  by  the  homeward-bound  vessels, 
with  their  streaming  ensigns,  and  carols,  and  the  parting  sails, 
with  their  watch-bells  which  cheer  the  night,  while  the  seaman's 
hymn  floats  by.  For  hours  has  he  stood  contemplating  the 
finest  prospect  that  ever  met  his  view.  The  ocean  and  sky 
mingling  in  vast  distance,  over  which  the  eye  dilated  with  the 
consciousness  of  desolate  and  overpowering  grandeur — the  far 
promontory  that  broke  upon  the  sea  horizon,  its  gloom  contrasted 
with  the  gay  town  that  shone  upon  its  side,  and  the  fleet  of 
fishing- smacks  that  bent  upon  their  evening  cruise  under  its 
protection — then  the  line  of  hills  that  rise  beyond  the  wooded 
domain  and  the  vale,  while  the  eye  is  relieved  at  intervals  by 
some  glittering  spire  or  ambitious  mansion  that  breaks  th.Q 
sameness  and  the  vastness  of  the  view. 


262  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  BBIGHT. 

As  the  winter  of  1864  approached,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bright  and 
their  family  visited  Llandudno.  At  that  time  one  of  his  sons, 
a  handsome  fair-haired  boy,  nearly  six  years  of  age,  named 
Leonard,  who  bore  a  strong  resemblance  to  his  father  in  features 
and — so  far  as  it  was  developed — in  intellect,  was  seized  with 
scarlatina  at  Llandudno. 

While  strolling  through  the  pretty  churchyard  of  St.  Tudno, 
which  is  situated  on  the  slope  of  the  Great  Orm's  Head,  within 
the  hearing  of  "  the  grand,  majestic  symphonies  of  the  ocean," 
the  child,  noticing  the  beauty  of  the  place,  formed  a  strange 
notion,  which  he  afterwards  expressed  by  saying,  "  Oh,  mamma  ! 
I  should  wish,  when  I  am  dead,  to  be  buried  here."  Little  did 
his  parents  think  that  his  careless  wish  would  so  soon  be  fulfilled; 
for  during  the  same  visit  to  Llandudno  he  was  taken  ill,  and 
on  the  8th  of  November,  1864,  his  little  bosom  heaved  not  and 
the  colour  left  his  cheek,  for  his  soul  had  passed  to  the  God  who 
gave  it;  and  that  night  the  little  chamber  where  he  lay  was  still. 

The  shock  was  a  very  severe  one  to  his  father  and  mother, 
and  his  wish  as  to  his  burial-place  was  respected  and  fulfilled. 
The  vicar  (the  Rev.  John  Morgan)  kindly  gave  permission 
for  the  interment  to  take  place  in  St.  Tudno's  churchyard. 
The  vicar  has  added,  in  a  letter  to  the  author:  "I  readily 
assented,  and  I  have  never  forgotten  Mr.  Bright's  expression 
of  thanks,  which  I  never  looked  for ;  but  I  cannot  believe  that 
anyone,  under  the  circumstances,  could  be  so  heartless  as  to  re- 
fuse." The  funeral  was  simple  in  the  extreme ;  and  as  it  slowly 
and  mournfully  ascended  the  mountain  path,  the  only  sound 
which  broke  the  stillness  was  the  fitful  cadence  of  the  restless 
billows,  and  the  bleating  of  a  solitary  lamb  which  had  wandered 
from  the  rest  of  the  flock.  Silent  was  the  service  at  the  grave- 
side, but  it  was  none  the  less  fervent  and  impressive ;  for  the 
sorrowful  countenances  betokened  the  inward  grief  and  spiritual 
inspiration — 

"  One  good  man's  earnest  prayer  was  the  link  'twixt  them  and  God." 

While  standing  there  in  deep  meditation,  memory  brought 
thronging  back  the  pretty  looks  of  the  lifeless  child  that  lay 
before  them;  the  sound  of  his  voice,  which  was  still,  repeated 
his  words,  recalled  his  gracious  parts,  the  picture  of  his  father's 
form  and  face ;  but,  alas !  his  note  of  joy  was  hushed,  for  his 
vital  spark  had  passed  away  from  the  earth. 

A  long  time  elapsed  before  the  sorrow-stricken  father  re- 
covered his  usual  spirits ;  but  "  sorrow  ends  not  when  it  seemetfr 
done/' 


1864.]  ONE   FOLD   AND    ONE    SHEPHERD.  263 

Mr.  Bright's  fellow-townsmen,  at  a  public  meeting  soon  after 
the  death  of  his  son,  expressed  sympathy  with  him  in  his  deep 
bereavement.  A  white  marble  head-stone  was  raised  to  the 
child's  memory,  with  the  simple  record :  "  In  loving-  remem- 
brance of  Leonard  Bright  (son  of  John  Bright,  M.P.,  and 
Margaret  Elizabeth,  his  wife),  who  died  at  Llandudno,  Novem- 
ber 8th,  1864.  Aged  nearly  six  years.  '  And  there  shall  be  one 
fold  and  one  shepherd/  '•  The  affectionate  parents  often  visit 
this  hallowed  spot,  and  linger  silently  with  fond  regard  beside 
the  little  fresh  grave.  Strangers  approach  it  with  reverence,  and 
frequently  it  is  strewn  over  with  fragrant  blossoms,  and  the  wan 
moonlight  bathes  in  rest  his  monumental  stone. 

The  vicar  has  kindly  furnished  this  additional  information  : — 
"  I  have  heard  Mr.  Bright,  with  a  deep  feeling  of  thankfulness, 
say  that  loving  hands,  in  anticipation  of  his  visiting  God's  Acre, 
where  his  little  one's  remains  rest,  have  placed  upon  more  than 
one  occasion  a  wreath  and  chaplet  of  flowers  upon  the  little 
grave." 

On  Sundays,  in  the  summer-time,  this  small  church  is  over- 
crowded by  the  inhabitants  and  visitors  to  Llandudno,  and  it  is 
the  practice  of  the  vicar  when  this  is  the  case  to  hold  the  service 
in  the  churchyard ;  a  harmonium  leads  the  singing,  which  is 
always  responsive  and  hearty.  Under  the  shade  of  a  hawthorn 
bush  he  reads  the  beautiful  service  of  the  Church  and  expounds 
the  Scriptures,  to  congregations  sometimes  numbering  as  many  as 
2,000  persons.  The  scene  on  such  occasions  is  very  interesting;  for 
here,  among  the  tombstones  raised  in  affectionate  remembrance 
of  the  dead,  the  living  lift  up  their  tuneful  voices  in  prayers  and 
hymns  of  praise. 

"Till  even  the  humblest  churchyard  flower  knows 
Something  of  God,  and  dreams  of  all  that's  left  to  know." 

That  simple  passage  of  Scripture  on  that  plain  white  marble 
tablet,  which  attracts  the  attention  of  most  of  the  worshippers,  is 
descriptive  of  the  gathering — "  And  there  shall  be  one  fold  and 
one  shepherd  " — for  here  all  creeds  join  in  these  open-air  services, 
and  thus  form  one  fold  under  one  shepherd.  What  an  eloquent 
sermon  could  be  preached  from  such  a  text.  The  dead,  old  and 
young,  that  lie  beneath  the  feet,  typical  of  the  blade  and  the 
bearded  grain,  might  be  dilated  upon  to  show  the  uncertainty 
of  human  life.  Still  that  little  marble  stone  saith  more  than  a 
thousand  homilies.  That  fair-haired  boy  who  reposes  peacefully 
in  the  furrows  of  God's  Acre  was  snatched  from  his  toys,  "  as  a 
cross  nurse  might  do  her  wayward  child."  Before  leaving  his 


264  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN  BRIGHT. 

home  at  Rochdale  he  placed  in  the  hands  of  his  father's 
gardener,  William  Thompson,  a  little  home-made  whip,  with 
particular  instructions  that  he  should  keep  it  until  he  returned. 
The  whip  was  carefully  hung  up  in  the  greenhouse,  but  the 
owner  never  returned ;  and  it  is  still  preserved  in  remembrance 
of  "  the  young  face,  fair  and  ruddy,"  who  was  laid  near — 

"  The  pleasant  shore, 
And  in  the  hearing  of  the  wave." 

His  ambition  at  this  early  age  was  to  labour  in  a  lowly  sphere. 
One  day  he  voluntarily  assisted  the  parlour-maid  to  clean  the 
silver  spoons,  but  she,  finding  that  they  were  receiving  rather 
rough  usage  at  his  hands,  warned  him  to  be  careful  of  them,  re- 
marking, "you  will  be  more  careful  of  your  own  when  you 
become  a  man/'  He,  childlike,  replied  that  he  would  not  have 
silver  spoons,  but  a  wooden  one,  for  he  intended  to  be  a  carter. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

STATE   OF   IEELAND. 

Opposition  to  the  Coercion  Bill  of  1847 — Foreshadowing  Disestablishment  of  the 
Irish  Church — Irish  Distress — Presentation  of  an  Address  from  the  Irish  of 
Manchester — Education  in  Ireland. 

MR.  BRIGHT,  ever  since  he  was  a  young  man,  had  taken  a 
deep  interest  in  Ireland  and  its  inhabitants,  and  had  formed  the 
opinion  that  some  of  the  enactments  by  which  it  was  governed 
were  not  only  repugnant  to  sound  policy,  but  an  outrage  alike 
upon  religion  and  humanity.  He  knew  that  the  majority  of 
members  in  the  House  of  Commons  at  that  time  regarded  the  ill- 
fated  nation  as  troublesome  and  disagreeable ;  and  though  they 
turned  with  disgust  from  the  mass  of  evidence  before  Parliament 
respecting  its  sufferings,  yet  they  condescended  to  be  entertained 
with  well-written  novels  respecting  its  people,  and  found  these 
pictures  almost  as  true  and  more  enticing :  for  its  virtues,  its  follies, 
its  miseries,  and  its  crimes  were  romantic.  Poor  in  other  respects, 
it  was  rich  in  robberies,  murders,  secret  assemblies,  and  sudden 
and  terrible  catastrophes.  He  sympathised  with  its  great 
popular  advocate,  Daniel  O'Connell,  and  willingly  assisted  him  in 
trying  to  improve  the  condition  of  his  countrymen.  The  deaths 
of  thousands  of  persons  which  had  been  brought  about  by  the 
potato  famine,  which  had  destroyed  about  £16,000,000  of  food, 
increased  Mr.  Bright' s  anxiety,  and  he  devoted  much  attention 
to  the  Government  plans  proposed  by  Lord  John  Russell  for  the 
relief  of  the  distressed.  The  wretched  state  of  the  country  had 
brought  about  crimes  to  an  alarming  degree,  and  Sir  George 
Grey,  the  Home  Secretary,  on  the  29th  of  November,  1847, 
introduced  into  the  House  of  Commons  a  Coercion  Bill,  to  be 
applied  to  only  a  portion  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Bright  presented  a 
petition,  signed  by  20,000  of  the  residents  of  Manchester,  against 
the  bill,  and  in  his  speech  on  the  third  reading  of  the  measure, 
he  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  was  impossible  to  give  peace  and 
prosperity  to  that  country  until  they  set  in  motion  her  industry, 
diffused  capital,  and  established  those  gradations  of  rank  and 
condition  by  which  alone  the  whole  social  fabric  could  be  held 
together. 


266  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  11847 

"Patchwork  legislation  will  not  now  succeed,"  added  Mr.  Bright;  "speeches 
from  the  Lord  Lieutenant — articles  in  the  newspapers — lending  to  the  landowners 
at  three  and  a-half  per  cent,  money  raised  by  taxation  from  the  traders  of  England, 
who  have  recently  been  paying  eight  per  cent. — all  will  fail  to  revive  the  industry  of 
Ireland.  I  will  now  state  what,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  remedy,  and  I  beg  to  ask  the 
attention  of  the  Government  to  it,  because,  though  they  may  now  think  it  an 
extreme  one,  I  am  convinced  that  the  time  will  come  when  they  will  be  compelled 
to  adopt  it.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  their  duty  to  bring  in  a  Sale  of  Estates  Bill,  and 
make  it  easy  for  landowners  who  wish  to  dispose  of  their  estates  to  do  so.  They 
should  bring  in  a  Bill  to  simplify  the  titles  to  land  in  Ireland.  I  understand  that  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  transfer  an  estate  now,  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  clear 
title  being  almost  insurmountable.  In  the  next  place,  they  should  diminish  tempo- 
rarily, if  not  permanently,  all  stamp  duties  which  hinder  the  transfer  of  landed 
property,  and  they  should  pass  a  law  by  which  the  system  of  entailing  estates  should 
for  the  future  be  prevented.  (Laughter.)  I  can  assure  hon.  gentlemen  who  laugh 
at  this,  that  at  some  not  distant  day  this  must  be  done,  and  not  in  Ireland  only,  but 
in  England  also.  It  is  an  absurd  and  monstrous  system,  for  it  binds,  as  it  were,  the 
living  under  the  power  of  the  dead.  The  principle  on  which  the  law  should  proceed 
is  this :  that  the  owner  of  property  should  be  permitted  to  leave  it  to  whomsoever  he 
will,  provided  the  individual  is  living  when  the  will  is  made  ;  but  he  should  not  be 
suffered,  after  he  is  dead,  and  buried,  and  forgotten,  to  speak  and  still  to  direct  the 
channel  through  which  the  estate  should  pass.  I  shall  be  told  that  the  law  of  entail 
in  Ireland  is  the  same  as  in  England,  and  that  in  Scotland  it  is  even  more  strict.  I 
admit  it ;  but  the  evil  is  great  in  England,  and  in  Scotland  it  has  become  intolerable, 
and  must  soon  be  relaxed  if  not  abolished.  Perhaps  I  shall  be  told  that  the  laws  of 
entail  and  primogeniture  are  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  our  aristocratic 
institutions ;  but  3  the  evils  of  Ireland  spring  from  this  source,  I  say,  perish  your 
aristocratic  institutions  rather  than  that  a  whole  nation  should  be  in  this  terrible 
condition.  If  your  aristocratic  families  would  rear  up  their  children  in  habits  of 
business,  and  with  some  notions  of  duty  and  prudence,  these  mischievous  arrange- 
ments would  not  be  required,  and  they  would  retain  in  their  possession  estates  at 
least  as  large  as  is  compatible  with  the  interests  of  the  rest  of  the  community.  If 
the  laws  of  entail  and  primogeniture  are  sound  and  just,  why  not  apply  them  to 
personal  property  as  well  as  to  freehold  ?  Imagine  them  in  force  in  the  middle  classes 
of  the  community,  and  it  will  be  seen  at  once  that  the  unnatural  system,  if  universal, 
would  produce  confusion ;  »and  confusion  would  necessitate  its  total  abolition.  I  am 
thoroughly  convinced  that  everything  the  Government  or  Parliament  can  do  for 
Ireland  will  be  unavailing,  unless  the-  foundation  of  the  work  be  laid  well  and  deep, 
by  clearing  away  the  fetters  under  which  land  is  now  held,  so  that  it  may  become 
the  possession  of  real  owners,  and  be  made  instrumental  to  the  employment  and 
sustentation  of  the  people.  Hon.  gentlemen  opposite  may  fancy  themselves  interested 
in  maintaining  the  present  system  ;  but  there  is  surely  no  interest  they  can  have  in 
it  which  they  will  weigh  against  the  safety  and  prosperity  of  Ireland  ?  I  speak  as 
a  representative  from  a  county  which  suffers  extremely  from  the  condition  of  Ireland. 
Lancashire  is  periodically  overrun  by  the  pauperism  of  Ireland ;  for  a  year  past  it 
has  suffered  most  seriously  from  the  pestilence  imported  from  Ireland ;  and  many  of 
the  evils  which  in  times  past  have  been  attributed  to  the  extension  of  manufactures 
in  that  county  have  arisen  from  the  enormous  immigration  of  a  suffering  and 
pauperised  people  driven  for  sustenance  from  their  own  country." 

A  majority  of  150  being  in  favour  of  the  Bill — only  fourteen 
were  against  it — it  soon  after  became  law. 

Sir  George  Grey,  in  the  Session  of  1848,  introduced  a 
measure  entitled  the  Crown  and  Government  Security  Bill. 
It  sought  the  more  effectual  repression  of  seditious  aud 
treasonable  proceedings,  and  aimed  a  blow  at  the  Chartists, 
is  well  as  Irish  agitation.  Mr.  Bright  contended  that  it 
was  quite  within  the  right  of  an  Englishman  or  an  Irish- 
man to  discuss  what  form  of  government  he  should  choose  to 
jive  under,  and  pointed  out  that  Government  attempts  to 


1848.]  IRELAND.  267 

restrict  the  liberty  of  the  subject  should  be  accompanied  with 
measures  for  the  welfare  and  amelioration  of  the  people. 

In  speaking  on  a  measure  introduced  by  Mr.  Poulett  Scrope, 
in  1848,  that  had  reference  to  taxation  in  Ireland,  Mr.  Bright 
foreshadowed  the  necessity  of  the  measure  of  disestablishment  of 
the  Irish  Church,  which  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Gladstone 
twenty  years  after. 

"  The  condition  of  Ireland  requires  two  kinds  of  remedies — one  political,  the 
other  social ;  and  it  is  hard  to  tell  where  the  one  ends  and  the  other  begins,"  said 
Mr.  Bright.  "  I  will  speak  first  of  the  political  remedies.  At  present,  there  pre- 
vails throughout  three-fourths  of  the  Irish  people  a  total  unbelief  in  the  honesty  and 
integrity  of  the  Government  of  this  country.  There  may  or  may  not  be  good  grounds 
for  all  this  ill-feeling ;  but  that  it  exists,  no  man  acquainted  with  Ireland  will  deny. 
The  first  step  to  be  taken  is  to  remove  this  f eeling ;  and,  to  do  this,  some  great 
measure  or  measures  should  be  offered  to  the  people  of  Ireland,  which  will  act  as  a 
complete  demonstration  to  them  that  bygones  are  to  be  bygones  with  regard  to  the 
administration  of  Irish  affairs,  and  that  henceforth  new,  generous,  and  equal 
principles  of  government  are  to  be  adopted.  I  have  on  a  former  occasion  stated 
my  opinions  on  one  or  two  subjects,  and  I  will  venture  again  briefly  to  explain  them 
to  the  House.  Ireland  has  long  been  a  country  of  jars  and  turmoil,  and  its  jars 
have  arisen  chiefly  from  religious  dissensions.  In  respect  of  matters  of  religion  she 
has  been  governed  in  a  manner  totally  unknown  in  England  and  Scotland.  If  Ireland 
has  been  rightly  governed — if  it  has  been  wise  and  just  to  maintain  the  Protestant 
Church  established  there,  you  ought,  in  order  to  carry  out  your  system,  to  establish 
Prelacy  in  Scotland,  and  Catholicism  in  England ;  though,  if  you  were  to  attempt  to 
do  either  the  one  or  the  other,  it  would  not  be  a  sham  but  a  real  insurrection  that 
you  would  provoke.  There  must  be  equality  between  the  great  religious  sects  in 
Ireland — between  Catholic  and  Protestant.  It  is  impossible  that  this  equality  can 
be  much  longer  denied.  It  is  suspected  that  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Government 
to  bring  forward  at  no  distant  day,  if  they  can  catch  the  people  of  England  napping, 
a  proposition  for  paying  the  Eoman  Catholic  priests  of  Ireland.  On  more  than  one 
ground  I  should  object  to  any  such  scheme.  In  the  first  place,  I  believe  the  Govern- 
ment cannot,  from  any  funds  they  possess,  or  from  any  they  can  obtain,  place  the 
Catholic  priests  on  an  equality  with  the  ministers  of  the  Protestant  Church ;  and  if 
they  cannot  do  that  in  every  respect,  the  thing  is  not  worth  attempting.  They  will, 
I  think,  find  it  infinitely  more  easy,  and  it  will  certainly  be  much  more  in  accord- 
ance with  political  justice,  and  with  the  true  interests  of  religion,  to  withdraw  from 
Ireland  the  Church  Establishment  which  now  exists  there,  and  to  bring  about  the 
perfect  equality  which  may  be  secured  by  taking  away  so  much  of  the  funds  as  are 
proved  to  be  totally  unnecessary  for  the  wants  of  the  population.  I  do  not  mean 
that  you  should  withdraw  from  the  Protestant  Church  every  sixpence  now  in  its 
possession  ;  what  I  mean  is,  that  you  should  separate  it  from  the  State,  and  appro- 
priate all  the  funds  of  which  it  might  justly  be  deprived  to  some  grand  national 
object,  such  as  the  support  and  extension  of  the  system  of  education  now  established 
in  Ireland ;  an  appropriation  of  money  which  would,  I  am  sure,  produce  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  of  Ireland  an  entire  change  of  feeling  with  regard  to  the  legisla- 
tion of  Parliament  in  relation  to  their  country.  With  regard  to  the  Parliamentary 
representation  of  Ireland,  having  recently  spent  seventy-three  days  in  an  examina- 
tion of  the  subject,  whilst  serving  as  a  member  of  the  Dublin  Election  Committee, 
I  assert  most  distinctly  that  the  representation  which  exists  at  this  moment  is  a 
fraud ;  and  I  believe  it  would  be  far  better  if  there  were  no  representation  at  all, 
because  the  people  would  not  then  be  deluded  by  the  idea  that  they  had  a  represen- 
tative Government  to  protect  their  interests.  The  number  of  taxes  which  the 
people  have  to  pay,  in  order  to  secure  either  the  municipal  or  Parliamentary 
franchise,  is  so  great  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  the  constituencies  to  be 
maintained,  and  for  public  opinion — the  honest,  real  opinion  of  intelligent  classes 
in  Ireland — to  obtain  any  common  or  decent  degree  of  representation  in  the 
Imperial  Legislature.  I  fee!  quite  confident  that  in  the  next  Session  of  Parliament 
the  questions  of  religious  equality  in  Ireland  and  of  Irish  representation  must 
eceive  a  much  more  serious  attention  than  they  have  obtained  in  any  past  Session, 


268  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN  BBIGHT. 

I  come  now  to  those  social  questions  which  must  also  receive  the  attention  of 
Parliament ;  for  if  they  do  not,  the  political  remedies  will,  after  all,  be  of  very  little 
permanent  use.    I  advocate  these  political  changes  on  the  ground,  not  that  they  will 
feed  the  hungry  or  employ  the  idle,  but  that  they  will  be  as  oil  thrown  upon  the 
waters,  and  will  induce  the  people  no  longer  to  feel  themselves  treated  as  a 
conquered  race.    It  is  agreed  on  all  sides  that  the  social  remedies  which    are 
immediately  possible  to  us,  are  those  having  reference  to  the  mode  in  which  the  land 
of  Ireland  is  owned,  or  held  and  cultivated — perhaps  '  not  cultivated '  would  be  a 
more  correct  expression.  The  noble  Lord  at  the  head  of  the  Government  has  alluded 
to  parts  of  Ireland  in  which  it  is  impossible  that  the  land  as  at  present  held,  or  the 
rates  which  can  be  collected,  can  find  relief  or  sustentation  for  the  people.    It  is  a 
notorious  fact,  that  there  are  vast  tracts  of  land  in  Ireland  which,  if  left  in  the 
hands  of  nominal  and  bankrupt  owners,  will  never  to  the  end  of  time  support  the 
population  which  ought  to  live  upon  them.    And  it  is  on  this  ground  that  I  must 
question  the  policy  of  measures  for  expending  public  money  with  a  view  to  the 
cultivation  and  reclamation  of  these  lands.    The  true  solution  of  this  matter  is  to 
get  the  lands  out  of  the  hands  of  men  who  are  the  nominal,  and  not  the  real,  posses- 
sors.   But  Parliament  maintains  laws  which  act  most  injuriously  in  this  particular. 
The  law  and  practice  of  entails  tends  to  keep  the  soil  in  large  properties,  and  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  cannot  perform  their  duty  to  it.    It  will  be  said  that  entails 
exist  in  Scotland  and  in  England.    Yes ;  but  this  Session  a  law  has  passed,  or  is 
passing,  to  modify  the  system  as  it  has  heretofore  existed  in  Scotland;  and  in 
England  many  of  its  evils  nave  been  partially  overcome  by  the  extraordinary,  and, 
to  some  degree,  the  accidental  extension  of  manufacturing  industry  among  the 
people.  In  Ireland  there  are  no  such  mitigations ;  a  code  of  laws  exists,  under  which 
it  is  impossible  for  the  land  and  the  people  to  be  brought,  as  it  were,  together,  and 
for  industry  to  live  in  independence  and  comfort,  instead  of  crawling  to  this 
House,  as  it  does  almost  annually,  to  ask  alms  of  the  hard-working  people  of 
England.    The  law  and  practice  of  primogeniture  is  another  evil  of   the  same 
character.    It  is  a  law  unnatural  and  unjust  at  all  times :    but  in  the  present 
condition  of  Ireland  it  cannot  much  longer  be  endured.    Were  I  called  upon — and 
it  is  a  bold  figure  of  speech  to  mention  such  a  thing — but  were  I  called  upon  to  treat 
this  Irish  question,  I  would  establish,  for  a  limited  period  at  least,  a  special  court  in 
Ireland  to  adjudicate  on  all  questions  connected  with  the  titles  and  transfers  of 
landed  property.    This  court  should  finally  decide  questions  of  title;   it  Should 
prepare  and  enforce  a  simple  and  short  form  of  conveyance,  as  short  almost  as  that 
by  which  railway  stock  is  transferred ;  and,  without  regard  to  the  public  revenue, 
I  would  abolish  every  farthing  of  expense  which  is  now  incurred  in  the  duties  on 
stamps,  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  distribution  of  land  in  Ireland,  and  of 
allowing  the  capital  and  industry  of  the  people  to  work  out  its  salvation.     All  this 
is  possible ;  and,  more  than  this,  it  is  afl  necessary.    Well,  now,  what  is  the  real 
obstacle  in  our  path  ?    You  have  toiled  at  this  Irish  difficulty  session  after  session, 
and  some  of  you  have  grown  almost  from  boyhood  to  greyheaded  o_ld  men  since  it 
first  met  you  in  your  legislative  career,  and  yet  there  is  not  in  ancient  or  modern 
history  a  picture  so  humiliating  as  that  which  Ireland  presents  to  the  world  at  this 
moment ;  and  there  is  not  an  English  gentleman  who,  if  he  crossed  the  Channel  in 
the  present  autumn,  and  travelled  in  any  foreign  country,  would  not  wish  to  escape 
from  any  conversation  among  foreigners  in  which  the  question  of  the  condition  of 
Ireland  was  mooted  for  a  single  moment.     Let    the  House,  if  it  can,  regard 
Ireland  as  an  English  country.    Let  us  think  of  the  eight  millions  of  people,  and 
of  the  millions  of  them  doomed  to  this  intolerable  suffering.    Let  us  think  of 
the  half -million  who,  within  two  years  past,  have  perished  miserably  in  the  work- 
houses, and  on  the  highways,  and  in  their  hovels — more,  far  more,  than  ever  fell 
by  the  sword  in  any  war  this  country  ever  waged ;  let  us  think  of  the  crop  of  name- 
less horrors  which  is  even  now  growing  up  in  Ireland,  and  whose  disastrous  fruit 
may  be  gathered  in  years  and  generations  to  come.    Let  us  examine  what  are  the 
laws  and  the  principles  under  which  alone  God  and  nature  have  permitted  that 
nations  should  become  industrious  and  provident.    I  hope  the  House  will  pardon 
me  if  I  have  said  a  word  that  can  offend  any  one.    But  I  feel  conscious  of  a  personal 
humiliation  when  I  consider  the  state  of  Ireland.    I  do  not  wish  to  puff  nostrums 
of  my  own,  though  it  may  be  thought  I  am  opposed  to  much  that  exists  in  the 
present  order  of  things ;  but  whether  it  tended  to  advance  democracy,  or  to  uphold 
aristocracy,  or  any  other  system,  I  would  wish  to  fling  to  the  winds  any  prejudice 
I  have  entertained,  and  any  principle  that  may  be  questioned,  if  I  can  thereby  do 
one  single  thing  to  hasten  by  a  single  day  the  time  when  Ireland  shall  be  equal  to 


1850.]  IRELAND.  269 

England  in  that  comfort  and  that  independence  which  an  industrious  people  may 
enjoy,  if  the  Government  under  which  they  live  is  equal  and  just." 

In  the  Session  of  1849  the  Government  brought  forward  a 
measure  for  a  rate  of  aid  with  respect  to  Irish  distress.  Mr. 
Bright,  speaking  on  the  third  night  in  the  debate  on  the  subject, 
delivered  a  masterly  speech,  which  was  applauded  by  the  mem- 
bers on  both  sides  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

"The  prisons  are  crowded,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "the  chapels  deserted,  society  i« 
disorganised  and  ruined ;  labour  is  useless,  for  capital  is  not  to  be  had  for  its  employ- 
ment. The  reports  of  the  inspectors  say  that  this  catastrophe  has  only  been  hastened, 
and  not  originated,  by  the  failure  of  the  potato  crop  during  the  last  four  years,  and 
that  all  men  possessed  of  any  intelligence  must  have  foreseen  what  would  ultimately 
happen.  .  .  .  Hon.  gentlemen  turn  with  triumph  to  neighbouring  countries,  and 
speak  in  glowing  terms  of  our  glorious  constitution.  It  is  true  that  abroad  thrones 
and  dynasties  have  been  overturned,  whilst  in  England  peace  has  reigned  undis- 
turbed. But  take  all  the  lives  that  have  been  lost  in  the  last  twelve  months  in 
Europe  amidst  the  convulsions  that  have  occurred — take  all  the  cessation  of  trade, 
the  destruction  of  industry,  all  the  crushing  of  hopes  and  hearts,  and  they  will  not 
compare  for  an  instant  with  the  agonies  which  have  been  endured  by  the  population 
of  Ireland  under  your  glorious  constitution.  And  there  are  those  who  now  say  that 
this  is  the  ordering  of  Providence.  I  met  an  Irish  gentleman  the  other  night,  and, 
speaking  upon  the  subject,  he  said  that  he  saw  no  remedy,  but  that  it  seemed  as  if 
the  present  state  of  things  were  the  mode  by  which  Providence  intended  to  solve  the 
question  of  Irish  difficulties.  But  let  us  not  lay  these  calamities  at  the  door  of 
Providence ;  it  were  sinful  in  us,  of  all  men,  to  do  so.  God  has  blessed  Ireland — 
and  does  still  bless  her— in  position,  in  soil,  in  climate  ;  He  has  not  withdrawn  His 
promises,  nor  are  they  unfulfilled ;  there  is  still  the  sunshine  and  the  shower,  still 
the  seedtime  and  the  harvest ;  and  the  affluent  bosom  of  the  earth  yet  offers  susten- 
ance for  man.  But  man  must  do  his  part — we  must  do  our  part — we  must  retrace 
our  steps— we  must  shun  the  blunders  and,  I  would  even  say,  the  crimes  of  our 
past  legislation.  We  must  free  the  land ;  and  then  we  shall  discover,  and  not  till 
then,  that  industry,  hopeful  and  remunerated — industry,  free  and  inviolate — is  the 
only  sure  foundation  on  which  can  be  reared  the  enduring  edifice  of  union  and  of 
peace." 

The  Irish  residents  of  Manchester  and  Salford,  in  January, 
1850,  were  so  pleased  with  Mr.  Bright's  advocacy  of  the  claims 
of  Ireland  that  they  presented  him  with  an  address  in  the  Corn 
Exchange,  Manchester,  in  testimony  of  their  high  appreciation. 
Mr.  Bright,  in  a  speech  which  lasted  an  hour  and  a-half,  said  : — 

"  I  hope  that  Lord  John  Eussell  may  rise  to  the  great  work  that  is  before  him. 
He  has  an  opportunity  of  doing  more  for  this  country  than  almost  any  other  Minister 
in  our  time.  He  might,  I  believe,  add  the  industry  and  affections  of  millions  to  the 
wealth  and  strength  of  this  great  empire.  But  if  he  should  fail — if  he  should  prove 
himself  to  be  the  agent  of  a  timid  and  selfish  oligarchy  rather  than  the  Prime 
Minister  of  the  Crown  and  of  the  people — if  he  shall  not  dare  to  do  these  things 
which  in  my  conscience  I  believe  he  knows  to  be  necessary — even  then  we  will  not 
despair ;  for,  as  I  said,  there  is  growing  up  in  England,  and  I  hope  in  Ireland,  a 
party  so  strong  and  numerous  that  by-and-by  it  will  leave  out  only  the  pauperism 
at  one  end  of  the  scale,  and,  it  may  be,  the  titled  and  the  privileged  at  the  other ;  it 
will  include  almost  the  whole  people ;  it  will  urge  upon  Government — united  as  we 
shall  be  with  the  people  of  Ireland — these  great  questions  which  I  have  discussed 
to-night.  If  the  aristocracy  of  the  United  Kingdom  has  heaped  evils  unnumbered 
upon  Ireland,  why,  I  ask,  should  not  the  intelligent  and  virtuous  people  of  the 
United  Kingdom  make  them  restitution? — (cheers) :  and  when  I  speak  of  that  great 
and  growing  party  throughout  this  country,  I  would  say  that  in  all  their  struggles — 
whatever  they  may  yet  undertake,  whatever  they  may  accomplish — they  cannot  do 


270  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1846. 

a  nobler  or  better  thing  than  to  consecrate  the  cause  of  their  advancing  liberties  by 
glorious  and  fruitful  labours  for  the  regeneration  of  Ireland."     (Cheers.) 

Dr.  Bowring  introduced  a  Bill  into  the  House  of  Commons  in 
1846  in  favour  of  the  abolition  of  flogging  in  the  army,  and  Mr. 
Bright  spoke  and  voted  in  favour  of  the  measure,  and  he  stated 
that  in  the  manufacturing  districts  when  a  man  had  been  through 
every  kind  of  vice  he  became  a  soldier.  There  was  a  commercial 
spirit,  he  said,  in  England,  and  that  the  people  found  the  means 
of  a  more  profitable  and  honourable  existence  in  the  walks  of 
trade  and  commerce  than  in  the  gaudy  trappings  offered  them 
in  the  service  of  the  State.  The  motion  was  lost  by  a  majority 
of  fifty-three. 

In  1847  Lord  John  Eussell  introduced  the  Government 
scheme  of  Education,  which  proposed  issuing  grants  of  public 
money  for  the  purpose  of  education,  but  the  Bill  dealt  unjustly 
with  Nonconformists  and  Roman  Catholics.  Mr.  Bright,  in  his 
speech  against  the  Bill,  showed  what  had  been  done  by  the 
voluntary  system  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Wales,  and  stated 
that  where  the  Church  had  educated  one  child,  the  Dissenters 
had  educated  from  eight  to  ten. 

"It  is  notorious,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "that,  in  all  parts  of  England,  charities 
never  intended  to  be  used  for  the  promotion  of  particular  religious  opinions,  but 
which  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Established  Church,  are  distributed  with  a  view  to 
bringing  an  increase  of  attendance  to  the  National  schools  or  the  churches  of 
the  Establishment.  I  know  numbers  of  these  cases  myself;  and  I  know  that 
a  child  who  did  not  bow  down  to  the  Church,  or  who  refused  to  go  to  a  National 
school,  would  find  himself  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  clergyman.  All  the 
inducements  to  him,  which  you  boast  of,  to  rise  in  the  world  and  gain  an  honourable 
station  in  society,  would  be  merely  as  the  idle  wind  that  blows,  and  would  be  of  no 
avail  whatever  to  obtain  for  him  an  honourable  place  in  life.  If  anything  were 
wanted  to  show  the  effect  of  these  Minutes,  look  at  the  triumph  your  propositions 
have  excited  among  the  members  of  the  Established  Church,  and  the  clergy  especially. 
Was  there  ever  a  good  measure  for  Nonconf onnists  proposed  that  was  received  with 
an  exulting  shout  of  gratulation  by  the  hon.  Baronet  below  me  (Sir  R.  H.  Inglis),  by 
the  Bishops,  and  by  all  the  clergy  of  the  kingdom  ?  I  am  wrong,  perhaps,  as  regards 
the  hon.  Baronet ;  he  did  not  loudly  exult,  but  he  took  the  measure  meekly,  he  took 
it  very  thankfully.  ...  I  think  that  in  this  year  1847  the  time  may  be  said  to 
have  come,  when,  although  the  members  of  the  Established  Church  may  not  con- 
sider such  scruples  wise  and  prudent,  the  scruples  which  do  exist  and  are  conscien- 
tiously entertained  by  thousands  and  millions  of  our  countrymen  should  be  respected, 
and  when  the  Government  should  pause  before  it  holds  out  a  great  temptation  to 
men  to  abandon  their  principles ;  and,  in  the  event  of  their  refusing  to  abandon 
them,  offers  an  enormous  advantage  to  the  members  of  the  Established  Church. 
With  respect  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  right  hon.  gentleman  did  not  give  a  direct 
reply  to  the  statement  of  the  hon.  Member  for  Finsbury  on  that  part  of  the  subject, 
when  he  read  an  extract  from  a  speech  of  the  noble  Lord  in  1839 ;  and,  as  there  has 
been  some  talk  of  the  negotiations  which  have  been  going  on  with  the  Wesleyans 
during  the  last  fortnight,  I  should  be  glad,  if  the  right  hou.  Baronet  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  the  Home  Department  should  think  it  worth  while  to  notice  anything  I 
say,  to  receive  an  answer  to  this  question — Have  the  Privy  Council  communicated 
with  the  authorities  and  dignitaries  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  with  respect  to 
the  appointment  of  inspectors  of  Roman  Catholic  schools,  or  have  they  not  ?  If  they 
have,  then  it  follows  of  course  that  they  must  have  had  the  intention,  when  these 
Minutes  were  laid  upon  the  tables  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  to  make  grants  to 


1847]  IRELAND.  271 

Roman  Catholic  schools.  That  would  be  something  noble,  something  great,  some- 
thing to  be  admired,  in  coming  forward  to  offer  this  great  boon  to  all  classes  of  the 
people  without  favour  or  distinction.  In  this  House  I  have  often  heard  men  taunt 
the  Dissenters  with  bigotry  in  their  conduct  towards  the  Roman  Catholic  population; 
but  let  it  be  said  that  those  Dissenters  have  ever  accorded  and  been  willing  to  accord 
to  their  Roman  Catholic  brethren  all  and  everything  they  sought  and  could  con- 
scientiously accept  for  themselves.  Civil  rights  and  privileges  the  Dissenters  have 
been  willing  to  grant  to  Catholics.  Many  of  them  who  have  had  seats  in  this  House 
since  1829  would  never  have  found  admittance  here  had  it  not  been  for  the  assistance 
they  received  in  their  struggle  for  civil  liberty  at  the  hands  of  the  Dissenting  body. 
My  honest  opinion  is  this,  that  when  these  Minutes  were  laid  upon  the  table,  the 
Government  intended,  and  most  wisely,  to  open  these  grants  to  all  persons  of  all 
religious  persuasions  whatsoever.  The  Government  had  no  idea  that  there  would 
be  a  disturbance  about  these  Minutes.  They  were  drawn  up  by  a  very  clever 
secretary,  who,  like  other  secretaries,  is  disposed  to  magnify  the  importance  of  his 
office  ;  and  when  drawn  up  they  were,  no  doubt,  submitted  to  the  oversight  of  the 
bishops  in  the  other  House.  The  whole  thing  was  comfortably  concocted,  and  it  was 
supposed  the  Dissenters  would  take  it  without  asking  any  questions.  But  the 
moment  the  Wesleyans  evinced  a  disposition  to  join  other  Dissenters  in  resisting  the 
measure,  it  was  feared  that  the  opposition  might  grow  too  formidable,  and  negotia- 
tions were  entered  into.  Possibly  the  Government  did  not  make  the  first  overture 
in  this  negotiation ;  but  it  often  happens  in  these  cases,  as  everybody  knows,  that 
there  is  some  convenient  friend  to  make  the  primary  advance,  and  put  the  negotia- 
tion in  train.  At  this  time  the  Wesleyans  are  supposed  to  be  under  the  delusion  that 
the  Roman  Catholics  are  to  be  excluded ;  and  if  they  are,  I  am  reminded  of  what 
has  been  said  by  a  well-known  writer,  that  it  is  sometimes  as  pleasant  to  be  cheated 
as  to  cheat.  I  am  not  now  going  to  detain  the  House  with  any  observations  as  to 
the  construction  of  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council,  nor  will  I  enter  into 
particulars  of  the  expenditure  to  be  incurred,  or  of  the  bribes  to  be  offered.  This 
only  I  will  remark,  that  I  believe  the  last  thing  any  reasonable  man  would  do  to 
elevate  his  fellow-man,  is  to  make  him  a  pensioner  or  recipient  of  the  bounty  of  the 
Government.  But  the  question  is,  whether  the  Nonconformists,  forming  so  large  a 
part  of  the  population  of  this  country,  are  to  have  their  feelings  and  principles  dis- 
regarded in  the  course  of  legislation  you  adopt — whether  a  new  system  of  education 
is  to  be  introduced  in  which  you  teach  everybody's  religion  at  everybody's  expense  ? 
The  Nonconformists  deny  your  right  to  do  this  :  they  will  not  receive  your  money. 
You  offer  them  that  which  is  of  no  value  to  them ;  and  the  Church,  less  scrupulous, 
receives  the  gift.  The  consequence  is  that  the  schools  of  the  Dissenters  will  stand  at 
a  great  disadvantage  as  compared  with  the  Church  schools — the  one  class  depending 
solely  upon  voluntary  contributions,  the  other  having  certain  bribes  attached  to  it  of 
provision  for  lif e,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  which  the  House  is  asked  to  vote  at 
the  expense  of  all.  I  will  say  nothing  now  of  the  wonderful  statesmanship  which 
has  chosen  this  particular  season  to  open  an  arena  of  strife,  and  throw  down  an 
apple  of  discord  amongst  us  when  there  was  an  appearance  of  concord  and  unanimity. 
I  am  sorry  it  has  come  to  this ;  I  am  sorry,  not  because  of  the  particular  effect  it 
may  have  upon  this  Government  or  that  Government,  but  because  I  must  ever  regret 
to  see  discord  and  bitterness  introduced  upon  religious  subjects,  and  because  I  know 
that  when  once  this  strife  begins,  real  interests_,  useful  matters,  are  neglected ;  and 
men  separate  and  stray  aside  from  paths  which  they  might  tread  together  to  the 
advantage  of  their  common  country.  I  will  now  conclude ;  and  if  I  l\ave  been 
betrayed  into  some  warmth  of  expression,  let  it  be  remembered  that  I  am  a  member 
of  the  Nonconformist  body.  My  forefathers  languished  in  prison  by  the  acts  of  that 
Church  which  you  now  ask  me  to  aggrandise.  Within  two  years  places  of  worship 
of  the  sect  to  which  I  belong  have  been  despoiled  of  their  furniture  to  pay  the  salary 
of  a  minister  of  the  Established  Church  ;  and  when  I  look  back  and  see  how  that 
Church  has  been  uniformly  hostile  to  the  progress  of  public  liberty,  it  is  impossible 
for  me  to  withhold  my  protest  against  the  outrage  committed  by  the  Government  on 
the  Nonconformist  body  for  the  sake  of  increasing  the  power  of  a  political  institution, 
which  I  believe  is  destined  to  fall  before  the  growing  Christianity  and  the  extending 
freedom  of  the  people." 

The  grant  was  ultimately  agreed  to. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

LAND   TAXATION,   ETC. 

The  Supply  of  Cotton — The  Protectionists — Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce 
and  the  growth  of  Cotton  in  India — Capital  Punishment — Financial  and 
Parliamentary  Beform — The  Peace  Society. 

AT  an  early  period  of  his  public  career  Mr.  Bright  interested 
himself  in  the  supply  of  cotton  to  the  manufacturing1  districts. 
In  1847  cotton  was  very  scarce,  and  hundreds  of  mills  were 
working  short  time,  or  closed ;  and  Mr.  Bright  succeeded  in 
getting  a  committee  appointed  by  the  House  of  Commons  to 
inquire  into  the  whole  question,  and  it  reported  that  in  all  the 
districts  of  Madras  and  Bombay  where  cotton  was  cultivated, 
and  generally  over  those  agricultural  regions,  the  people  were  in 
a  condition  of  the  most  abject  and  degraded  pauperism. 

The  Protectionists,  in  the  session  of  1849,  contended  that  the 
agricultural  classes  were  entitled  to  compensation  and  relief 
under  the  loss  of  the  repealed  protective  duties.  Mr.  Disraeli 
brought  before  the  House  a  resolution  in  favour  of  alleviating  the 
difficulties  of  the  landowners  by  throwing  a  portion  of  the  rates 
then  assessed  upon  their  property  into  the  general  taxation  of  the 
country.  Sir  Charles  Wood,  in  arguing  against  the  resolution, 
pointed  out  that  in  many  European  countries  a  far  greater  pro- 
portion of  taxation  was  borne  by  the  land  than  in  England. 

"  It  appears  to  me,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  opposing  the  motion,  "  that  it  is  a  pro- 
position intended  to  withdraw  burdens  to  the  amount  of  s-rme  £6,000,000  per  annum 
from  certain  shoulders  on  which  they  are  now  saddled,  and  to  impose  them  upon 
others— to  relieve,  in  short,  those  who  now  carry  them,  by  transferring  them  to  those 
who  hitherto  have  not  borne  them.  The  hon.  gentleman's  scheme  of  redistribution 
would  probably  reimpose  £3,000,000  on  those  from  whom  he  would  take  the  present 
aggregate  of  £6,000,000,  and  apportion  the  other  £3,000,000  to  other  classes  of  the 
community.  Well ;  but  the  £3,000,000  that  he  would  so  withdraw  from  those  who 
at  present  pay  £6,000,000  would  by  no  means  represent  the  real  proportion  in  which 
hon.  gentlemen  opposite  desire  to  relieve  the  land  from  its  present  liabilities,  or  of 
the  enhanced  value  which  their  scheme  would  practically  confer  upon  the  land 
generally.  Assuming  the  whole  aggregate  of  land  in  this  kingdom  capable  of  culti- 
vation to  be  worth  what  it  has  been  stated  at  by  gentlemen  opposite,  the  rise  in  the 
value  of  the  fee -simple  of  an  acre,  consequent  on  the  remission  of  three  millions  of 
taxation  on  that  aggregate,  would  be  equivalent  to  2  per  cent,  per  annum,  or 
would  increase  the  market  value  of  the  land  by  £60,000,000  sterling.  An  increased 
value  of  2  per  cent,  would  thus  make  £210,000,000  the  increased  value  of  the 
laud,  supposing  it  to  be  brought  for  sale  into  the  market,  or  that  the  Legislature 
sanctioned  such  a  proposition  as  that  which  is  now  before  it.  I,  for  one,  do  not  think 
that  these  are  times  in  which  the  Legislature  could  be  brought  to  listen  to  any  such 


1850.]  COTTON-SUPPLY  FEOM   INDIA.  273 

proposition.  It  is  not  likely,  I  trust,  to  meet  with  much  favour  from  this  House. 
....  Let  hon.  gentlemen  beware  how  they  turn  their  attention  to  the  question  of 
the  reimposition  of  the  duties  upon  corn.  If  you  do  so,  you  are  attempting  that 
which,  I  believe,  is  as  impossible  as  the  repeal  of  any  Act  which  has  passed  this 
House  in  former  times.  You  might  probably  effect  the  repeal  of  the  Reform  Bill  or 
the  Catholic  Emancipation  Act  in  the  same  session  as  that  in  which  you  reimpose  the 
duty  upon  corn.  Take  care  what  you  are  about.  Hon.  gentlemen  fancy  that  there 
is  a  lull  in  the  public  mind — that  events  abroad  have  frightened  people  at  home. 
Bear  in  mind  that  in  all  the  European  capitals  a  system  is  being  established  which 
will  have  a  strange  effect  upon  the  minds  of  the  people  in  this  country,  who  are 
looking,  and  wisely  looking,  to  great  and  permanent  changes  in  the  constitution  of 
Parliament ;  and  that  whilst  your  conduct  is  encouraging  such  ideas,  you  are  leading 
the  farmers  of  England  in  the  pursuit  of  that  false  and  uncertain  light  which  must 
land  them  hereafter  in  the  midst  of  difficulties  much  greater  than  those  which  en- 
compass them  at  present." 

The  motion  was  thrown  out  by  a  majority  of  91. 

Two  years  after  he  again  brought  forward  a  similar  motion, 
but  this  time  it  was  only  rejected  by  the  small  majority  of  13, 
although  513  members  were  present. 

A  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Manchester  Chamber  of 
Commerce  was  held  on  the  18th  of  January,  1850,  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  into  consideration  whether  any  course  was 
open  whereby  enlarged  commercial  intercourse  with  India  could 
be  promoted,  and  especially  whether  an  increased  supply  of 
cotton  could  be  obtained.  The  present  Sir  Thomas  Bazley  was 
in  the  chair.  Mr.  Bright,  in  the  course  of  a  lengthy  speech, 
reminded  those  present  that  a  Parliamentary  Committee,  of 
which  he  had  .been  a  member,  had  made  inquiry  on  the  subject, 
and  that  the  Committee  had  taken  the  evidence  of  a  great 
number  of  persons  who  had  been  many  years  in  India,  who  had 
been  collectors,  and  Government  officers,  and  engineers — judges 
in  the  very  district  from  where  this  cotton  should  come — and 
that  their  evidence,  without  any  dispute  whatever  on  the  part  of 
any  one  of  them,  went  to  show  that  there  were  abundant  means, 
as  regarded  climate  and  soil  and  population,  for  the  production 
of  a  large  supply  of  cotton  in  that  country.  (Hear,  hear.)  "  If," 
he  continued,  "  we  want  further  evidence  we  have  it  in  this  fact, 
that  India  appears  to  be  the  country  from  whence  cotton  origi- 
nally came  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  I  come  to  the  conclusion 
then  that  we  may  go  upon  these  ascertained  facts,  that  India 
can  grow  cotton,  and  that  it  is  because  there  are  some  obstacles 
in  the  way,  which  are  removable,  that  India  does  not  supply  us 
with  cotton/'  In  the  month  of  June  Mr.  Bright  presented  a 
memorial  to  the  Prime  Minister,  and  a  petition  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  on  behalf  of  the  Chamber,  praying  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Royal  Commission  to  proceed  to  India  to  inquire  into 
the  obstacles  which  prevented  the  increased  growth  of  cotton  in 
that  country.  Unfortunately  the  Government  could  not  be 


274  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1850. 

induced  to  consent    to  the   appointment    of    the    Commission, 
and  heeded  not  the  warnings  of  Mr.  Bright. 

The  Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  November,  1850, 
sent  Mr.  A.  Mackay,  the  author  of  "  The  Western  World/'  to 
India,  to  make  a  minute  investigation  as  their  commissioner. 
A  subscription  of  £2,000  was  got  up  to  defray  the  expenses.  On 
November  7th,  a  few  days  before  Mr.  Mackay  took  his  depar- 
ture, the  Chamber  held  a  meeting,  and  Mr.  Bright  informed 
those  present : — 

"I  hare  known  Mr.  Mackay  some  years;  I  have  known  him  for  a  considerable 
time  intimately.  I  have  had  many  opportunities  of  knowing  his  opinions  and  cha- 
racter long  before  this  question  was  ever  thought  of  by  me,  and  I  am  quite  satisfied 
that  he  goes  out  under  the  sanction  of  this  Chamber  to  represent  the  trade  of  this 
district ;  and  that  he  will  execute  the  duty  confided  to  him  with  all  that  impartiality, 
truthfulness,  and  fidelity  which  we  or  any  honest  friend  of  the  India  Company 
would  require  and  expect.  Now_  I  am  bold  to  say  that  for  myself  I  am  prepared  to 
follow  out,  and  to  recommend  this  Chamber  to  follow  out  to  its  ultimate  results,  this 
inquiry,  to  whatever  it  may  lead.  We  are  in  this  embarrassed  position  with  regard 
to  cotton.  The  last  four  years  have  proved  to  a  demonstration  that  the  industry  of 
this  district  can  never  be  secure  while  we  are  dependent  upon  one  market  for  a 
supply.  We  know,  also,  that  owing  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  under  which  that 
supply  is  grown  in  America,  we  run  a  hazard  more  fearful  than  any  that  has  hereto- 
fore menaced  us.  We  know  that  India  is  a  country  fitted  by  its  climate  and  soil — 
vast  tracts  of  which  are  suitable  for  the  production  of  what  we  require.  We  know 
that  India  in  ancient  times  was  almost  another  term  for  riches,  so  great  was  its 
productiveness.  We  know  that  by  steam  navigation,  and  other  modes  of  transit,  we 
are  brought  within  some  thirty- six  days  of  India — a  country  that  used  to 'be  some  six 
months'  distance  from  us.  We  have  asked  the  Government  to  grant  an  inquiry  into 
this  great  question,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  do  it.  The  Government 
refused.  Well,  then,  we  who  are  here  represent  three  or  four  hundred  firms  of  this 
district,  representing  spinners,  manufacturers,  and  merchants  of 'this  district  to  a 
very  large  extent ;  and  co-operated  as  we  are  to-day,  I  am  happy  to  say,  with  gentle- 
men from  Liverpool  and  Blackburn — I  say  we  are  taking  a  course  which  is  con- 
sistent with  the  character  of  the  Chamber  and  demanded  by  the  circumstances  which 
the  Chamber  was  established  to  represent,  in  proceeding  to  send  a  commission  to 
India  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  back  a  true  and  faithful  narrative  of  the  condition 
of  that  country."  (Hear,  hear,  and  applause.) 

Unfortunately  Mr.  Mackay  died  on  the  15th  of  April,  1851, 
but  not  before  he  had  collected  some  valuable  information.  The 
influence  of  the  climate  of  India  was  too  much  for  a  constitution 
not  naturally  robust,  and  he  was  compelled  to  terminate  his 
labours  sooner  than  he  anticipated,  and  was  returning  home 
to  England  to  regain  his  strength,  quite  hopeful  of  the  future, 
and  promising  to  return  to  India  and  complete  the  work,  but  he 
died  on  the  passage  home. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in 
January,  1854,  Mr.  Bright  said  the  work  published  by  the 
Chamber — the  report  of  Mr.  Mackay — was  one  calculated  to 
show  that,  with  regard  to  the  district  of  Guzerat,  from  which 
the  main  portion  of  the  cotton  came,  how  true  had  been  all  they 
had  said  with  regard  to  the  influence  and  neglect  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  cultivation  of  India.  Until  some  emergency  came 


1848.]  CAPITAL    PUNISHMENT.  278 

which  pulled  up  the  whole  Indian  administration  and  plunged 
the  Government  in  the  dangers  which  were  ahead,  he  was  not 
certain  that  they  would  get  any  attention  paid  to  the  question 
in  Parliament;  and  twenty  years  hence,  in  all  probability,  those 
of  them  who  were  alive  would  find  Indian  affairs  very  much  as 
Parliament  left  them  in  the  year  1853. 

Mr.  Bright,  as  far  back  as  the  session  of  1848,  opposed 
capital  punishment  by  supporting  a  Bill  introduced  by  Mr. 
Ewart  to  totally  repeal  punishment  of  death.  He  argued  that 
capital  punishment  did  not  convey  the  awful  threats  that  many 
supposed  it  did  to  that  condition  of  men  by  whom  crimes  of  this 
grievous  nature  were  committed.  The  present  law,  he  contended, 
was  uncertain,  irregular,  and  unjust  to  a  degree  which  could  not 
be  imputed  to  any  other  law  on  the  statute-book ;  and  he  cited 
a  number  of  cases  in  proof  of  this  remark.  He  advocated  such  a 
law  as  existed  in  France,  by  which  extenuating  circumstances 
were  allowed  to  prevent  capital  punishment.  He  asked  if  Eng- 
land was  to  be  behind  Tuscany,  France  (to  a  large  extent), 
Belgium,  America  (in  some  of  her  states),  and  other  countries, 
with  regard  to  punishment  by  death.  He  was  of  opinion  that  if 
capital  punishment  was  abolished,  and  a  secondary  punishment 
was  substituted,  it  would  have  the  effect  of  diminishing  the 
shocking  crime  of  murder.  The  Bill  was  thrown  out  by  a 
majority  of  fifty-six.  It  was  again  introduced  by  Mr.  Ewart  in 
1849,  and  Mr.  Bright' s  chief  argument  in  its  favour  was  that 
under  the  existing  law  criminals  often  escaped,  because  juries, 
though  feeling  morally  certain  of  their  gmilt,  would  not  take  the 
responsibility  of  sending  them  to  the  scaffold.  The  majority  this 
time  against  the  Bill  amounted  only  to  twenty-four,  and  in  1850 
was  further  reduced  to  six. 

When  the  Budget  was  introduced  in  1848,  Mr.  Bright  re- 
ferred to  the  depressed  state  of  trade,  and  said  that  surely  it 
was  not  the  time  when  the  military  expenditure  should  be  in- 
creased for  the  purpose  of  meeting  an  imaginary  enemy  ;  and  he 
thought  that  the  proposed  increase  of  taxes  for  such  a  purpose  was 
as  unjustifiable  as  it  was  oppressive.  Mr.  Cobden,  in  1849,  pro- 
posed, in  the  House  of  Commons,  to  reduce  the  public  disburse- 
ments by  ten  millions;  and  he  was  supported  by  Mr.  Bright, 
who  contrasted  the  financial  condition  of  England  and  America, 
stating  that  the  United  States,  notwithstanding  the  increase  of 
its  population  and  sea-board,  increased  neither  its  army  nor  its 
navy,  and  that  England  maintained  more  troops  in  Canada  than 
the  whole  standing  army  of  the  United  States.  Cobden's  motion 
was  lost,  for  the  Reformers  numbered  only  seventy-eight,  whereas 
s  I 


276  LIFE   AND   TIMES  -OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [185ft 

their  opponents  had  put  in  an  appearance  to  the  number  of  275. 
The  majority  of  the  members  of  that  House,  then  as  now,  could 
not  be  convinced  of  the  fact  that  a  nation,  like  an  individual, 
must  become  rich  or  poor  by  the  proportion  its  expenses  bear  to 
its  means.  Carefulness  and  industry  alone  beget  riches,  and 
wastefulness  and  extravagance  are  the  necessary  forerunners  of 
ruin  alike  to  communities  and  to  individuals;  hence  economy, 
which  gives  neatness  and  comfort  to  the  cottage,  is  necessary  to 
the  mansion,  to  the  palace,  and  even  to  the  nation. 

The  hon.  member  for  Manchester  is  next  found  directing  his 
attention  to  Financial  and  Parliamentary  Reform.  On  the  29th 
January,  1850,  a  great  meeting  was  held  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall, 
Manchester,  there  being  about  8,000  persons  present.  Amongst 
them  there  were  a  large  number  of  merchants  and  manufacturers 
from  the  neighbouring  towns,  who,  being  in  Manchester  on  the 
market  day — the  Tuesday  on  which  the  meeting  was  held — took 
advantage  of  the  occasion,  and  attended  to  hear  "  the  great  advo- 
cates of  Free-trade,"  Messrs.  Cobden  and  Bright,  and  to  encourage 
them  in  the  struggle  for  Financial  and  Parliamentary  Reform 
which  was  about^to  commence.  Many,  no  doubt,  were  brought 
to  the  meeting  from  the  desire  to  be  among  the  first  to  enrol 
themselves  in  the  freehold  land  scheme  of  enfranchisement.  Mr. 
Wilson  presided.  Mr.  Bright,  in  opening  his  speech,  pointed 
out  that : — 

"  If  there  be  one  feature  which  more  than  another  distinguishes  the  time  in  which 
we  live,  it  occurs  to  me  that  it  is  this — the  remarkable  amount  of  discussion  and 
determination  which  are  now  brought  to  bear  on  all  great  social  and  political  questions 
affecting  the  condition  of  the  country ;  and  this  meeting,  upon  which  I  am  looking, 
I  think  is  one  proof  of  the  fact  which  I  am  stating ;  for  it  is  but  one  of  a  series  of 
meetings  which  have  been  held  in  various  parts  of  the  country  since  the  close  of  the 
last  session  of  Parliament,  at  which  great  social  and  political  questions  have  been 
discussed."  (Hear.) 

This  short  extract  gives  an  insight  to  the  passing  events  of 
this  period  and  the  struggle  that  followed. 

Sir  Robert  Peel,  on  the  29th  of  June,  was  thrown  from  his 
horse  while  riding  on  Constitution  Hill,  and  died  a  few  days  after- 
wards from  the  effects  of  the  injuries  he  received. 

The  "  Peace  Society "  was  founded  when  Mr.  Bright  was  a 
child,  and  its  main  supporters  were  members  of  the  "  Society  of 
Friends."  Some  years  ago  Mr.  Bright  admitted  that  he  had 
been  greatly  influenced  on  the  subject  of  peace  by  his  training  in 
the  principles  of  the  religious  body  to  which  he  belonged.  Some 
of  his  most  pathetic  speeches  have  been  delivered  against  the 
evils  of  war ;  and,  in  the  words  of  the  poet,  he  might  well  say : — 

"  I  hate  that  drum's  discordant  sound, 
Parading  round,  and  round,  and  round. 


1860.  AN   ADVOCATE   OF   PEACE.  277 

To  me  it  talks  of  ravaged  plains, 

And  burning  towers,  and  ruined  swains, 

And  mangled  limbs,  and  dying  groans, 

And  widows'  tears,  and  orphans'  moans, 

And  all  the  miseries  man  bestows 

To  swell  the  catalogue  of  human  woes." 

The  first  meeting  at  which  he  spoke  on  the  subject  was  held 
in  the  Town  Hall,  at  Birmingham,  on  the  27th  of  November, 
1850.  At  this  meeting  a  report  of  the  Peace  Conference  at 
Frankfort  was  given.  Mr.  Lucy,  the  Mayor,  who  was  also  the 
High  Sheriff,  presided.  The  speakers  were  Mr.  Joseph  Sturge, 
the  Rev.  A.  James,  Professor  Worms  of  Hamburg,  Mr.  Richard 
Cobden,  and  Mr.  John  Bright,  who  said : — 

"  Now  we  know  that  during  the  past  year  thousands  of  Englishmen  (greater  num- 
bers by  far  than  have  ever  been  known  before)  have  traversed  the  continent  in  every 
direction ;  that  very  large  numbers  of  foreigners  have  during  the  past  year  visited  us ; 
and  that,  in  fact,  railways  are  themselves  becoming  a  mighty  machinery  for  putting 
down  the  war  machinery.  (Cheers.)  If  we  cast  our  eyes  in  another  direction,  we 
find  that  weekly  we  have  magnificent  steamers  crossing  the  Atlantic  in  some  ten  or 
twelve  days,  thereby  opening  up  the  great  facilities  for  extending  our  intercourse 
with  the  citizens  of  the  United  States.  We  know,  too,  that  next  year  cheap  trips  are 
to  cross  the  Atlantic  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  people  of  America  to  witness 
here  (the  Great  Exhibition)  the  products  of  all  the  nations  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
(Cheers.)  We  know  such  things  as  these  are  but  the  heralds  of  those  promises  which 
are  certain  to  be  fulfilled — promises  handed  down  to  us  in  that  Book — (cheers) — but 
for  which  the  world  would  be  in  darkness,  but  wherein  we  gather  the  cheering  con- 
solation that  there  shall  be  peace  from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other.  (Immense 
cheering.)  Cast  your  eyes  back  over  the  last  thirty-five  years.  During  the  whole 
of  that  time  we  have  had  a  profound  peace,  and  have  kept  up  war  establishments 
notwithstanding,  and  have  therefore  gone  on  adding  to  our  national  debt  until  at 
length  the  amount  of  it  has  become  so  large  that  nobody  can  measure  it,  and  nobody 
believes  that  it  will  ever  be  paid  oil.  (Hear,  hear.)  Look  at  Ireland ;  you  have  there 
40,000  men  maintained  out  of  the  taxes,  and  another  10,000  also  maintained  out  of 
the  taxes  in  the  shape  of  armed  police.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cries  of  "Shame!") 
50,000  men  in  Ireland  armed  to  keep  the  peace,  under  a  system  where  peace  is  im- 
possible— in  a  country  where  for  years  the  misgovernment  was  such  that  in  Europe 
it  found  no  parallel.  In  that  unfortunate  country  you  witness  a  landlord  proprietary, 
all  of  whose  inclinations  and  feelings  were  in  direct  hostility  to  the  population  where 
their  estates  were  situate ;  and  there  the  proprietors  now  are  reduced  to  beggary  and 
ruin — and  paupers  crawl  up  their  staircases  and  halls.  (Cheers.)  I  say  that  I  have 
seen  paupers  crawling  along  those  magnificent  halls  where  in  years  past  the  lords 
and  the  gentry  held  their  festivals.  (Cheers.)  It  is  to  uphold  such  a  system  as 
this  that  this  vast  force  has  been  kept  up  in  Ireland."  (Hear,  hear.) 

When  Mr.  Bright  concluded  the  whole  audience  rose  and  greeted 
him  with  an  enthusiastic  burst  of  applause,  which  lasted  several 
minutes. 

In  the  course  of.  this  speech  Mr.  Bright,  in  alluding  to 
the  superstitious  fear  of  war  with  France,  remarked  that  the 
only  authority  upon  which  a  British  admiral  anticipated  war 
w  is  an  idle  story  told  by  the  Bishop  of  Madagascar.  Sir 
Thomas  Hastings,  of  the  Royal  »Navy,  afterwards  wrote  to  Mr. 
Bright  for  his  authority  for  the  statement,  and  the  member 
for  Manchester  informed  him  that  Mr.  Cobden  had  'given  him 


278  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  U850 

the  information.  Sir  Thomas  Hastings  was  so  exasperated  that 
he  challenged  Mr.  Cobden  to  a  duel.  Mr.  Cobden  was  much 
amused  with  the  invitation,  and,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment, 
replied  by  letter  as  follows  : — 

"  If  in  my  earlier  days  my  admiration  for  the  genius  of  Sheridan  had  not 
tempted  me  to  witness  the  mimic  exploits  of  Sir  Lucius  O'Trigger,  I  might  have 
beeu  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the  meaning  of  your  letter.  Aided,  however,  by  my 
recollections  of  that  model  duellist,  I  understand  you  to  propose  that  we  should  lay 
down  our  pens  and  have  a  personal  interview,  not  to  talk  over  the  matter  in  dispute, 
not  ever  to  approach  within  speaking  distance,  but  to  take  our  stand  at  twelve  paces 
apart  with  pistols  in  hand,  and  endeavour  to  blow  out  each  other's  brains.  Now,  I 
am  satisfied  without  any  such  experiment,  on  my  head  at  least,  that  half  an  ounce 
of  lead  propelled  by  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  ounce  of  powder  is  quite  sufficient  to 
shatter  the  human  skull  to  atoms,  and  extinguish  in  a  moment  all  powers  of  reason, 
all  sense  of  justice,  and  every  religious  sentiment.  But  how  such  a  process  could 
satisfy  me  that  I  had  acted  unjustly  towards  you,  or  convince  you  of  the  contrary, 
is,  I  confess,  quite  beyond  my  comprehension.  So  soon  as  I  had  recovered  from  the 
tit  of  laughter  into  which,  I  must  own,  your  challenge  threw  me,  and  after  I  had 
mastered  the  temptation  I  felt,  to  name  for  my  second  my  much  esteemed  friend, 
Mr.  Punch,  I  endeavoured  to  procure  a  copy  of  the  report  of  the  committee ;  aud, 
having  refreshed  my  memory  by  a  perusal  of  your  evidence,  I  will  endeavour  to 
state  the  facts  of  the  case  as  between  you  and  myself  in  such  a  way  as  shall  admit 
of  no  further  misapprehension." 

Mr.  Cobden  then  explained  in  this  letter  that  Mr.  Bright  had 
merely  made  a  mistake  by  substituting  the  name  of  the  French 
Bishop  of  Japan  for  that  of  the  Bishop  of  Madagascar,  and  con- 
cluded in  the  following  terms  : — 

"You  must,  like  all  public  men,  expect  that  your  conduct  will  be  freely  can- 
vassed ;  and  your  fate  will  be  a  luckier  one  than  that  of  most  of  us  if  you  do  not 
find  yourself  often  misapprehended,  and  sometimes  misrepresented.  If,  unable  to 
restrain  the  ebullition  of  an  irascible  temper,  you  must  needs  challenge  a  member  of 
the  Legislature  to  mortal  combat  merely  because  another  member  is  reported  to 
have  made  a  mistake  in  a  single  word,  in  a  speech  of  an  hour's  length,  or  because  a 
reporter's  pen  may  have  slipped  at  a  critical  moment,  then  you  have  mistaken  your 
vocation ;  and  you  would  be  consulting  your  own  reputation  and  the  interests  of 
the  country  by  retiring  from  the  public  service,  and  seeking  security  for  your 
susceptible  nerves  within  the  inviolable  precincts  of  your  own  domestic  circle." 

Sir  Thomas  Hastings,  after  more  mature  deliberation, 
pursued  the  challenge  no  further. 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  a  meeting  in  the  Manchester  Town 
Hall  on  an  evening  in  December,  1850,  when  the  manufacturers, 
merchants,  and  other  gentlemen  paid  their  respects  to  Mr. 
Abbott  Lawrence,  a  minister  plenipotentiary  from  the  United 
States,  and  thus  he  spoke  of  America  : — 

"I  can  never  forget  that  that  nation  has  derived  from  their  forefathers  a  legacy 
which  they  would  do  well  to  keep.  Men  from  this  country  planted  in  that  country 
seeds  of  liberty,  and  lit  the  fire  of  freedom  which  their  descendants  have  kept  up, 
and  cherished  until  this  day.  I  look  back  with  reverence  to  those  men  of  whom  one 
of  our  own  poets,  recently  removed  from  amongst  us,  spoke  as : — 

'  The  fathers  of  New  England,  who  unbound, 
In  wild  Columbia,  Europe's  double  chain; ' 


I860.]  THE    FOEEIGN    INVASION    PANIC..  279 

For  there  they  taught  that  a  great  nation  can  consist,  can  advance,  can  grow,  can 
become  strong,  can  consolidate  itself  permanently,  with  perfect  equality  in  its  politi- 
cal, and  perfect  freedom  in  its  religious,  institutions."  (Cheers.) 

Both  Mr.  Bright  and' Mr.  Cobden  had  long  formed  the  opinion 
that  the  material  prosperity  of  nations  was  dependent  on  their 
mutual  peace  and  good-will ;  and  in  their  speeches  they  had  pointed 
out  the  stupidity  of  the  doctrine  that  teaches  the  necessity  for  a 
balance  of  power  in  Europe — a  view  which  our  country  had  main- 
tained at  such  ruinous  expenditure  that  peace  had  become  nearly 
as  costly  as  war.  The  working-  of  the  Corn  Laws  in  shutting 
us  off  from  the  supplies  of  foreign  countries  had  still  further 
directed  their  attention  to  the  European  question ;  and  they 
would  often  picture  in  their  speeches  at  public  meetings  the 
happy  results  which  would  flow  from  a  sense  of  the  community 
of  interest  which  existed  between  different  peoples  gradually 
overspreading  the  public  mind — a  sense  that,  as  it  deepened, 
would  make  quarrels  less  likely  and  war  less  possible. 

Nothing  more  repelled  their  fine  and  accurate  common  sense 
than  the  overwhelming  panics  at  some  approaching  foreign 
invasion  which  periodically  swept  the  country.  They  saw 
distinctly  that  these  panics  were — if  not  created,  certainly 
foste'red — by  the  governing  classes  of  this  country,  whose 
interests  were  bound  up  with  the  maintenance  of  a  large  military 
organisation,  and  a  correspondingly  large  taxation  and  expendi- 
ture ;  and  they  saw  as  distinctly  that  the  interweaving  of  com- 
mercial relations,  the  exchange  of  mutual  products  of  different 
countries,  and  the  consequent  intercourse  and  knowledge  of  each 
other  would  be  a  better  and  infinitely  cheaper  guarantee  for 
peace  than  any  number  of  standing  armies.  They  showed  by 
speeches  and  pamphlets  how  the  war  with  America  had  cost  us 
millions  of  money,  burdening  the  industry  of  the  people  with  a 
mortgage  of  debt  beyond  the  power  of  any  single  generation  to 
pay — the  result  being  that  America  was  never  of  so  much  value 
to  England  as  after  she  had  secured  her  independence — so  that 
we  had  really  been  spending  all  this  money  in  the  endeavour  to 
cut  the  throat  of  our  own' prosperity.  The  wars  with  France 
were  capable  of  still  less  defence.  The  wealth  and  manhood  of 
the  nation  had  been  poured  out  like  water  for  the  purpose  of 
propping  up  or  restoring  to  that  country  a  dynasty  which  had 
been  cast  off  by  its  own  subjects,  and  staying  the  march  of  con- 
quest by  which  Napoleon  was  astonishing  the  world.  Yet  so 
little  did  all  our  efforts  avail — though  a  "  heaven-born"  minister 
ruled  our  Cabinet,  and  the  ablest  and  most  successful  of  generals 
.commanded  our  armies — that  before  that  great  soldier,  full  of 


280  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1850. 

years  and  worldly  honours,  descended  to  the  grave,  he  had  seen 
the  throne  of  France  filled  by  the  heir  of  his  mighty  rival 
whose  dream  of  ambition  he  had  dispelled  at  Waterloo.  With 
such  flagrant  failures  of  national  policy  before  their  eyes,  they 
became  convinced  of  the  futility  of  war.  Nor  was  there  want- 
ing an  opportunity  for  uttering  their  opinions,  nor  an  occasion 
on  which  they  were  demanded. 

In  the  years  following  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws  Mr. 
Cobden  had  several  times  introduced  motions  into  the  House  of 
Commons  which  affirmed  that  a  reduction  of  the  national  expendi- 
ture might  be  undertaken  without  damage  to  the  safety  or  honour 
of  the  country ;  but  he  still  more  prominently  avowed  his  peace 
principles  in  1853,  when  a  panic  of  French  invasion  was  running 
through  the  leading  articles  of  all  the  newspapers.  Prince  de  Join- 
ville  had  alarmed  us  by  a  pamphlet,  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
then  old  and  infirm,  had  lent  the-  influence  of  his  name  to 
strengthen  the  fears  of  the  public.  Of  course  it  really  meant 
more  ships,  more  soldiers,  more  taxation,  less  popular  power, 
less  prosperity,  and  Bright  and  Cobden  set  their  faces  against  it 
from  the  beginning.  In  1853  Mr.  Cobden  published  a  pam- 
phlet, entitled,  "  1793  and  1853,"  and  occupying  itself  with  a 
comparison  of  public  opinion  in  those  two  years  in  relation  to  a 
war  with  France.  It  is  addressed  in  the  form  of  three  letters  to 
a  clergyman,  or  minister,  who  had  preached  a  sermon  on  the 
death  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  in  which  the  struggle  termi- 
nating in  1815  had  been  characterised  as  one  in  defence  of  the 
liberties  of  Europe.  This  fallacy  Mr.  Cobden  undertook  to 
expose,  and  did  so  in  a  series  of  the  most  masterly  and  cogent 
arguments.  Rising  naturally  with  the  swell  of  the  theme  from 
the  familiar  expressions  of  the  friendly  teller  into  fervours  of 
diction  which  even  Burke  has  not  excelled,  he  concluded  with 
an  appeal  to  his  clerical  correspondent,  which  may  well  be 
pondered.  <f  Will  you  pardon  me/'  he  says,  "  if  before  I  lay 
down  my  pen  I  so  far  presume  upon  your  forbearance  as  to 
express  a  doubt  whether  the  eagerness  with  which  the  topic  of 
the  Duke  of  Wellington's  career  was  so  generally  selected  for 
pulpit  manifestations  was  calculated  to  enhance  the  influence  of 
ministers  of  the  Gospel,  or  promote  the  interests  of  Christianity 
itself.  Your  case  and  that  of  public  men  are  very  dissimilar. 
The  mere  politician  may  plead  the  excuse,  if  he  yields  to 
the  excitement  of  the  day,  that  he  lives  and  moves  and  has  his 
being  in  the  popular  temper  of  the  times.  Flung  as  he  is  in 
the  mid-current  of  passing  events,  he  must  swim  with  the 
stream,  or  be  left  upon  its  banks,  for  few  have  the  strength  or 


1850.]  COBDEN'S    PAMPHLET.  281 

courage  to  breast  the  rising  wave  of  public  feeling.  How  dif- 
ferent is  your  case.  Set  apart  for  the  contemplation  and  pro- 
motion of  eternal  and  unchanging  principles  of  benevolence, 
peace,  and  charity,  public  opinion  would  not  only  tolerate  but 
applaud  your  abstinence  from  all  displays  where  martial  enthu- 
siasm and  hostile  passions  are  called  into  activity.  But  a  far 
higher  sanction  than  public  opinion  is  to  be  found  for  such  a 
course.  When  the  Master  whom  you  especially  serve,  and  whose 
example  and  precepts  are  the  sole  credentials  of  your  faith, 
mingled  in  the  affairs  of  this  life,  it  was  not  to  join  in  the 
exaltation  of  military  genius,  or  share  in  the  warlike  triumphs  of 
nation  over  nation,  but  to  preach  '  Peace  on  earth  and  good-will 
to  men." 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

HOME   LEGISLATION. 

The  Creation  of  Catholic  Bishops — Freehold  Land  Societies— Invitation  to  re- 
present Rochdale  in  Parliament — Disraeli's  Attempt  to  assist  Landowners- 
Bright  and  Kossuth — The  Militia  Bill  of  1852 — Re-elected  for  Manchester  in 
1852. 

ABOUT  the  close  of  the  year  1850  the  Roman  Pontiff  created 
a,  furor  in  England  by  arranging-  a  new  division  of  dioceses,  that 
should  be  ruled  by  bishops  taking-  their  titles  from  English 
towns,  and  Dr.  Wiseman  was  appointed  Archbishop  of  West- 
minster. The  Prime  Minister,  Lord  John  Russell,  at  once 
expressed  his  indignation  in  a  letter,  and  bishops  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church  induced  their  clergy  to  forward  remonstrances  and 
oppose  papal  pretensions.  The  Pope's  decision  afforded  an  ex- 
cellent theme  for  controversy.  "  Great  contests  followed,  and 
much  learned  dust/'  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  many  sighed 
"for  a  forty-parson  power/'  so  as  to  be  able  to  annihilate  their 
adversary.  The  Reformers  of  the  manufacturing  district 
gathered  in  large  numbers  to  a  meeting  in  the  Albion  Hotel, 
Manchester,  on  the  23rd  of  January,  1851,  to  hear  Mr.  Bright 
express  his  views  on  the  subject. 

"There  has  been  an  attempt  to  frighten  the  country  out  of  its  propriety,"  said 
Mr.  Bright.  "  I  believe  the  cockneys  have  been  very  much  frightened — (laughter) — 
I  mean  the  parochial  mind  of  the  various  divisions  in  London.  (Laughter.)  But 
let  us  look  at  what  has  been  the  state  of  feeling  in  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire. 
(Applause.)  Beginning  with  Hull,  the  most  eastern  of  the  large  towns  of  this  dis- 
trict— the  most  important  and  widely- circulated  papers  in  that  town  have 
altogether  repudiated  the  attempt  to  raise  up  a  bigoted  and  fanatical  cry  against  the 
free  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion  in  this  country.  Go  to  Leeds ;  a  paper  there 
of  the  largest  influence  and  circulation  has  given  no  countenance  to  this  attempt. 
(Hear,  hear.)  And  I  must  say  that  of  all  the  speeches  that  have  been  delivered 
upon  this  question,  I  think  a  speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Baines,  the  editor  of  that 
paper,  at  the  meeting  of  the  ministers  and  friends  of  the  Baptist  and  Independent 
churches,  was  the  most  true  to  the  point  of  any  that  I  have  read.  (Applause.) 
Well,  then  cross  the  borders  of  Yorkshire,  and  come  to  Manchester.  You  have  two 
papers  here  of  large  circulation,  and,  in  their  respective  walks,  no  doubt  of  great 
influence;  neither  of  them  has  given  any  countenance  to  this  intolerant  cry,  and 
one  of  them  has  very  boldly  and  resolutely  opposed  it.  (Applause.)  Go  on  to 
Liverpool,  and  you  find  the  papers  there,  of  chief  circulation  and  of  chief  influence, 
have  taken  the  same  tone  that  has  been  taken  by  the  papers  of  Manchester.  Well, 
I  am  free  to  argue  from  this,  and  do  argue  from  it,  that  all  this  attempt  to  distract 
the  public  mind — all  this  attempt  to  point  the  finger  of  scorn  at  millions  of  our 
fellow-countrymen  that  differ  from  us  in  religion— (applause) — that  all  this  has 
failed  amongst  the  three  millions  of  the  population  of  this  kingdom  we  inhabit,  the 
counties  of  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire.  (Loud  applause.)  I  do  not  know  how  it  is, 
but  there  is  some  fatality  about  two  things  that  the  people  of  this  country  have 


1851.]  PAPAL   AGGRESSION.  283 

been  discussing  for  generations  past — Corn  and  Catholics.  (Laughter.)  This 
time  last  year  there  was  almost  terror  about  corn.  Some  people  down  here  were 
afraid  that  corn  was  going  to  be  shut  out,  and  the  squires  were  making  a  great  dis- 
turbance about,  not  the  papal,  but  the  corn  aggression.  It  is  about  500  years  ago 
that  there  was  a  sort  of  Parliament — not  I  believe  a  very  regular  one — held  at 
Kilkenny,  where  English  interests  very  much  preponderated.  They  passed  what 
has  been  called  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny — a  law  by  which  they  made  it  penal,  iu  a 
high  degree,  for  an  Irishman's  horse  to  graze  upon  an  Englishman's  land. 
(Laughter.)  Now  from  that  time  to  this  there  has  hardly  been  a  Session  of  Par- 
liament when  this  question  of  Catholics  has  not  been  brought  up ;  and  old  women 
of  both  sexes  (laughter),  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  have  been  frightening  them- 
selves to  death  about  this  papal  aggression."  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter.) 

Lord  John  Russell,  on  the  7th  of  February,  in  pursuance  of 
a  notice  he  had  given,  moved  in  the  House  of  Commons  for 
leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill  "  To  prevent  the  assumption  of  Eccle- 
siastical Titles  in  respect  of  places  in  the  United  Kingdom." 
Mr.  J.  Bright  on  that  occasion  said  : — • 

"Well,  the  Catholic  religion  triumphs,  and  the  territorial  system  you  adopted, 
and  which  is  now  breaking  down  by  the  dispersion  of  landed  property  under  the 
Encumbered  Estates  Act — that  territorial  system  oppressed  the  peasantry,  and  has 
so  greatly  impoverished  them  that  annually  for  some  years  great  numbers  of  them 
have  been  forced  to  exile  themselves  from  Ireland.  Lancashire  and  all  the  great 
towns  and  other  districts  where  employment  is  to  be  had  are  now  crowded  with  a 
population  which,  but  for  the  Government  of  this  country  with  regard  to  Ireland, 
would  have  been  living  conif  ortably  and  industriously  and  prosperously  in  their  own 
land.  (Cheers.)  Well,  this  is  a  fitting  retribution.  I  wish  some  one  capable  of  such 
a  work  would  write  a  history  of  the  retributive  justice  which  has  overtaken  this 
country  in  relation  to  its  dealings  with  Catholic  Ireland.  Catholicism,  we  are  told,  is 
spreading,  and  I  admit  that  it  does  appear  to  be  spreading;  but  I  believe  those 
appearances  arise  from  circumstances  I  have  before  referred  to.  Our  legislation  has 
bome  fruit  to  Rome  both  in  Ireland  and  England.  (Hear,  hear.)  Let  us  inquire  as 
to  England.  England  shows  symptoms  of  returning  to  Rome.  But  where  are  those 
symptoms  ?  In  the  people  or  in  the  clergy?  (Hear,  hear.)  Why,  the  noble  lord's 
letter  tells  where  it  is.  The  noble  lord  has  discovered  that  the  great  institutions  which 
were  supposed  to  be  the  bulwarks  of  Protestantism  turn  out  to  be  a  large  manufac- 
tory of  a  national  or  home-made  popery.  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  I  do  not  mean  to 
say  that  those  who  are  retrograding  are  willing  to  recognise  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope  ;  but  it  is  a  fact  that  they  do  adopt  the  principles  of  the  papal  religion,  such  as 
a  sacramental  Church,  the  special  powers  of  the  priest,  and  the  subjugation  of  the 
mind  to  priestly  influence.  It  has  had  votes  of  money  from  Parliament  to  almost  an 
unknown  amount;  and  it  has  a  revenue  of  millions  of  which  the  Parliamentary 
plummet  has  never  sounded  the  depth.  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter.)  Well,  where 
now  is  this  Church  ?  In  the  year  1850,  after  an  existence  of  three  centuries,  it  has 
not  only  not  saved  the  country  from  the  Pope,  but,  according  to  the  statement  of  the 
Prime  Minister,  it  is  deeply  infected  with  popery  itself.  (Hear,  hear.)  Now,  I  ask 
you,  if  machinery  in  any  other  department  had  as  totally  failed  in  effecting  the  pur- 
poses for  which  it  was  established,  would  you  not  entirely  get  rid  of  it  ?  This 
Church  takes  its  origin  from  Henry  VIII.  It  was  fixed  where  it  is  by  Elizabeth,  she 
hating  the  Pope  at  Rome  because  she  was  herself  a  pope  at  home.  (Laughter.)  And 
it  was  to  her  imperious  and  tyrannical  disposition  more  than  anything  else  that 
we  owe  the  fact  that  what  she  called  the  Reformed  Church  of  England  is  not  really 
reformed.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  do  not  blame  this  Church  as  being  worse  than  any  other 
Church.  I  say  any  other  Church,  under  similar  circumstances,  would  have  brought 
about  the  same  result.  In  the  reign  of  James  I.  it  urged  the  monarchy  to  tyranny 
and  persecution.  In  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  it  did  much  to  overturn  the  monarchy ; 
for  prelacy  united  with  the  Crown  was  so  heavy  that  it  sank  the  Crown.  In  the  time 
of  Charles  II.  Dissenters  were  prosecuted  right  and  loft,  and  almost  all  the  members 
of  the  sect  to  which  I  belong  were,  I  believe,  at  one  time  in  prison.  This  went  on  to 
the  time  of  the  Toleration  Act.  I  will  neither  legislate  against  the  Catholics  nor 
in  support  of  the  Establishment ;  and  however  much  the  noble  lord  may  succeed  in 
gratifying  the  passions  or  in  satisfying  the  prejudices  of  his  followers  out  of  doors, 


284  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1851. 

I  see  nothing  but  evil  in  the  course  he  is  pursuing ;  therefore  I  must  withhold  my 
consent  from  this  mischievous  Bill."  (Cheers.) 

The  Bill  was  ultimately  passed  by  a  large  majority,  but 
was  never  enforced. 

In  the  same  Session  Mr.  Locke  King  succeeded  in  bringing 
in  a  Bill  to  extend  the  franchise  in  counties  to  £10  occupiers, 
and  it  was  supported  by  Mr.  Bright,  who  reminded  Lord  John 
Russell  that  he  had  admitted  the  class  was  entitled  to  the  fran- 
chise, but  had  suggested  constitutional  reasons  why  a  franchise 
suited  for  boroughs  was  not  suited  for  counties.  Mr.  Bright 
thought  the  Bill  might  be  discussed,  in  order  to  see  whether 
it  should  not  form  a  part  of  the  proposed  general  measure. 
The  Bill  was  thrown  out  by  299  to  83. 

In  Rochdale,  as  well  as  other  towns,  "  Freehold  Land  Socie- 
ties" were  established  about  the  close  of  1850.  The  Rochdale 
Society  having  made  its  first  purchase  of  land,  a  soiree  of  the 
members  and  friends  was  held  in  the  Public  Hall,  Rochdale,  on 
the  31st  of  January,  1851,  to  commemorate  the  event.  There 
were  about  300  persons  present,  and  Mr.  James  Tweedale,  one  of 
the  trustees,  occupied  the  chair.  The  members  of  the  society 
numbered  about  300,  holding  348  shares,  each  member  paying 
3s.  fortnightly.  A  plot  of  land  was  purchased,  containing  about 
24  acres,  situated  on  the  southerly  side  of  Goose  Lane,  and  it 
was  said  that  for  farming  and  gardening  purposes  it  was  equal 
to  any  in  the  neighbourhood.  It  cost  £10,000,  and  was  divided 
into  about  500  allotments.  It  was  formerly  the  property  of 
Mr.  Joseph  Mills.  Mr.  John  Bright  was  the  President  of  the 
"  Rochdale  Freehold  Land  Society,  established  September  14th, 
1850.  Enrolled  pursuant  to  Act  of  Parliament."  In  the  pros- 
pectus it  was  stated  that  "  The  great  objects  of  this  society 
are — to  improve  the  social,  promote  the  moral,  and  exalt  the 

political  condition  of  the  community  at  large 

The  leading  characteristic  is  to  form  a  common  fund  by  the 
united  fortnightly  contributions  of  the  members,  and  by  this 
accumulation  to  purchase  large  tracts  of  eligible  building  land, 
which,  after  being  surveyed  and  divided  into  equal  lots,  may 
be  retailed  to  members  at  the  wholesale  price,  and  used  for 
the  erection  of  dwellings  by  themselves,  or  let  on  building  leases 
to  others.  It  is  further  available  as  a  secure  investment  for 
parties  wishing  to  save  small  sums ;  as  a  depository  for  future 
requirements ;  a  certain  source  of  profit  and  remuneration  for 
capital ;  and  a  stepping-stone  to  an  honourable  independence." 

Mr.  John  Bright  was  present  at  the  meeting,  and  in  his 
speech  further  explained  the  objects  of  the  society. 


1851.]  REQUISITION   FROM   ROCHDALE.  285 

"They  were  called  together,"  he  remarked,  "to  coiigratulate  each  other  upoii 
the  success  of  the  Rochdale  Freehold  Land  Society,  and  to  tell  each  other  that  they 
had  made  a  purchase  of  property  by  which  they  intended  to  enfranchise  many  a 
man  in  that  town  who  previously  never  had  any  prospect  of  being  enfranchised,  and 
also  to  bring  into  connection  with  them  gentlemen  who  would  take  a  warm  interest 
in  the  matter  and  endeavour  to  promote  their  success.  The  project  was  not  a 
visionary  one  ;  they  were  not  to  expect  large  estates  or  to  have  land  for  nothing ; 
but  the  society  was  intended  to  enable  great  numbers  of  persons  of  limited  incomes 
from  wages  to  possess  themselves  of  a  small  portion  of  land  sufficient  to  build  a 
house  upon,  and  it  would  at  any  rate  produce  40s.  a  year  rent,  and  there  could  be 
no  doubt  that  the  possession  of  such  a  portion  of  land  would  give  them  as  clear  a 
right  to  be  upon  the  register  of  county  voters  as  if  they  possessed  a  large  quantity." 

The  effect  of  this  movement  was  that  the  greater  portion  of 
the  land  is  now  covered  with  residences,  and  the  project  suc- 
ceeded until  the  alteration  of  the  law  made  the  qualification  un- 
necessary. This  part  of  the  town  now  goes  by  the  name  of  the 
"  Freehold." 

A  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Rochdale  Reform  Associa- 
tion, and  other  Liberal  electors  of  Rochdale,  was  hejd  in  the 
Public  Hall,  on  the  2nd  of  April,  1851.  On  the  platform  were 
most  of  the  active  and  prominent  members  of  the  party.  Mr. 
Win.  Chadwick  was  in  the  chair,  and  stated  that  information 
had  been  received  from  Mr.  Sharman  Crawford,  the  member  for 
Rochdale,  to  the  effect  that  at  the  next  election  it  was  not  his 
intention  to  offer  himself  for  re-election,  as  he  wished  to  retire 
on  account  of  ill-health.  After  expressing  regret  at  the  loss 
the  borough  sustained  in  losing  the  services  of  Mr.  Crawford,  it 
was  decided  to  forward  the  following  requisition  to  Mr.  John 
Bright  :— 

"  Our  respected  representative,  Mr.  W.  S.  Crawford,  having  intimated  his  desire 
to  retire  from  Parliamentary  duties  at  the  next  general  election,  we,  the  undersigned 
electors  of  the  borough  of  Rochdale,  beg  to  express  to  you  our  earnest  desire  to  have 
the  honour  of  being  represented  by  you,  our  townsman,  in  the  next  House  of  Com- 
mons. We  recollect  with  pleasure  the  many  virtues  by  which  your  private  walk 
amongst  us  has  always  been  distinguished,  and  the  lively '  interest  you  have  ever 
manifested  in  everything  calculated  to  subserve  the  interests  of  this  locality.  Your 
indefatigable  and  successful  exertions  to  annihilate  the  obnoxious  tax  upon  bread 
have  entitled  you  to  the  gratitude  of  every  true  patriot  and  philanthropist,  and 
will  hand  your  name  down  to  posterity  as  being  one  main  instrument  in  securing 
so  valuable  a  boon  to  the  people.  We  have  marked  your  persevering  exertions  for 
the  promotion  of  commercial  freedom  and  for  the  abolition  of  all  monopolies,  and 
your  eloquent  advocacy  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Conscious  as  we  are  that 
your  career  in  public  life  has  been  in  harmony  with  the  principles  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  people  of  Rochdale,  we  trust  you  will  afford  us  the  gratification  of 
marking  our  sense  of  your  private  worth,  and  our  high  appreciation  of  the  valuable 
services  you  have  rendered  to  the  public,  by  permitting  us  to  put  you  in  nomina- 
tion at  the  next  election  for  the  borough  of  Rochdale,  that  we  may  have  the  honour 
of  returning  you  to  Parliament  as  tho  representative  of  your  native  town." 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Bright  saw  the  report  in  the  newspapers,  and 
before  he  had  received  the  requisition,  he  wrote  the  following 


286  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1858. 

letter  from  London,  on  the  10th  of  April,  to  the  Liberal  com- 
mittee : — 

"  I  observe  from  the  public  papers  that  the  Liberal  electors  of  Rochdale  have 
held  a  meeting,  at  which  they  have  unanimously  agreed  to  a  resolution  requesting 
me  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  representation  of  that  borough  on  the  retirement 
of  Mr.  S.  Crawford  at  the  dissolution  of  the  present  Parliament,  and  I  am  informed 
that  a  requisition  to  me  is  now  in  course  of  signature  to  the  same  effect.  I  think  it 
best  to  write  to  you,  as  chairman  of  the  meeting,  at  this  stage  of  the  proceedings, 
that  I  may  save  you  and  my  friends  unnecessary  trouble.  You  will  readily  believe 
that  I  am  deeply  sensible  of  .the  kindness  evinced  towards  me  by  my  townsmen,  and 
that  I  regard  this  expression  of  their  approbation  of  my  public  conduct,  and  of  their 
confidence  in  my  political  integrity,  as  an  ample  reward  for  any  sacrifices  I  have 
made,  and  for  such  services  as  I  have  been  able  to  render  during  my  public  life.  If 
I  consulted  my  own  ease,  and  perhaps  my  own  interest,  it  would  be  difficult  for 
me  to  decline  the  invitation  thus  tendered  to  me,  but  in  the  position  I  find  myself 
it  does  not  appear  consistent  with  my  public  duty  voluntarily  to  abandon  the  post 
which  I  now  occupy.  In  the  year  1847  I  was  elected  one  of  the  representatives  of 
the  borough  of  Manchester,  and  my  return  took  place  without  a  contest.  I  need 
not  tell  you  that  Manchester  is  one  of  the  very  foremost  constituencies  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  not  in  numbers  only  but  in  political  intelligence,  and  in  the  influences  it 
exercises  on  public  opinion.  Like  the  constituency  of  Rochdale,  it  is  untainted  by 
corruption,  and  its  character  for  independence  and  public  virtue  is  of  the  highest 
order.  By  this  great  constituency  I  was  elected  without  contest.  My  opinions  were 
fully  explained  with  regard  to  the  course  I  intended  to  pursue ;  there  was  no  dis- 
guise. I  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that,  however  I  may  have  failed  to  do  all  that 
was  expected  of  me,  my  conduct,  as  a  whole,  has  been  otherwise  than  acceptable  to 
those  whom  I  have  undertaken  to  represent.  I  cannot,  therefore,  abandon  the 
position  to  which  I  have  been  called,  and  in  which  I  am  conscious  only  of  honest 
efforts  'to  maintain  and  advance  the  great  principles  upon  which  I  claimed  and 
secured  the  confidence  of  the  elector*  of  Manchester." 

The  Liberals  of  Rochdale  next  selected  Mr.  Edward  Miall, 
and  he  was  successfully  returned  at  the  general  election,  1852, 
by  a  majority  of  154,  in  opposition  to  Captain  A.  Ramsay,  a 
Conservative. 

Mr.  Disraeli  brought  forward  a  motion  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  on  the  llth  of  April,  to  the  effect  that  in  any  relief  to 
be  granted  by  the  omission  or  adjustment  of  taxation,  due  regard 
should  be  paid  to  the  distressed  condition  of  the  owners  and 
occupiers  of  land  in  the  United  Kingdom.  Mr.  Bright,  in 
opposing  the  motion,  remarked  : — 

"  Now,  let  me  ask  if  there  is  any  class  that  passes  so  triumphantly  through  every 
commercial  hurricane  and  disaster  as  the  class  of  landed  proprietors  does  ?  I  see 
that  the  candidate  at  Aylesbury  has  stated,  as  a  proof  of  the  distressed  condition  of 
the  landed  proprietors,  that  money  invested  in  land  only  returns  2J  per  cent.  But 
that  in  itself  is  a  proof  of  the  security  of  the  return  from  land,  and  that  it  is  not 
subjected  to  the  vicissitudes  to  which  other  property  is  liable.  There  are  some  in 
this  House  who  could  tell  a  different  tale  respecting  investments  of  another  charac- 
ter— investments,  for  instance,  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  during  the  last  four  years. 
They  could  tell  of  the  extraordinary  revulsion  which  has  taken  place  in  that 
time,  consequent  on  the  demand  for  iron  for  railway  purposes  having  declined. 
I  can  speak  of  my  own  trade,  although  I  cannot  confirm  the  view  taken  of  it  by  the 
noble  Lord,  the  member  for  Colchester.  Yet  I  can  state  that  a  very  large  portion  of 
that  trade  during  the  last  five  years,  when  there  were  three  failures  in  the  American 
cotton  crop— that  during  these  years  all  the  coarse  departments  of  the  trade  have 


1852.]  THE   FARMEBS.  'Ml 

been  of  the  most  unprofitable  character.  .  .  .  Undoubtedly,  however,  at  this 
moment  the  condition  of  the  tenant-fanner  is  one  which  eveiy  man  must  regard 
with  sympathy.  I  defy  any  one  to  say,  looking  to  the  course  which  I  and  my 
friends  have  pursued  as  Free-traders,  in  this  House,  that  we  have  ever  manifested 
any  want  of  sympathy  for  any  one  class  of  the  tax-payers  of  this  country.  At  least 
there  can  be  no  denial  of  the  assertion  that  we  have  always  advocated  diminished 
expenditure  and  diminished  taxation ;  and  that  we  have  urged  a  diminution  of 
taxation  in  that  particular  direction  which  would  have  alike  affected  all  classes, 
inasmuch  as  our  object  has  been  to  remove  taxes  from  articles  of  general  and 
universal  consumption,  where  the  farmer  would  have  obviously  benefited  not  less  than 
the  weaver.  But  the  farmers  are  in  an  unfortunate  position ;  they  are  the  victims  of 
a  vicious  system.  That,  however,  is  not  our  system.  It  is  the  system  of  hon.  gentle- 
men opposite.  They  created  it  for  their  own  purposes  in  1815,  and  they  maintained 
it  for  their  own  purposes  up  to  1846.  They  led  the  farmers  to  believe  that  there 
could  be  no  path  to  prosperity  but  through  the  county  members  and  the  House  of 
Commons.  I  for  one  should  be  very  sorry  to  be  connected  with  any  trade  or 
manufacture  if  I  had  no  reliance  but  on  the  members  for  Manchester.  I  should  be 
extremely  sorry  to  entrust  my  interests  either  to  the  impartiality  of  political  parties 
in  this  House,  or  to  its  intelligence  on  commercial  subjects.  The  unfortunate 
position  of  those  among  the  tenant-farmers  who  suffer  most,  consists  in  this — that 
they  notoriously  hold  more  land  than  they  have  capital  to  cultivate.  Their  case  is 
precisely  the  same  as  that  of  many  landowners,  who  own  extents  of  land  on  which 
they  cannot  pay  all  that  is  due.  All  this  is  very  sad.  If  landowners  buy  land  only 
to  obtain  political  influence,  they  are  on  the  road  to  ruin.  If  a  tenant-farmer  takes 
more  land  than  he  can  properly  cultivate  in  reference  to  his  capital,  he  is  also  on  the 
road  t»  ruin.  ...  I  have  now  stated,  in  detail,  what  I  regard  as  the  reasons  why 
the  proposition  of  the  hon.  gentleman  (Mr.  Disraeli)  would  be  of  no  value  if  it  were 
agreed  to.  It  can  only  serve  to  delude — not  the  owners  of  the  land,  for  they  under- 
stand all  these  tricks — but  the  occupying  farmers  throughout  the  country.  It  will 
serve  but  to  delude  these  men  into  a  belief  that  the  thing  which  is  really  intended  as 
a  measure  to  cement  a  party  in  Parliament,  is  intended  to  do  something  for  their 
benefit.  One  great  result  of  the  alteration  in  pur  commercial  system  with  regard  to 
corn  is,  I  hope,  this — it  has  not  come  yet,  but  it  is  in  process  of  coming  about^— that 
the  farmers  will  no  longer  conceive  themselves  to  be  a  class  having  special  privileges, 
special  rights,  and  special  claims  upon  the  House  of  Commons.  They  will  now 
know  that  their  only  chance  is  precisely  that  chance  which  all  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity enjoy — a  good  education  for  their  children  for  the  next  generation ;  and  for 
themselves  their  intelligence,  such  as  they  have,  and  their  industry,  such  as  they 
can  employ.  And  I  will  add,  especially,  the  more  they  make  themselves  independent 
of  their  landlords  as  respects  the  old  retainer  and  chieftain  theory,  the  more  they 
enable  themselves  to  make  bargains  with  their  landlords,  just  as  they  would  with 
other  persons  with  whom  they  do  business,  the  sooner  will  they  find  themselves  out 
of  their  present  undoubted  difficulties.  And  I  believe  in  my  conscience,  that  if  you 
talk  here  for  ever  of  agricultural  distress,  you  will  still  find  that  there  is  no  remedy 
which  it  is  the  power  of  Parliament  to  give.  The  only  possible  chance  for  the 
farmers  is  in  the  exercise  of  those  virtues  and  those  talents  by  which  the  rest  of  their 
countrymen  thrive ;  and  if  they  exercise  their  own  energies,  and  cultivate  the  quality 
of  self-reliance,  I  am  convinced  that  this  country,  with  the  finest  roads,  with  the 
best  markets,  and  with  a  favourable  climate,  will  be  found  to  triumph  not  only  in 
her  manufactures,  but  also  in  her  agriculture." 

The  motion  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  thirteen. 

Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Gibson  next  addressed  their  constituents 
in  the  Free-trade  Hall,  on  the  16th  of  May;  and  so  important 
were  their  utterances  regarded  at  the  time  that  representatives  of 
the  press  from  London  and  most  of  the  chief  towns  were  present 
in  larger  force  than  usual.  Mr.  George  Wilson  was  in  the 
chair,  and  the  hall  was  crowded.  Mr.  Bright,  on  rising,  was 
received  with  great  cheering;  and  as  soon  as  this  had  so  far 
subsided  as  to  allow  the  voice  of  any  one  to  be  heard  from  the 


288  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1861. 

platform,  the   hon.   member  began,  and  in  the  course  of  his 
speech  said : — 

"  Now  one  word  more  on  our  own  position,  not  as  connected  with  this  constitu- 
ency with  regard  to  the  election — for  I  tell  you  honestly  that,  notwithstanding  that 
there  is  not  a  man  in  England  that  has  a  higher  idea  of  the  exalted  position  of  any 
one  who,  at  all  worthy,  should  occupy  the  place  of  your  representative — yet  when  I 
speak  of  a  vote  in  Parliament  I  endeavour  to  shut  out  from  my  mind  any  idea  of 
controlling  influence  down  here  or  elsewhere.  (Cheers.)  I  am  most  happy  when  I 
can  to  agree  with  you,  but  I  think  there  is  a  higher,  loftier,  and  purer  standard  for  a 
representative  than  even  the  influence  of  those  whom  he  may  represent ;  and  that 
standard  is  his  own  intelligent,  conscientious  convictions  of  duty  on  the  question 
which  is  before  him.  (Great  cheering.)  Now  we  are  called  the  '  Manchester  Party,' 
and  our  policy  is  the  'Manchester  PoUcy,'  and  this  building,  I  suppose,  is  the  'School- 
room of  the  Manchester  School.'  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  Now  I  do  not  repudiate 
that  name  at  all.  I -think  it  is  an  honour  to  ourselves — an  honour  to  you — that  by 
your  own  intelligence,  your  sacrifices,  your  combination,  your  intrepidity,  you  have 
actually  marked  the  impression  of  your  mind  and  your  convictions  upon'  the  policy 
of  the  greatest  empire  of  the  globe.  (Great  cheering.)  We  have  principles,  and  we 
intend  to  stand  by  them.  ("Hear,  hear.")  Our  principles  are  not  rash — they  are  not 
unsound.  We  have  no  interest  in  public  misfortune.  Our  industry  thrives  in  peace. 
All  that  we  have  in  the  world  depends  upon  the  performance  and  success  of  whatever 
is  valuable  to  the  institutions  of  the  country.  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  future.  We 
have  not,  as  the  chosen  people  of  old  had,  the  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  the  pillar  of 
fire  by  night,  to  lead  us  through  the  wilderness  of  human  passion  and  human  error, 
but  He  who  vouchsafed  to  have  the  cloud  and  the  fire  has  not  left  us  forsaken.  We 
have  a  guide  not  less  sure,  a  light  not  less  clear.  We  have  before  us  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  justice  and  mercy  which  Christianity  has  taught  us  and  the  advantages 
of  philosophy  and  experience  have  alike  sanctioned.  Let  us  trust  these  prin- 
ciples. Let  us  believe  that  they  exist  for  ever  unchangeably  in  the  providence  of 
God ;  and  if  we  build  our  national  policy  upon  them,  we  may  rest  assured  that  we 
shall  do  all  that  lies  in  our  power  to  promote  that  which  is  good,  and  which  the 
patriotic  amongst  Englishmen  have  in  all  ages  panted  for — the  lasting  happiness  and 
prosperity  of  this  great  nation."  (Great  cheering.) 

Kossuth,  tfte  Hungarian  philanthropist,  visited  Manchester  on 
the  llth  November,  1851,  and  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day  a 
meeting  was  held  in  the  Free-trade  Hall  in  his  honour. 

"  We  are  here  especially  to  express  our  sympathy  for  a  great  and  noble  nation 
suffering  from  tyranny,  from  which  this  country  happily  has  been  for  genera- 
tions free,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  moving  the  address  to  the  distinguished  stranger. 
"We  are  here  to  express  our  admiration  for  a  most  distinguished  man,  one  of  the 
most  renowned  defenders  of  liberty  which  our  age  and  the  world  can  boast  of. 
(Cheers.)  I  look  upon  him  on  this  platform,  a  wanderer  and  an  exile  though  he  be, 
as  far  more  illustrious  to  our  eyes,  and  far  more  dear  to  our  hearts — (cheers) — than 
any  crowned  head  amongst  the  monarchs  of  Continental  Europe.  (Cheers.)  But 
there  are  men  who  say,  '  Why,  what  is  the  use  of  your  sympathy  if  you  have  no 
regiments  and  no  ships? '  Well,  I  shall  take  another  line  of  argument,  and  ask  you 
whether  there  be  any  force  in  opinion,  in  opinion  acting  upon  the  nation.  (Cheers.) 
Why,  let  me  ask  you,  where  are  you  assembled?  (Hear,  hear.)  Recollect  when 
this  hall  was  built — (cheers) — recollect  by  whom  it  was  built — (cheers) — recollect 
that  from  this  platform  and  this  hall  went  forth  the  voices  which  generated  opinion 
in  England,  which  concentrated  it,  which  gathered  it  little  by  little  until  it  became 
a  power  before  which  huge  majorities  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament  became  im- 
potent minorities — (cheers) — and  the  most  august  and  powerful  aristocracy  of  the 
world  had  to  succumb — (cheers)— and  finally,  through  that  opinion  in  this  country, 
we  struck  down  for  ever  the  most  gigantic  tyranny  that  was  ever  practised."  (Loud 
cheers.) 

In  1852  Earl  Aberdeen  did  not  care  to  replace  Lord  Palmer- 


1852.]  THE  MILITIA.  289 

ston  in  his  old  office  as  Foreign  Secretary,  but  appointed  him 
Home  Secretary.  Having-  been  debarred  from  the  pleasure  of 
bullying  despots,  he  worried  the  tyrants  of  the  street — the  cab- 
drivers.  Deprived  of  the  power  of  despatching  admirals  to 
bombard  the  capitals  of  the  refractory  sovereigns,  he  made  a  raid 
upon  the  smoky  chimneys  of  the  metropolis.  But  while  his 
hand  was  full  at  the  Home  Office  his  heart  was  at  the  Foreign 
Office.  The  cloud  that  had  been  for  many  years  gathering  was 
fast  overspreading  the  East,  and  the  minister  who  had  twice  sent 
the  British  fleet  to  the  entrance  of  the  Hellespont  fancied  that  he 
saw  the  time  coming  when  that  far-famed  gate,  like  the  Temple 
of  Janus,  shut  in  time  of  peace  and  opened  in  time  of  war,  would 
have  to  be  passed. 

Mr.  Bright,  in  discussing  the  Militia  Bill  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  on  the  3rd  of  May,  1^52,  pointed  out  that  to  get  the 
militia  into  their  clothes  would  take  as  long  as  to  get  the 
soldiers  to  the  coast.  In  his  boyhood  he  heard  a  great  deal  of 
the  reliance  that  would  be  placed  on  our  "  wooden  walls/'  and 
we  had  poets  in  any  mimber  to  sing : — 

"Britannia  needs  no  bulwark, 
No  towers  along  the  steep ; 
Her  tread  is  on  the  mountain  wave, 
Her  home  is  on  the  deep." 

Our  wooden  walls  and  our  navy  were  now  for  the  moment 
forgotten,  and  the  blundering,  miserable,  and  undisciplined  horde 
that  would  be  got  together  by  the  Militia  Bill  was  that  upon 
which  the  people  of  England  were  told  to  rely  in  time  of  appre- 
hension and  imminent  danger.  Was  it  not  a  lamentable  thing 
that  although  three  or  four  thousand  years  had  passed  since 
those  sculptured  marbles  were  first  wrought  which  were  to  be 
seen  in  the  British  Museum,  at  this  very  moment,  after  800 
years  of  Christianity  in  Europe,  and  most  of  that  period  in  this 
country,  we  were  engaged — and  not  engaged  reluctantly,  but 
many  of  us  as  though  it  were  our  sole  hope  and  occupation — in 
precisely  that  state  of  things  pourtrayed  on  those  ancient  monu- 
ments— armed  men,  horses,  chariots,  processions,  armaments — 
battles,  and  captives;  aye,  and  there  were  priests  now  who 
blessed  banners  like  the  Assyrians,  and  who  offered  up  thanks- 
givings to  God  for  slaughter.  Mr.  Bright  might  have  quoted 
with  effect  :— 

"  Ye  hypocrites,  are  these  your  pranks, 
To  murder  men  and  give  God  thanks  P 
Desist  for  shame,  and  go  no  further, 
For  God  receives  not  thanks  for  murder.*' 


290  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

Mr.  Bright,  like  the  rest  of  the  members  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  has  ever  protested  against  needless  wars,  and  regards 
the  military  as  men  who  are  born  only  to  devour  provisions  and 
render  no  service  to  society. 

Mr.  Bright  addressed  a  number  of  meetings  in  Manchester 
prior  to  the  general  election  in  July,  1852,  when  Mr.  George 
Loch  and  Captain  the  Hon.  Joseph  Denman  were  brought  out 
in  opposition  to  him  and  his  colleague.  The  nomination  took  place 
in  St.  Ann's  Square,  on  the  7th  of  July.  Mr.  R.  Barnes,  the 
mayor,  presided.  Alderman  Walker  nominated  the  Right  Hon. 
Thomas  Milner  Gibson.  Sir  E.  Armitage  was  the  seconder  of 
this  nomination.  Mr.  Mark  Philips  nominated  Mr.  John  Bright, 
and  Mr.  George  Wilson  seconded  it.  Mr.  Robert  Gardener 
nominated  Mr.  George  Loch.  Mr.  C.  E.  Cawley  was  the 
seconder.  Mr.  T.  Creig  nominated  Captain  the  Hon.  Joseph 
Denman.  Mr.  Stephen  Heelis  seconded  the  motion.  Mr.  John 
Bright  informed  the  electors  that  he  came  before  them  unchanged 
from  the  time  when  he  was  first  permitted  to  stand  there— 
unchanged  in  his  regard  for  commercial  freedom,  for  Parlia- 
mentary reform,  and  for  religious  freedom.  The  Mayor 
declared  that  the  show  of  hands  was  in  favour  of  the  Right 
Hon.  Thomas  Milner  Gibson  and  Mr.  Bright,  and  a  storm 
of  thrilling  cheers  followed  the  announcement.  The  day  of 
election  was  the  8th  July,  and  the  Right  Hon.  T.  Milner 
Gibson  and  Mr.  John  Bright  were  the  successful  candidates. 
The  official  return  showed  that  5,752  votes  had  been  tendered 
for  Mr.  Gibson,  5,475  for  Mr.  John  Bright,  4,360  for  Mr.  Loch, 
and  3,969  for  Captain  Denman. 

A  few  weeks  after,  the  Manchester  Free  Library  was 
inaugurated,  and  Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Charles  Dickens,  Mr.  W.  M. 
Thackeray,  Sir  E.  L.  Bulwer  Lytton.  Mr.  Charles  Knight,  and 
other  eminent  men  were  present.  Mr.  Bright,  in  his  speech, 
recommended,  to  young  men  especially,  the  study  of  works  of 
biography. 

"Unfortunately,"  he  said,  "it  is  a  class  of  reading  which  is  probably  accom- 

Elished  less  ably  and  satisfactorily,  but  still  there  are  in  this  library  scores,  probably 
undreds,  of  admirable  works  of  biography  which  you  may  read  with  the  greatest 
benefit,  and  I  may  say  for  myself  that  there  is  no  description  of  reading  from  which 
I  rise;  as  I  can  myself  discover,  more  improved,  than  when  I  rise  from  the  study  of 
the  biography  of  some  great  and  good  man."     (Cheers.) 

The  first  commercial  society  in  Ireland  rendered  public 
testimony  to  the  general  feeling  which  Mr.  Bright's  career  as  a 
politician  and  his  labours  in  the  cause  of  Free-trade  inspired 
throughout  the  community,  by  a  banquet  at  Belfast,  on  4th  of 
October^  1852.  About  250  gentlemen,  comprising  the  most 


1852.1  THE  JEW   BILL.  291 

respectable  portion  of  the  mercantile  classes  and  of  the  gentry  of 
the  city,  were  present.  Mr.  William  Grimshaw,  D.L.,  J.P., 
officiated  as  chairman.  Mr.  Bright,  in  a  lengthy  speech,  said : — 

"  I  have  been  in  your  country  on  this  occasion  for  about  a  month.  I  have  mixed 
with  all  classes,  and  I  have  observed  as  much  as  any  ordinary  man  could  observe 
within  the  same  time.  I  have  read  much  about  Ireland,  and  all  leads  me  to  say  that 
this  country  is  a  sorrowful  spectacle  before  the  world,  and  that  it  is  your  duty,  in 
this  industrious  town,  to  lead  the  way  in  the  improvement  of  your  native  country." 
(Cheers.) 

The  Irish  appreciated  Mr.  Bright's  sympathy  and  had  confidence 
in  his  assistance,  which  raised  the  flickering  light  of  hope  in 
their  minds. 

Mr.  Bright,  on  April  15th,  in  supporting  the  Bill  which  was 
in  favour  of  admitting  Jews  to  Parliament,  said  : — 

"  The  House  of  Commons  has  decided  in  favour  of  this  Bill.  Does  any  hon 
gentleman  deny  it  ?  If  the  Hoiise  of  Commons  represents  the  country,  the  countr  r 
is  in  favour  of  this  Bill.  There  is  another  estate  of  this  realm,  the  most  dignified  c'f 
all,  represented  in  this  House  by  the  gentlemen  who  sit  on  that  (the  Ministerial) 
bench ;  that  estate  of  the  realm  unites  cordially  with  the  House  of  Commons  and 
with  the  people  iu  this  Bill.  Fourteen  times  has  this  measure  been  carried  by 
large  majorities ;  repeatedly  has  it  been  sent  to  the  other  House,  and  each  time 
has  it  been  rejected,  and  on  some  occasions  rejected  in  a  manner  which  seemed 
to  indicate  contempt.  Now,  I  ask  the  noble  lord  the  member  for  the  City  of 
London  if  there  is  any  remedy  in  the  Constitution  for  this  state  of  things  ?  The 
noble  lord  has  the  opportunity  of  admitting  the  Jews  by  a  resolution  of  this 
House — he  had  a  precedent  of  the  most  conclusive  kind  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Pease ; 
and  although  the  law  officers  were  not  clear  upon  the  law  on  that  occasion,  still 
the  House  of  Commons,  having  once  established  a  precedent  of  that  nature,  any 
person  wishing  to  sustain  the  power  of  this  House,  and  of  one  great  branch  of 
the  Legislature,  would  have  done  wisely  to  have  maintained  the  precedent,  and 

to  have  relied  on  it  in  this  case Some  gentlemen  say,   '  How  can  you 

expect  the  House  of  Lords  to  pass  this  Bill,  when  there  is  no  ferment  in  the 
country  ? '  I  thought  noblemen  in  that  assembly  were  in  an  atmosphere  so  serene, 
that  though  disturbed  occasionally  by  the  contentions  of  prelates  and  the  disputa- 
tions of  rival  lawyers,  they  might  be  judged  to  be  in  that  one  place  on  the  earth 
'where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest.'  But  we  are 
told  there  is  no  ferment  in  the  country.  I  have  seen  ferments  in  this  country,  and 
many  others  have.  I  do  not  much  admire  them.  I  would  rather  see  the  Houses  of 
Legislature,  whether  the  one  or  the  other,  taking  these  questions  up  in  a  broad, 
philosophic,  generous  spirit,  and  discussing  and  settling  them  in  that  spirit,  than  that 
they  should  wait  until  there  is  a  ferment  in  the  country  approaching  to  confusion, 
and  then  surrender,  upon  terms  that  shall  be  humiliating  to  them,  prejudices  which, 
if  given  up  in  time,  might  have  been  forgotten  in  the  gratitude  and  the  applause  of 
Iheir  countrymen.  It  is  assumed,  and  properly  and  wisely,  that  you  will  got  no  fer- 
ment up  about  the  Jew  Bill.  I  have  no  objection  to  admit  that  the  Jews,  not  being 
Kreat  in  numbers,  and  not  free  from  some  disadvantage,  consequent  upon  that 
prejudice  so  prevalent  on  the  benches  opposite,  will  give  occasion  to  no  ferment 
before  which  these  benches  will  quail.  j[Oh,  oh !)  They  will  quail  soon  enough 
when  there  is  a  ferment.  (Oh,  oh  f)  If  that  is  doubted,  I  refer  you  to  the  history 
of  the  last  twenty-five  years  in  proof  of  what  I  say.  But  I  want  no  ferment.  I  want 
argument  and  sound  principles  of  legislation  to  prevail  within  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  not  the  fear  of  anything  that  may  take  place  outside." 


T  2 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

PEACE      AND      WAR. 

Suspicion  against  France — Dispute  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches — The 
breaking  out  of  the  Crimean  War — At  a  Peace  Meeting — Mr.  Bright's  Con- 
stituents— Banquet  at  the  Reform  Club — A  Scene  in  the  House  of  Commons— 
Mr.  Bright  on  War — His  Letter  to  Mr.  Absalom  Watkin,  of  Manchester — At  a 
Stormy  Meeting  of  his  Constituents — Powerful  Speech  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

FOE  many  years  the  war  party  in  this  country  kept  up  the 
cry  that  Louis  Napoleon  and  his  subjects  were  anxious  to  "  efface 
Waterloo/'  and  that  he  would  invade  our  shores  before  a  decla- 
ration of  war  of  any  kind  was  made ;  in  fact,  it  was  further 
urged  that  the  French  were  enemies  of  "  This  precious  stone  set 
in  the  silver  sea." 

The  proverbial  pride  and  porcupine  prejudices  of  England, 
which  always  bristle  up  with  mere  suspicion,  would  have  been 
allayed  at  this  time  by  a  better  acquaintance  with  the  French 
people,  and  if  between  the  two  nations  commercial  transactions 
had  been  freer.  As  it  was  the  peace  party  found  it  necessary  to 
get  up  demonstrations  to  counteract  the  exciting  influence,  and  a 
Conference  was  held  at  Manchester  in  the  Corn  Exchange,  on 
the  27th  of  January,  1853.  In  the  evening  a  meeting,  presided 
over  by  Mr.  George  Wilson,  was  held  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall. 
Mr.  Bright,  in  reference  to  the  fear  of  a  French  invasion, 
said  : — 

"  We  have  had  uneasiness,  and  unnecessary  preparations  for  war ;  the  tinder  is 
abroad  now,  the  train  is  laid :  it  wants  but  some  accident  to  excite  a  spark  to  set  off 
this  in  names.  Taxes  imposed — some  taxes  not  reduced — trade  disturbed — no  finan- 
cial reforms  in  the  coming  session — no  Reform  Bill ;  and  we  are  told  by  some  of  the 
writers  of  the  Government,  the  only  thing  now  to  be  looked  at  is  the  defenceless 
condition  of  the  country — (laughter) ;  and  if  war  should  arise — if  war  should  spring 
out  of  these  insane  proceedings — language  wholly  fails  me  to  describe  the  disastrous 
consequences  that  must  ensue.  I  draw  no  picture  of  blood  and  crime,  of  battles  by 
sea  and  land ;  they  are  common  to  every  war,  and  nature  shudders  at  the  enormities 
of  man ;  but  I  see  before  me  a  vast  commerce  collapsed,  a  mighty  industry  para- 
lysed, and  people  impoverished  and  exhausted  with  ever-increasing  burdens,  and 
a  gathering  discontent.  I  see  this  now  peaceful  land  torn  with  factions — our  now 
tranquil  population  suffering  and  ferocious — everything  good  quenched,  and  every- 
thing evil  stimulated  and  exalted.  I  see  sown,  as  it  were  before  my  eyes,  the  seeds 
of  internal  convulsion  and  of  rapid  national  decay ;  and  in  the  mournful  vision  which 
must  affect  the  sight  of  any  man  who  looks  forward  to  these  events  I  behold  this 
great  nation,  the  prolific  parent  of  half  the  future  world,  sunk  into  hopeless  ruin, 
the  victim  of  its  own  ignorance  and  credulity,  and  of  the  cowardice  and  the  Crimea 
of  its  rulers."  (Enthusiastic  cheers.) 

Fortunately  the  panic  blew  over,  but  the  credit  was  partly 


1853.  CRIMEAN   WAR   OPENS.  293 

due  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Cobden,  and  their  fol- 
lowers. Their  arguments  were  forcible,  and  pacified  the  nation. 
Vulgar  minds  cannot  comprehend  the  ideas  of  men  of  genius ; 
they  think  them  audacities  or  chimerical  innovations ;  but  they 
who  contribute  to  the  improvement  of  mankind  belong  to  but 
a  small  part  of  those  of  the  present  time — they  are  the  heritage 
of  after-years.  Honest  and  good  men  may  labour  in  their 
world  of  realities  in  a  circle  of  minute  duration — be  useful,  in- 
dustrious, and  virtuous  followers  in  a  beaten  track — content 
with  what  they  see,  and  thinking  the  world  precisely  as  it 
should  be  in  every  respect.  They,  however,  are  but  the  wheels 
of  society,  not  the  motive-power. 

A  meeting  of  the  influential  members  of  the  Liberal  party  of 
Manchester  and  district  was  held  on  the  3rd  of  February,  1853, 
in  the  Manchester  Town  Hall,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  counsel 
prior  to  the  meeting  of  Parliament.  Mr.  George  Wilson  was  in 
the  chair,  and  the  Right  Hon.  T.  Milner  Gibson,  Mr.  Henry 
Ashworth,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  addressed  the  meeting. 

"  "We  must  never  forget,"  observed  Mr.  Bright,  "  that  we  are  the  representatives 
of  industry,  of  numbers,  of  intelligence,  and  of  wealth ;  that  we  go  to  Parliament 
opposed  to  many  antiquated  blunders — (laughter) — to  many  hoary  abuses,  to  many 
selfish  and  mischievous  privileges.  "We  must  not  forget  that  everything  that  this 
society  has  gained  since  the  Revolution  of  1688,  and  especially  everything  that  we 
have  gained  of  late  years,  has  been  gained  in  the  manly  contest  of  the  industrial  and 
commercial  classes  against  the  aristocratic  and  privileged  classes  of  this  country. 
(Cheers.)  There  are  great  things  yet  to  be  done.  The  result  of  past  exertions  is 
most  encouraging.  There  lies  a  wide  field  before  us  for  future  exertion  and  for 
future  success ;  and  when  I  am  permitted  to  speak  here  or  elsewhere  without  the 
walls  of  Parliament,  I  would  speak  always  in  favour  of  what  I  believe  to  be  just, 
and  what  I  believe  to  be  profitable  and  advantageous  to  the  people ;  and  in  the 
House  of  Commons  I  do  not  assume  to  mere  Parliamentary  displays,  or  to  seek 
official  honours  and  emoluments ;  I  would  rather  aspire  to  be  a  faithful  representa- 
tive of  this  great  constituency — to  defend  all  its  rights  and  interests — (hear,  hear) — 
to  secure,  as  far  as  possible,  all  the  liberties  we  now  possess,  and  to  lay  up,  if  it  be 
possible,  for  our  children,  a  still  more  glorious  inheritance  of  freedom  than  our 
fathers  were  able  to  bequeath  to  us."  (Cheers.) 

Although  everything  at  this  time  promised  the  most  un- 
broken tranquillity  for  an  unlimited  length  of  time,  yet  only  a 
few  months  were  to  pass  before  England  was  to  be  involved  in 
the  bloodiest  and  most  disastrous  hostilities  known  since  the 
battle  of  Waterloo. 

As  the  end  of  the  year  1853  approached,  a  dispute  broke 
out  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  as  to  the  exclusive 
possession  of  the  holy  places  in  Palestine.  France  was 
ultimately  drawn  into  the  quarrel,  sympathising  and  allying 
herself  with  Turkey,  while  Russia  opposed  them.  A  mixed 
commission  was  formed  to  enquire  into  the  dispute,  and  a 
decision  was  given  in  favour  of  the  Greeks.  The  Turks,  how 


294  LIFE   AtfD   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [185a 

ever,  who  have  always  shown  a  spirit  of  intolerance,  were  dis- 
satisfied, and  received  the  support  of  France. 

Enervating  sloth,  profound  ignorance,  and  treachery  have 
been  insurmountable  barriers  between  this  decaying  realm  of 
Turkey  and  civilisation.  In  great  matters  of  policy,  as  well  as  in 
minor  ones,  the~Porte  has  always  insisted  on  its  own  way,  however 
inconsistent  with  the  views  of  its  allies,  and  will  bend  to  nothing 
but  the  influence  of  fear.  In  fact,  they  are  a  dark  spot  in  the 
civilised  world,  and  of  the  Turk  it  has  been  truly  said  "  That 
the  grass  grew  not  where  his  horse  had  trod/'' 

Another  attempt  was  made  to  settle  the  dispute  by  a  conference 
of  representatives  from  Austria,  England,  France,  and  Prussia,  and 
they  met  on  the  31st  of  July  at  Vienna,  and  agreed  to  a  Note. 
The  Czar  accepted  the  proposition,  but  afterwards  the  Sultan 
insisted  upon  modifications.  The  Czar  remained  firm,  and  refused 
to  comply  with  the  demands  of  Turkey.  England  and  France, 
seeing  every  prospect  of  a  rupture,  each  sent  two  men-of-war  to 
cruise  in  the  Dardanelles.  These  boats  arrived  on  the  14th  of 
September,  and  the  Sultan,  finding  that  he  had  also  awakened  the 
interest  of  England  in  his  cause,  declared  war  against  Russia  on 
the  5th  of  October,  and  the  three  powers  were  soon  in  battle 
array  against  Russia.  Bright  and  Cobden,  foreseeing  the  waste 
of  treasure,  and,  above  all,  the  sacrifice  of  precious  lives,  in 
defending  that  doomed  State,  set  about  using  their  influence  to 
prevent  such  a  calamity,  for  they  knew  by  experience  that  the 
result  would  be  all  but  fruitless.  They  tried  to  imbue  the  nation 
with  a  disgust  at  war,  and  inculcated  the  blessings  of  peace. 
They  expressed  a  strong  objection  against  an  expedition  to  fight 
Russia,  and  they  were  surprised  that  English  statesmen,  with  the 
lessons  of  history  before  their  eyes,  should  have  embraced  such  a 
rash  alliance,  which  they  characterised  as  self-delusions  of  states- 
men, and  showed  how  vainly  the  voice  of  the  past  may  speak 
amid  the  loud  appeals  and  temptations  of  the  present.  They 
well  knew  that  in  warfare  glory  and  want  went  hand  in  hand, 
and  that  the  splendid  reviews  of  troops,  with  their  bristling  arms, 
as  they  left  their  native  shores,  would  leave  behind  them  women 
in  lone  despair  and  poverty.  Lord  Palmerston's  foreign  policy, 
however,  had  infatuated  the  nation,  and  a  war  fever,  which 
had  been  fanned  by  some  of  his  colleagues,  amongst  the 
number  Lord  John  Russell,  raged  throughout  the  kingdom ;  so 
these  two  eminent  statesmen  "  travelled  with  the  multitude,"  and 
the  solemn  remonstrance  of  Bright  and  Cobden  was  overwhelmed 
by  the  usual  enthusiasm  for  "  England's  honour  and  glory/'" 
Time,  however,  has  shown  that  the  teaching  of  these  two  humble 


1853]  A   CONFEEENCB.  295 

orators  was  like  the  voice  of  truth,  which  is  powerful,  and  will 
prevail. 

Lord  Palmerston  resigned  office  under  the  pretence  of  disap- 
proving of  the  proposed  Reform  Bill,  but  the  real  cause  was 
that  he  had  his  own  ideas  upon  the  Eastern  Question,  ideas 
cherished  through  his  lifetime,  and  unless  he  could  see  some 
prospect  of  realising  them,  he  resolved  not  to  continue  in  office. 
His  speedy  return  to  his  old  post  proved  that  he  had  succeeded 
in  obtaining  some  kind  of  guarantee  as  to  the  future,  and  the 
entry  of  the  allied  fleet  into  the  Black  Sea,  about  three  weeks 
later,  in  reply  to  the  Sultan's  request  made  just  before  Lord 
Palmerston's  resignation,  enables  the  student  of  contemporary 
politics  to  form  a  shrewd  guess. 

The  day  after  the  declaration  of  war  Mr.  Bright  received  an 
invitation  to  a  preliminary  meeting  to  be  held  at  the  Manchester 
Athenaeum,  to  consider  the  propriety  of  holding  a  public  meet- 
ing in  Manchester  to  "denounce  the  conduct  of  Russia,  and  to 
encourage  the  British  Government  to  protect  their  interests  and 
preserve  the  integrity  of  Turkey."  Mr.  John  Bright,  in  replying 
by  letter,  made  the  declaration  : — 

"  I  cannot  conceive  anything  more  unwise  than  to  endeavour  to  excite  public 
opinion  to  drive  the  Government  into  war  with  Russia  in  defence  of  Turkey.  If 
such  a  war  should  be  undertaken,  I  believe  our  children  and  posterity  will  judge  us 
precisely  as  we  now  judge  those  who  involved  this  country  in  war  with  the 
American  colonies  and  with  Prance,  with  this  difference  only,  that  we  shall  be  held 
to  be  so  much  more  guilty,  inasmuch  as  having  had  the  blunders  and  crimes  of  our 
forefathers  to  warn  us  and  to  guide  us,  we  have  wilfully  shut  our  eyes  to  the  lesson 
which  their  unfortunate  policy  has  left  us.  Manchester,  and  the  two  millions  of 
people  in  this  district,  I  hope  and  believe,  regard  those  men  as  their  worst  enemies, 
who  by  any  act  at  this  moment  shall  weaken  the  efforts  of  Lord  Aberdeen  to  pre- 
serve the  peace  of  Europe.  If  men  would  let  their  reason  guide  them  rather  than 
their  feelings,  I  am  sure  the  pressure  of  public  influence  would  be  for  peace  and  not 
for  war.  War  will  not  save  Turkey  if  peace  cannot  save  her ;  but  war  will  brutalise 
our  people,  increase  our  taxes,  destroy  our  industry,  postpone  the  promised  Parlia- 
mentary reform,  it  may  be  for  many  years.  I  cannot  attend  your  meeting,  but  I 
Tenture  to  scud  you  some  of  my  views  on  this  Eastern  Question.  ' 

Notwithstanding  this  and  other  warnings,  we  were  drifting 
into  war  with  Russia. 

A  peace  conference  was  held  at  Edinburgh  on  the  18th 
October,  1853,  the  Lord  Provost  presiding.  At  the  evening 
meeting,  held  in  the  Music  Hall,  Mr.  R.  Cobden,  Mr.  Bright, 
Mr.  Elihu  Burritt,  and  others  of  the  peace  party  were  accom- 
panied on  the  platform  by  Sir  C.  Napier.  The  gallant  ad- 
miral's presence  excited  considerable  interest  and  curiosity, 
inasmuch  as  it  held  forth  the  prospect  of  "  a  scene  "  to  vary  the 
monotony  of  the  peace  demonstrations,  for  the  gallant  admiral 
had  declared,  at  a  meeting  previously  held,  that  it  was  his  inten- 
tion to  "  beard  the  Peace  Society  in  its  den."  Mr.  E.  Burritt 


296  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  |l85a 

first  addressed  the  meeting1,  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Cobden. 
Sir  C.  Napier  next  rose,  and  was  received  with  applause.  He 
said : — 

"  It  might  be,  perhaps,  extraordinary  that  a  naval  officer  and  an  admiral  should 
come  to  address  a  peace  meeting,  as  it  was  generally  supposed,  though  very  impro- 
perly, that  naval  and  military  men  were  always  for  war,  always  for  large  establish- 
ments, aud  that  they  had  no  idea  beyond  bloodshed.  (Hear,  hear.)  That  was  a 
most  erroneous  notion.  Nelson  was  not  fond  of  bloodshed  or  war,  as  they  would 
see  by  reading  his  private  letters,  in  which  he  was  always  longing  for  peace.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington  was  always  a  peace  man  after  the  wars  were  over — (laughter) 
— aud  he  succeeded  in  preserving  peace  for  many  years.  He  could  assure  them  that 
he  was  just  as  anxious  as  any  one  in  that  hall,  but  then  they  differed  as  to  the  means 
of  obtaining  and  preserving  peace.  (Hear,  hear.)  He  did  not  think  the  plan  of 
Mr.  Cobden  was  exactly  the  way  to  preserve  peace  in  this  country.  It  was  just 
twelve  years  since  he  was  lying  in  Besika  Bay,  on  apparently  the  same  peaceful 
terms  with  the  French  fleet  as  they  knew,  and  yet,  at  that  very  time,  while  they 
were  lying  cheek  by  jowl,  what  was  France  doing  but  meditating  the  destruction  of 
the  fleet  they  were  lying  alongside  of.  (Cheers.)  It  was  the  remonstrances  of  the 
Peace  Society  that  led  a  weak  Government  to  diminish  our  fleet  almost  to  nothing ; 
but  it  was  false  economy,  and  it  was  soon  found  necessary  to  increase  again  both 
'army  and  navy." 

Mr.  Bright  next  rose,  and  said  :  — 

"  Admiral  Napier  says  that  the  hon.  member  for  the  West  Biding,  who  can  do 
everything,  had  persuaded  a  feeble  Government  to  reduce  the  armaments  of  this 
country  to  'nothing.'  What  is  'nothing'  in  the  admiral's  estimation?  Fifteen 
millions  a-year !  Was  all  that  money  thrown  away  ?  We  have  it  in  the  estimates, 
we  pay  it  out  of  the  taxes — it  is  appropriated  by  Parliament,  it  sustains  your  dock- 
yards, pays  the  wages  of  your  men,  and  maintains  your  ships.  Fifteen  millions 
sterling  paid  in  the  very  year  when  the  admiral  says  that  my  hon.  friend  reduced 
the  armaments  of  the  country  to  nothing  !  But  take  the  sums  which  we  spent  for 
the  past  year  in  warlike  preparations— seventeen  millions,  and  the  interest  on  debt 
caused  by  war — twenty-eight  millions  sterling ;  and  it  amounts  to  £45,000,000. 
What  are  our  whole  exports  ?  Even  this  year,  far  the  largest  year  of  exports  we 
have  ever  known,  they  may  amount  to  £80,000,000.  Well,  then,  plant  some  one  at 
the  mouth  of  every  port  and  harbour  in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  let  him  take 
every  alternate  ship  that  leaves  your  rivers  and  your  harbours,  with  all  its  valuable 
cargo  011  board,  and  let  him  carry  it  off  as  tribute,  and  it  will  not  amount  to  the  cost 
that  you  pay  every  year  for  a  war,  that  fifty  years  ago  was  justified  as  much  as  it 
is  attempted  to  justify  this  impending  war,  and  for  the  preparations  which  you 
now  make  after  a  peace  which  has  lasted  for  thirty-eight  years.  Every  twenty 
years — in  a  nation's  life  nothing,  in  a  person's  life  something— every  twenty  years  a 
thousand  millions  sterling  out  of  the  industry  of  the  hard-working  people  of  this 
United  Kingdom  are  extorted,  appropriated,  and  expended  to  pay  for  that  unneces- 
sary and  unjust  war,  and  for  the  absurd  and  ruinous  expenditure  which  you  now 
incur.  A  thousand  millions  every  twenty  years !  Apply  a  thousand  millions,  not 
every  twenty  years,  but  for  one  period  of  twenty  years,  to  objects  of  good  in  this 
country,  and  it  would  be  rendered  more  like  a  paradise  than  anything  that  history 
records  of  man's  condition,  and  would  make  so  great  a  change  in  these  islands,  that 
a  man  having  seen  them  as  they  are  now,  and  seeing  them  as  they  might  then  be, 
would  not  recognise  them  as  the  same  country,  nor  our  population  as  the  same 
people.  But  what  do  we  expend  all  this  for  ?  Bear  in  mind  that  admirals,  and 
generals,  and  statesmen  defended  that  great  war,  and  that  your  newspapers,  with 
scarcely  an  exception,  were  in  favour  of  it,  and  denounced  and  ostracised  hundreds 
of  good  men  who  dared,  as  we  dare  now,  to  denounce  the  spirit  which  would  again 
lead  this  country  into  war.  We  went  to  war  that  France  should  not  choose  its  own 
Government ;  the  grand  conclusion  was  that  no  Bonaparte  should  sit  on  the  throne 
of  France ;  yet  France  has  all  along  been  changing  its  Government  from  that  time 
to  this,  and  now  we  find  ourselves  with  a  Bonaparte  on  the  throne  of  France,  and, 
for  anything  I  know  to  the  contrary,  likely  to  remain  there  a  good  while.  So  far, 
therefore,  for  the  calculations  of  our  forefathers,  and  for  the  results  of  that  enormous 


1853.]  WHAT    IS    WARP  297 

expenditure  which  they  have  saddled  upon  us If  you  want  war,  let  it  be 

for  something  that  has  at  least  the  features  of  grandeur  and  of  nobility  about  it,  but 
not  for  the  miserable,  decrepit,  moribund  Government  which  is  now  enthroned,  but 
which  cannot  last  long,  in  the  city  of  Constantinople.  But  Admiral  Napier  is 
alarmed  lest,  if  Russia  was  possessed  of  Turkey,  she  would,  somehow  or  other,  em- 
brace all  Europe — that  we  all  should  be  in  the  embrace  of  the  Bear — and  we  know 
very  well  what  that  is.  I  believe  that  is  all  a  vague  and  imaginary  danger ;  and  I 
am  not  for  going  to  war  for  imaginary  dangers.  War  is  much  too  serious  a  matter.  I 
recollect  when  France  endeavoured  to  lay  hold  on  Algeria,  it  was  said  that  the 
Mediterranean  was  about  to  become  a  French  lake.  I  do  not  believe  that  France  is 
a  bit  more  powerful  in  possessing  it.  It  requires  100,000  French  soldiers  to  main- 
tain Algeria  ;  and  if  a  balance-sheet  could  be  shown  of  what  Algeria  has  cost  France, 
and  what  France  has  gained  from  it,  I  believe  you  would  have  no  difficulty  what- 
ever in  discovering  the  reason  why  the  French  finances  show  a  deficit,  and  why  there 
is  a  rumour  that  another  French  loan  is  about  to  be  created.  But  they  tell  us  that 
if  Russia  gets  to  Constantinople,  Englishmen  will  not  be  able  to  get  to  India  by  the 
overland  journey.  Mehemet  Ali,  even  when  Admiral  Napier  was  battering  down 
his  towns,  did  not  interfere  with  the  carriage  of  our  mails  through  his  territory. 
We  bring  our  overland  mails  at  present  partly  through  Austria,  and  partly  through 
France,  and  the  mails  from  Canada  pass  through  the  United  States ;  and  though  I 
do  not  think  there  is  the  remotest  possibility  or  probability  of  anything  of  the  kind 
happening,  yet  I  do  not  think  that,  in  the  event  of  war  with  these  countries,  we 
should  have  our  mails  stopped  or  our  persons  arrested  in  passing  through  these 
countries.  At  any  rate,  it  would  be  a  much  more  definite  danger  that  would  drive 
me  to  incur  the  ruin,  guilt,  and  suffering  of  war.  But  they  tell  us,  further,  that 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  would  get  India.  That  is  a  still  more  remote  contingency. 
If  I  were  asked  as  to  the  probabilities  of  it,  I  should  say  that,  judging  from  our 
past  and  present  policy  in  Asia,  we  are  more  likely  to  invade  Russia  from  India  than 
Russia  is  to  invade  us  in  India.  The  policy  we  pursue  in  Asia  is  much  more  aggres- 
sive, aggrandising,  and  warlike  than  any  that  Russia  has  pursued  or  threatened 
during  our  time.  But  it  is  just  possible  that  Russia  may  be  more  powerful  by 
acquiring  Turkey.  I  give  the  admiral  the  benefit  of  that  admission.  But  I  should 
like  to  ask  whether,  even  if  that  be  true,  it  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  our  going  to 
war,  and  entering  on  what  perhaps  may  be  a  long,  ruinous,  and  sanguinary  struggle, 
with  a  powerful  empire  like  Russia  ?  What  is  war  ?  I  believe  that  half  the  people 
that  talk  about  war  have  not  the  slightest  idea  of  .what  it  is.  In  a  short  sentence  it 
may  be  summed  up  to  be  the  combination  and  concentration  of  all  the  horrors, 
atrocities,  crimes,  and  sufferings  of  which  human  nature  on  this  globe  is  capable. 
But  what  is  even  a  rumour  of  war  ?  Is  there  anybody  here  who  has  anything  in  the 
funds,  or  who  is  the  owner  of  any  railway  stock,  or  anybody  who  has  a  large  stock 
of  raw  material  or  manufactured  goods  ?  Thefunds  have  recently  gone  down  10  per 
cent.  I  do  not  say  that  the  fall  is  all  on  account  of  this  danger  of  war,  but  a  great 
proportion  of  it  undoubtedly  is.  A  fall  of  10  per  cent,  in  the  funds  is  nearly 
£80,000,000  sterling  of  value,  and  railway  stock  having  gone  down  20  per  cent, 
makes  a  difference'  of  £60,000,000  in  the  value  of  the  railway  property  of  this 
country.  Add  the  two — £140,000,000— and  take  the  diminished  prosperity  and  value 
of  manufactures  of  all  kinds  during  the  last  few  months,  and  you  will  understand  the 
actual  loss  to  the  country  now  if  you  put  it  down  at  £200,000,000  sterling.  But 
that  is  merely  a  rumour  of  war.  That  is  war  a  long  way  oil — the  small  cloud,  no 
bigger  than  a  man's  hand — what  will  it  be  if  it  comes  nearer  and  becomes  a  fact  ? 
And  surely  sane  men  ought  to  consider  whether  the  case  is  a  good  one,  the  ground 
fair,  the  necessity  clear,  before  they  drag  a  nation  of  nearly  30,000,000  of  people 
into  a  long  and  bloody  struggle  for  a  decrepit  and  tottering  empire,  which  all  the 
nations  in  Europe  cannot  long  sustain.  And,  mind,  war  now  would  take  a  different 
aspect  from  what  it  did  formerly.  It  is  not  only  that  you  send  out  men  who  submit 
to  be  slaughtered,  and  that  you  pay  a  large  amount  of  taxes  —the  amount  of  taxes 
would  bo  but  a  feeble  indication  of  what  you  would  suffer.  Our  trade  is  now  much 
more  extensive  than  it  was ;  our  commerce  is  more  expanded,  our  undertakings  are 
more  vast,  and  war  will  find  you  all  out  at  home  by  withering  up  the  resources  of 
the  prosperity  enjoyed  by  the  middle  and  working  classes  of  the  country.  You  would 
find  that  war  in  1853  would  be  infinitely  more  perilous  and  destructive  to  our 
country  than  it  has  ever  yet  been  at  any  former  period  of  our  history.  There  is 
another  question  which  comes  home  to  my  mind  with  a  gravity  and  seriousness 
which  I  can  scarcely  hope  to  communicate  to  you.  You  who  lived  during  the  period 
lS16to  1822  may  remember  that  this  country  was  probably  neveriuamon! 


298  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1853. 

uneasy  position.  The  sufferings  of  the  working  classes  were  beyond  description,  and 
the  difficulties,  and  struggles,  and  bankruptcies  of  the  middle  classes  were  such  as 
few  persons  have  a  just  idea  of.  There  was  scarcely  a  year  in  which  there  was  not 
an  incipient  insurrection  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  arising  from  the  sufferings 
which  the  working  classes  endured.  You  know  very  well  that  the  Government  of 
the  day  employed  spies  to  create  plots,  and  to  get  ignorant  men  to  combine  to  take 
unlawful  oaths ;  and  you  know  that  in  the  town  of  Stirling  two  men  who,  but  for 
this  diabolical  agency,  might  have  lived  good  and  honest  citizens,  paid  the  penalty  of 
their  lives  for  their  connection  with  unlawful  combinations  of  this  kind.  Well,  if 
you  go  into  war  now  you  will  have  more  banners  to  decorate  ypur  cathedrals  and 
churches.  Englishmen  will  fight  now  as  well  as  they  ever  did,  and  there  is  ample 
power  to  back  them,  if  the  country  can  be  but  sufficiently  excited  and  deluded. 
You  may  raise  up  great  generals.  You  may  have  another  Wellington,  and  another 
Nelson  too;  for  this  country  can  grow  men  capable  for  every  enterprise.  Then 
there  may  be  titles,  and  pensions,  and  marble  monuments  to  eternise  the  men  who 
have  thus  become  great;  but  what  becomes  of  you,  and  your  country,  and  your 
children  ?  For  there  is  more  than  this  in  store.  That  seven  years  to  which  I  have 
referred  was  a  period  dangerous  to  the  existence  of  Government  in  this  country,  for 
the  whole  substratum,  the  whole  foundations  of  society,  were  discontented,  suffering 
intolerable  evils,  and  hostile  in  the  bitterest  degree  to  the  institutions  and  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  country.  Precisely  the  same  things  will  come  again.  Rely  on  it,  that 
injustice  of  any  kind,  be  it  bad  laws,  or  be  it  a  bloody,  unjust,  and  unnecessary  war, 
of  necessity  creates  perils  to  every  institution  in  the  country.  If  the  Corn-law  had 
continued,  if  it  had  been  impossible,  by  peaceful  agitation,  to  abolish  it,  the 
monarchy  itself  would  not  have  survived  the  ruin  and  disaster  that  it  must  have 
wrought.  And  if  you  go  into  a  war  now,  with  a  doubled  population,  with  a  vast 
commerce,  with  extended  credit,  and  a  wider  diffusion  of  partial  education  among 
the  people,  let  there  ever  come  a  time  like  the  period  between  1815  and  1822, 
when  the  whole  basis  of  society  is  upheaving  with  a  sense  of  intolerable  suffering,  I 
ask  you  how  many  years'  purchase  would  you  give  even  for  the  venerable  and  mild 
monarchy  under  which  you  have  the  happiness  to  live  ?  I  confess  when  I  think  of 
the  tremendous  perils  into  which  unthinking  men — men  who  do  not  intend  to  fight 
themselves — are  willing  to  drag  or  to  hurry  this  country,  I  am  amazed  how  they 
can  trifle  with  interests  so  vast,  and  consequences  so  much  beyond  their  calculation. 
But,  speaking  here  in  Edinburgh  to  such  an  audience — an  audience  probably  for  its 
numbers  as  intelligent  and  as  influential  as  ever  was  assembled  within  the  walls  of 
any  hall  in  this  kingdom — I  think  I  may  put  before  you  higher  considerations  even 
than  those  of  property  and  the  institutions  of  your  country.  I  may  remind  you  of 
duties  more  solemn,  and  of  obligations  more  imperative.  You  profess  to  be  a 
Christian  nation.  You  make  it  your  boast  even — though  boasting  is  somewhat  out 
of  place  in  such  questions—  you  make  it  your  boast  that  you  are  a  Protestant  people, 
and  that  you  draw  your  rule  of  doctrine  and  practice,  as  from  a  well  pure  and  un- 
defiled,  from  the  living  oracles  of  God,  and  from  the  direct  revelation  of  the 
Omnipotent.  You  have  even  conceived  the  magnificent  project  of  illuminating  the 
whole  earth,  even  to  its  remotest  and  darkest  recesses,  by  the  dissemination  of  the 
volume  of  the  New  Testament,  in  whose  every  page  are  written  for  ever  the  words 
of  peace.  Within  the  limits  of  this  island  alone,  on  every  Sabbath,  20,000,  yes,  far 
more  than  20,000  temples  are  thrown  open,  in  which  devout  men  and  women 
assemble  that  they  may  worship  Him  who  is  the  'Prince  of  Peace.'  Is  this  a 
reality  ?  or  is  your  Christianity  a  romance  ?  is  your  profession  a  dream  ?  No,  I  am 
sure  that  your  Christianity  is  not  a  romance,  and  I  am  equally  sure  that  your  pro- 
fession is  not  a  dream.  It  is  because  I  believe  this  that  I  appeal  to  you  with  con- 
fidence, and  that  I  have  hope  and  faith  in  the  future.  I  believe  that  we  shall  see, 
and  at  no  veiy  distant  time,  sound  economic  principles  spreading  much  more  widely 
amongst  the  people ;  a  sense  of  justice  growing  up  in  a  soil  which  hitherto  has  been 
deemed  unfruitful ;  and,  what  will  be  better  than  all — the  churches  of  the  United 
Kingdom — the  churches  of  Britain  awaking,  as  it  were,  from  their  slumbers,  and 
girding  up  their  loins  to  more  glorious  work,  when  they  shall  not  only  accept  and 
believe  in  the  prophecy,  but  labour  earnestly  for  its  fulfilment,  that  there  shall  come 
a  time — a  blessed  time— a  time  which  shall  last  for  ever — when  'nation  shall  not  lift 
up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more.' "  (Cheers.) 

The  resolution  in  favour  of  the  object  of  the  meeting  was 
carried  by  an  overwhelming  number. 


1854.J  UNPOPULARITY.  299 

The  majority  of  the  newspapers  poured  forth  a  vast 
amount  of  invective  and  ridicule  on  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr. 
Cobden,  contending  that  their  peace  principles  were  more 
likely  to  breed  wars  than  prevent  them.  The  plaudits  which, 
but  a  few  short  years  before,  had  followed  in  the  wake  of 
Mr.  Bright  wherever  he  went,  were  now  changed  into  angry 
shouts  against  him,  and  a  life  which  had  been  devoted  in  the 
cause  of  his  country  became  embittered  by  reasonless  in- 
gratitude. Strange  fate,  to  be  an  unpopular  patriot  and  a 
suspected  enemy ;  yet  such  was  the  destiny  which  he  alternately 
encountered,  and  which  in  each  event  he  met  with  the  honest 
intrepidity  of  a  man  equally  disdainful. 

"  A  patriot's  even  course  he  steered, 
'Mid  faction's  wildest  storms  unmoved." 

No  man  was  more  bitterly  assailed  by  the  slanders  of  public 
men  who  administered  to  the  bad  passions  of  society,  and  by 
the  horde  that  yelled  in  the  country's  ears  the  danger  of  the 
nation  purely  for  the  sake  of  the  emoluments  that  they  expected 
to  win.  But  all  these  he  despised.  He  knew  that  slander  was 
not  argument,  and  that  obloquy  and  obscurity  awaited  the 
slanderers  in  the  natural  order  of  events.  What  he  thought 
he  dared  to  do ;  what  he  could  advocate  conscientiously  from 
that  he  never  flinched.  He  has  no  faith  in  the  men  who  believe 
everything,  subscribe  to  everything,  and  vote  for  everything. 
Often  he  has  not  been  comprehended,  because  men  out  of  the 
common  level  rarely  are.  He  endeavoured  to  heal  the  dispute 
between  England  and  Russia,  and  to  pour  balm  where  ministerial 
mismanagement  had  been  insidiously  lacerating. 

An  important  meeting  of  Liberals  was  held  at  the  "Albion" 
Hotel,  Manchester,  on  the  24th  of  January,  1854,  to  confer  on 
the  subject  of  the  Government  Bill  for  the  improvement  of 
the  representation  of  the  people,  and  on  other  questions.  Mr. 
G.  Wilson  presided,  and  the  chief  speakers  were  the  Right 
Hon.  T.  Milner  Gibson,  Mr.  R.  Cobden,  and  John  Bright. 

"There  is  great  excitement,  and  we  know  that,"  observed  Mr.  Bright,  "but 
notwithstanding  that  there  is  this  excitement,  we  believe  in  our  consciences  the 
visws  we  have  laid  before  you  are  true;  and  doing  so,  what  could  be  more 
contemptible  than,  with  a  view  of  aiding  ourselves  by  getting  upon  the  wave  of 
temporary  popularity,  to  add  to  the  great  crime  which  some  men  are  committing 
in  leading  their  country  in  a  most  pernicious  and  destructive  course.  We  are 
not  the  war  party,  we  are  the  peace  party — (hear,  hear) — but  we  claim  to  be 
not  less  patriotic  than  the  noisiest  of  those  reckless  and  clamorous  advocates  of 
war.  (Hear,  hear.)  We  shall  be  called  unpatriotic.  Why,  I  love  my  country 
as  much  as  any  one  of  them.  I  have  as  much  interest  in  the  country  as  any 
man  can  have,  and  the  interest  of  what  property  he  may  have,  of  bis  wile,  of  his 
children,  of  his  hopes,  of  his  future.  What  we  wish  is  that  our  country  should 
adopt  a  high  standard  of  national  morality  —  (hear,  hear,  and  cheers)  —  which 


300  LIFE   AND  TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (1854 

after  all  is  the  best  result  of  the  best  statesmanship.  (Renewed  applause.)  I 
want  to  see  her  power  supported  upon  the  virtues  of  her  children.  I  would  see 
her  policy  directed  by  honest  and  wise  statesmen.  Though  I  oppose  this  clamour, 
yet  I  can  profoundly  pray  this  country  may  ride  secure  in  her  majesty,  greatness, 
and  goodness,  unharmed  by  the  violence  of  faction  and  unimpaired  by  the  storms 
of  time."  (Great  cheers.) 

All  this  time  the  Peace  Society  used  their  best  exertions  to 
prevent  the  war.  They  sent  a  deputation  to  the  Czar, 
consisting  of  Mr.  Henry  Pease,  of  Darlington,  Mr.  Joseph 
Sturge,  of  Birmingham,  and  Mr.  Robert  Charlton,  of  Bristol. 
These  gentlemen  arriving  at  St.  Petersburg  on  the  10th  of 
February,  had  an  interview  with  the  Emperor,  who  gave  them  a 
kind  reception,  and  introduced  them  to  the  Empress.  He  de- 
clared to  them  that  he  was  anxious  to  maintain  coi'dial  relations 
with  England,  and  that  it  would  not  be  his  fault  if  it  became 
his  foe.  He  pressed  them  to  prolong  their  stay  and  visit 
Moscow,  and  parted  with  them  in  a  kindly  spirit. 

A  meeting  of  the  chairmen,  vice-chairmen,  and  other 
members  of  Messrs.  Gibson  and  Bright's  election  committee 
was  held  at  the  League  rooms,  Newall's  Buildings,  Man- 
chester, on  the  27th  of  February,  for  the  purpose  of  considering 
the  provisions  of  Lord  John  Russell's  new  Reform  Bill,  then 
before  Parliament.  Mr.  John  Bright  expressed  the  opinion 
that  it  would  be  impossible  throughout  the  kingdom  to  get 
any  constituency  whatever,  or  any  popular  meeting  whatever,, 
to  pass  resolutions  in  favour  of  the  Bill : — 

"And  I  declare  honestly,"  he  added,  " that  consistently  with  the  fealty  I  owe  to 
the  Liberal  electors  of  Manchester,  and  the  Liberal  party  with  whom  I  have 
been  connected,  I  have  no  wish  whatever  to  see  that  Bill  passed  into  law ;  and 
if  the  minority  scheme  should  be  in  it  when  we  come  to  the  third  reading  of 
the  Bill,  nothing  whatever  shall  induce  me  to  give  my  support  to  a  measure 
involving  a  scheme  which,  I  believe,  is  destructive  of  all  sound  principles  of 
representation,  and  is  calculated  not  to  place  us  in  a  better  position,  but  to 
hand  us  over  bound  more  than  we  have  been  before  to  the  territorial  proprietors 
in  this  country."  (Hear,  hear.) 

The  Bill  was  withdrawn  in  April  of  the  same  year. 

The  Reform  Club  entertained  Sir  C.  Napier  at  a  banquet, 
who,  in  responding  to  the  toast  of  his  health,  remarked,  "I 
suppose  we  are  very  nearly  at  war,  and  probably  when  I  get  into 
the  Baltic,  I'll  have  an  opportunity  of  declaring  war."  The 
First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  Sir  James  Graham,  was  present ; 
and  he  added,  "  My  gallant  friend  says,  when  he  goes  into  the 
Baltic  he  will  declare  war.  I,  as  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty, 
give  him  my  free  consent  to  do  so."  Lord  Palmerston  presided 
over  this  convivial  gathering,  at  which  levity  and  monstrous 
joy  were  displayed ;  and  where  "  folly  clapped  her  hands,  and 
•\\  issrlom  stared/' 


1854.]  SCENE   IN   THE   HOUSE.  301 

Mr.  Bright,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  13th  of  March, 
commented  on  the  coarse  after-dinner  jokes  of  Sir  Charles  Napier 
and  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  by  observing  : — 

"That  he  would  say  of  Sir  Charies  Napier  that  his  speech  was  the  best  at  the 
dinner ;  that  it  was  a  speech  that  was  not  unbecoming  the  position  in  which  he  was 
placed.  He  would  say  nothing  of  the  appointment  further  than  this,  that  it  appeared 
now  to  be  a  maxim  of  Government  that  a  man  did  not  come  to  maturity  until  he 
was  seventy  years  of  age.  The  language  of  Sir  C.  Napier  was,  '  I  cannot  say  we 
are  at  war,  because  we  are  still  at  peace.'  (Great  laughter.)  One  would  suppose 
there  was  nothing  so  funny  as  the  whole  matter  on  which  those  gentlemen  were 
assembled.  Sir  Charles  Napier  went  on  to  say,  '  when  I  get  into  the  Baltic  I  shall 
have  the  opportunity  of  declaring  war.'  (Cheers  and  laughter,  and  cries  of  '  Bravo, 
Charley.')  It  was  in  reference  to  that  that  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  said, 
'  My  gallant  friend  says  "  when  he  gets  into  the  Baltic  he  will  declare  war."  I,  as 
First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  give  him  my  free  consent  to  do  so.'  (Loud  cheers.) 
Now,  suppose  this  had  been  said  before  Admiral  Dundas  entered  the  Black  Sea,  it 
would  have  been  as  proper  to  have  said  it  then  as  now.  They  might  be  at  war 
when  Sir  Charles  Napier  got  into  the  Baltic ;  but  could  any  one  excuse  the  indis- 
cretion of  the  right  hon.  viscount  ?  The  question  he  was  going  to  ask  the  right  hon. 
viscount,  if  the  hon.  member  for  Roscommon  had  not  put  it  in  other  words,  was 
simply  this,  whether  the  right  hon.  viscount  had  the  sanction  of  the  Cabinet  for  the 
language  he  used,  and  whether  he  spoke  with  the  authority  of  his  Sovereign.  They 
were  sending  25,000  men  to  the  other  side  of  Europe,  and  25,000  British  homes  at 
this  moment  were  filled  with  the  deepest  anxiety — fear  which  might  be  alternating 
with  hope ;  and  they  knew  that  before  the  heat  of  summer  was  past  they  might 
have  news  from  the  swamps  of  the  Danube — news  of  the  indiscriminate  slaughter 
of  the  battle-field— which  might  strike  hundreds  of  people  in  this  country  dumb 
with  agony  and  despair.  He  wanted  to  know,  then,  whether  the  jokes  and  stories 
of  the  noble  lord  were  becoming  at  a  time  like  this  ?  He  had  read  the  proceedings 
of  that  banquet  with  pain  and  humiliation.  The  reckless  levity  that  was  displayed 
was,  in  his  opinion,  discreditable  in  the  last  degree  to  the  great  and  responsible 
statesman  of  a  civilised  and  Christian  nation." 

Lord  Palmerston  rose,  and  said  : — 
"  If  the  hon.  and  reverend  gentleman  " — (laughter) 

Mr.  Cobden  interrupted  the  noble  lord  by  saying  : — 

"I  rise  to  order.  The  noble  lord  I  believe  has  made  use  of  an  epithet  which  is 
not  justified  by  the  rules  of  this  House.  I  believe,  sir,  I  shall  not  misinterpret  him 
when  I  say  that  the  epithet  was  flippant  and  undeserved." 

Lord  Palmerston,  irritated,  replied  : — 

"Well,  we  will  not  quarrel  about  words.  I  was  going  to  say  that  the  hon. 
gentleman  has  been  pleased  to  advert  to  the  circumstances  of  my  being  in  the  chair 
on  the  occasion  referred  to,  and  has  been  kind  enough  to  express  an  opinion  as  to 
my  conduct  in  the  chair.  I  feel  it  right  to  inform  the  hon.  gentleman  that  any 
opinion  he  may  entertain  of  me  is  to  me  a  matter  of  perfect  indifference  and  con- 
tempt, and  that  I  shall  in  no  way  be  influenced  by  anything  the  hoii.  gentleman 
may  say." 

A  man  seldom  surcharges  a  repartee  with  such  belaboured 
bitterness  when  indifferent  to  such  a  reproof,  and  it  was  quite 
evident  that  Mr.  Bright  had  thoroughly  blunted  the  noble  lord's 
wit,  whose  unseemly  remarks  and  exhibition  of  temper  were  not 
countenanced  by  the  members  present. 

Lord  Macaulay  was  present,  and  the  remarks  made  by  Lord 


302  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OP  JOHN  BBIGHT.  [1854. 

Palmerston  sank  him  in  the  estimation  of  the  illustrious  his- 
torian, who  had  for  years  regarded  him  as  no  mean  statesman, 
and  he  thus  expressed  his  opinions  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  : — 

"  I  went  to  the  House  on  Monday,  but  for  any  pleasure  I  got  I  might  as  well 
have  stayed  away.  I  heard  Bright  say  everything  that  I  thought ;  and  I  heard 
Palmerston  and  Graham  expose  themselves  lamentably.  Palmerston' s  want  of 
temper,  judgment,  and  good  breeding  was  almost  incredible.  He  did  himself 
more  harm  in  three  minutes  than  all  his  enemies  and  detractors  throughout  the 
world  would  have  been  able  to  do  him  in  twenty  years.  I  came  home  quite 
dispirited." 

The  Prince  Consort,  in  writing  to  his  friend,  Baron  Stock- 
mar,  at  this  time,  stated  that  the  speeches  of  Napier  and  others 
at  the  dinner  at  the  Reform  Club,  where  Palmerston  presided, 
"  were  scandalous  and  vulgar." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  diet  plays  no  mean  part  in  the 
management  of  state  affairs.  If  the  gallant  admiral's  and  the 
famous  statesman's  bellicose  dispositions  could  have  been 
averted  by  a  due  course  of  regimen,  their  bodies  preserved  in 
that  condition  in  which  they  could  best  promote  the  welfare 
of  the  state  committed  to  their  charge,  peccant  humours 
purged  away,  bilious  and  melancholic  vapours  kept  from 
"  ascending/'  as  Falstaff  has  it,  "  to  the  brain/'  the  peace  of 
Europe  might  have  been  left  undisturbed,  and  millions  of 
treasure  been  saved,  as  well  as  thousands  of  lives.  Mr. 
Pitt  uniformly  prepared  himself  for  great  debates  by  eating 
highly  seasoned  beefsteaks,  and  we  know  into  how  many  cam- 
paigns he  plunged  the  country;  but  even  he  was  disgusted 
with  the  gasconade  and  bravado  displayed  by  General  Wolfe 
in  his  presence  before  he  left  his  native  shores  for  the  last 
time.  Wolfe  on  that  occasion,  we  are  told,  drew  his  sword ;  he 
rapped  the  table  with  it ;  he  flourished  it  round  the  room ;  he 
talked  of  the  mighty  things  which  the  sword  was  to  achieve. 
The  two  ministers  sat  aghast  at  an  exhibition  so  unusual  from 
any  man  of  real  sense  and  real  spirit.  And  when  at  last 
Wolfe  had  taken  his  leave,  and  his  carriage  was  heard  to  roll 
from  the  door,  Pitt  seemed  for  a  moment  shaken  in  the  high 
opinion  which  his  deliberate  judgment  had  formed  of  Wolfe  ;  he 
lifted  up  his  eyes  and  arms,  and  exclaimed  to  Lord  Temple : 
"  Good  God !  that  I  should  have  entrusted  the  fate  of  the 
country  and  of  the  administration  to  such  hands." 

Upon  the  Royal  Message  to  Parliament,  on  the  31st  of 
March,  announcing  the  commencement  of  the  war,  Mr.  Bright 
delivered  a  lengthy  speech  : — 

"  With  regard  to  trade,  I  can  speak  with  some  authority  as  to  the  state  of  things 
in  Lancashire.  The  Bussian  trade  is  not  only  at  an  end,  but  it  is  made  an  offence 


1854.]  WAR.  308 

against  the  law  to  deal  with  any  of  our  customers  in  Russia.  The  German  trade  is 
most  injuriously  affected  by  the  uncertainty  which  prevails  on  the  continent 
of  Europe.  The  Levant  trade,  a  very  important  branch,  is  almost  extinguished  in 
the  present  state  of  affairs  in  Greece,  Turkey  in  Europe,  and  Syria.  All  property  in 
trade  is  diminishing  in  value,  whilst  its  burdens  are  increasing.  The  funds  have 
fallen  in  value  to  the  amount  of  about  £120,000,000  sterling,  and  railway  property  is 
quoted  at  about  £80,000,000  less  than  was  the  case  a  year  ago.  I  do  not  pretend 
to  ask  the  hon.  member  for  Aylesbury  (Mr.  Layard)  to  put  these  losses,  these  great 
destructions  of  property,  against  the  satisfaction  he  feels  at  the  'triumphant 
position '  at  which  we  have  arrived.  He  may  content  himself  with  the  dream  that 
we  are  supporting  the  '  integrity  and  independence '  of  Turkey,  though  I  doubt 
whether  bringing  three  foreign  armies  on  her  soil,  raising  insurrections  in  her 
provinces,  and  hopelessly  exhausting  her  finances,  is  a  rational  mode  of  maintaining 
her  as  an  independent  power.  But  we  are  sending  out  30,000  troops  to  Turkey, 
and  in  that  number  are  not  included  the  men  serving  on  board  the  fleets.  Here  are 
30,000  lives !  There  is  a  thrill  of  horror  sometimes  when  a  single  life  is  lost,  and 
we  sigh  at  the  loss  of  a  friend,  or  of  a  casual  acquaintance !  But  here  we  are 
in  danger  of  losing — and  I  give  the  opinions  of  military  men,  and  not  my  own 
merely — 10,000,  or  it  may  be  20,000  lives,  that  may  be  sacrificed  in  this  struggle. 
I  have  never  pretended  to  any  sympathy  for  the  military  profession — but  I  nave 
sympathy  for  my  fellow-men  and  fellow-countrymen,  wherever  they  may  be. 
I  have  heard  very  melancholy  accounts  of  the  scenes  which  have  been  witnessed  in 
the  separations  from  families  occasioned  by  this  expedition  to  the  East.  But  it 
will  be  said,  and  probably  the  noble  lord  the  member  for  Tiverton  will  say,  that  it 
is  a  just  war,  a  glorious  war,  and  that  I  am  full  of  morbid  sentimentality,  and  have 
introduced  topics  not  worthy  to  be  mentioned  in  Parliament.  But  these  are 
matters  affecting  the  happiness  of  the  homes  of  England,  and  we,  who  are  the 
representatives  and  guardians  of  these  homes,  when  the  grand  question  of  war  is 
before  us,  should  know  at  least  that  we  have  a  case — that  success  is  probable — and 
that  an  object  is  attainable  which  maybe  commensurate  with  the  cost  of  war. 
There  is  another  point  which  gives  me  some  anxiety.  You  are  boasting  of  an 
alliance  with  Trance.  Alliances  are  dangerous  things.  It  is  an  alliance  with 
Turkey  that  has  drawn  us  into  this  war.  1  would  not  advise  alliances  with  any 
nation,  but  I  would  cultivate  friendship  with  all  nations.  I  would  have  no  alliance 
that  might  drag  us  into  measures  which  it  is  neither  our  duty  nor  our  interest  to 
undertake.  By  our  present  alliance  with  Turkey,  Turkey  cannot  make  peace 
without  the  consent  of  England  and  France ;  and  by  this  boasted  alliance  with 
France,  we  may  find  ourselves  involved  in  great  difficulties  at  some  future  period 
of  these  transactions.  I  have  endeavoured  to  look  at  the  whole  of  this  question, 
and  I'  declare,  after  studying  the  correspondence  which  has  been  laid  on  the  table — 
knowing  what  I  know  of  Russia  and  of  Turkey — seeing  what  I  see  of  Austria  and 
of  Prussia — feeling  the  enormous  perils  to  which  this  country  is  now  exposed,  I  am 
amazed  at  the  course  which  the  Government  have  pursued,  and  I  am  horrified  at 
the  results  to  which  their  policy  must  inevitably  tend.  I  do  not  say  this  in 
any  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  Government.  I  have  never  been  hostile  to  them. 
I  have  once  or  twice  felt  it  my  duty  to  speak,  with  some  degree  of  sharpness,  of 
particular  members  of  the  Administration,  but  I  suspect  that  in  private  they  would 
admit  that  my  censure  was  merited.  But  I  have  never  entertained  a  party  hostility 
to  the  Government.  I  know  something  of  the  difficulties  they  have  had  to 
encounter,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that,  in  taking  office,  they  acted  in  as  patriotic 
a  spirit  as  is  generally  expected  from  members  of  this  House.  So  long  as  their 
course  was  one  which  I  could  support,  or  even  excuse,  they  have  had  my  support. 
But  this  is  not  an  ordinary  question ;  it  is  not  a  question  of  reforming  the  University 
of  Oxford,  or  of  abolishing  '  ministers'  money'  in  Ireland;  the  matter  now  before 
us  affects  the  character,  the  policy,  and  the  vital  interests  of  the  empire ;  and  when 
I  think  the  Government  have  committed  a  grievous — it  may  be  a  fatal — error  I  am 

bound  to  tell  them  so I  am  told,  indeed,  that  the  war  is  popular,  and 

that  it  is  foolish  and  eccentric  to  oppose  it.  I  doubt  if  the  war  is  very  popular  in 
this  House.  But  as  to  what  is  or  has  been  popular,  I  may  ask,  what  was  more 
popular  than  the  American  war  ?  There  were  persons  lately  living  in  Manchester 
who  had  seen  the  recruiting  party  going  through  the  principal  streets  of  that  city, 
accompanied  by  the  parochial  clergy  in  full  canonicals,  exhorting  the  people  to 
enlist  and  put  down  the  rebels  in  the  American  colonies.  Where  is  now  the  popu- 
larity of  that  disastrous  and  disgraceful  war,  and  who  is  the  man  to  defend  it  ? 
But  If  hon.  members  will  turn  to  the  correspondence  between  George  III.  and  Lord 


304  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1854 

North  on  the  subject  of  that  war,  they  will  find  that  the  king's  chief  argument  for 
continuing  the  war,  was  that  it  would  be  dishonourable  111  him  to  make  peace  so 
long  as  the  war  was  popular  with  the  people.  Again,  what  war  could  be 
more  popular  than  the  French  war  ?  Has  not  the  noble  lord  (Lord  John  Russell) 
said,  not  long  ago,  in  this  House,  that  peace  was  rendered  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
by  the  conduct  of  the  English  press  in  1803  ?  For  myself,  I  do  not  trouble  myself 
whether  my  conduct  in  Parliament  is  popular  or  not,  I  care  only  that  it  shall 
be  wise  and  just  as  regards  the  pennaneut  interests  of  my  country,  and  I  despise 
from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  the  mau  who  speaks  a  word  in  favour  of  this  war,  or 
of  any  war  which  he  believes  might  have  been  avoided,  merely  because  the  press  and 
a  portion  of  the  people  urge  the  Government  to  carry  it  on.  I  recollect  a  passage 
of  a  distinguished  French  writer  and  statesman,  which  bears  strongly  upon  our 
present  position.  He  says,  '  The  country  which  can  comprehend  and  act  upon  the 
lessons  which  God  has  given  it  in  the  past  events  of  its  history  is  secure  in 
the  most  imminent  crises  of  its  fate.'  The  past  events  of  our  history  have  taught 
me  that  the  intervention  of  this  country  in  European  wars  is  not  only  unnecessary, 
but  calamitous;  that  we  have  rarely  come  out  of  such  intervention  having 
succeeded  in  the  objects  we  fought  for;  that  a  debt  of  £800,000,000  sterling  has 
been  incurred  by  the  policy  which  the  noble  lord  approves,  apparently  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  it  dates  from  the  time  of  William  III. ;  and  that,  not  debt  alone 
has  been  incurred,  but  that  we  have  left  Europe  at  least  as  much  in  chains  as  before 
a  single  effort  was  made  by  us  to  rescue  her  from  tyranny.  I  believe  if  this  country, 
seventy  years  ago,  had  adopted  the  principle  of  non-intervention  in  every  case 
where  her  interests  were  not  directly  and  obviously  assailed,  she  would  have  been 
saved  from  much  of  the  pauperism  and  brutal  crimes  by  which  our  Government 
and  people  have  alike  been  disgraced.  This  country  might  have  been  a  garden, 
every  dwelliug  might  have  been  of  marble,  and  every  person  who  treads  its  soil 
might  have  been  sufficiently  educated.  We  should,  indeed,  have  had  less  of  military 
glory.  We  might  have  had  neither  Trafalgar  nor  Waterloo;  but  we  should 
have  set  a  high  example  of  a  Christian  nation,  free  in  its  institutions,  courteous  and 
just  in  its  conduct  towards  all  foreign  states,  and  resting  its  policy  on  the  un- 
changeable foundation  of  Christian  morality."  (Cheers.) 

As  soon  as  the  war  was  declared,  British  industry  received  a 
check.  Russia  at  once  commenced  to  neglect  agriculture,  and 
the  French  peasant  was  called  to  leave  his  fields  to  enlist.  The 
English  artisan  experienced  the  dire  misfortune  of  witnessing 
his  handicraft  decline,  and  many  were  induced  to  join  the  army 
to  be  slaughtered  in  defence  of  a  treacherous  ally.  Instead  of 
taxation  being  reduced  as  was  expected  in  the  previous  year,  the 
income-tax  had  to  be  doubled,  and  the  spirit  duty  and  the  malt- 
tax  increased. 

Mr.  Absalom  Watkin,  of  Manchester,  having  invited  Mr. 
Bright  to  a  meeting  for  the  Patriotic  Fund,  and  having  stated 
that  in  his  opinion  the  war  was  justified  by  the  authority  of 
Vattel,  Mr.  Bright  replied  by  letter  when  on  a  visit  to  RhyJ, 
North  Wales,  on  the  29th  of  October,  1854. 

"  With  regard  to  the  war  itself,"  he  wrote,  "  I  am  not  surprised  at  the  difference 
between  your  opinion  and  mine,  if  you  decide  a  question  of  this  nature  by  an  appeal 
to  Vattel.  The  '  law  of  nations '  is  not  my  law,  and  at  best  it  is  a  code  full  of  con- 
fusion and  contradictions,  having  its  foundation  on  custom  and  not  on  a  higher 
morality,  and  on  custom  which  has  always  been  determined  by  the  will  of  the 
strongest.  It  may  be  a  question  of  some  interest  whether  the  first  crusade  was  in 
accordance  with  the  law  and  principles  of  Vattel ;  but  whether  the  first  crusade  was 
just,  and  whether  the  policy  of  the  crusades  was  a  wise  policy,  is  a  totally  different 
question.  ....  The  question  of  this  present  war  is  in  two  parts — first,  was  it 


1854.]  LETTER   TO   MR.   A.  WATKIN.  305 

necessary  for  us  to  interfere  by  arms  in  a  dispute  between  the  Russians  and  the 
Turks ;  and,  secondly,  having  determined  to  interfere,  under  certain  circumstances, 
why  was  not  the  whole  question  terminated  when  Russia  accepted  the  Vienna  note  ? 
The  seat  of  war  is  3,000  miles  away  from  us.  "We  had  not  been  attacked — not  even 
insulted  in  any  way.  Two  independent  Governments  had  a  dispute,  and  we  thrust 
ourselves  into  the  quarrel.  That  there  was  some  ground  for  the  dispute  is  admitted 
bv  the  four  Powers  in  the  proposition  of  the  Vienna  note.  But  for  the  English 
Minister  at  Constantinople,  and  the  Cabinet  at  home,  the  dispute  would  have  settled 
itself,  and  the  last  note  of  Prince  Menschikoff  would  have  been  accepted,  and  no 
human  being  can  point  out  any  material  difference  between  that  note  and  the  Vienna 
note,  afterwards  agreed  upon  and  recommended  by  the  Governments  of  England, 
France,  Austria,  and  Prussia.  But  pur  Government  would  not  allow  the  dispute  to 
be  settled.  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe  held  private  interviews  with  the  Sultan — did 
his  utmost  to  alarm  him — insisted  on  his  rejection  of  all  terms  of  accommodation 
with  Russia,  and  promised  him  the  armed  assistance  of  England  if  war  should 

arise Now,  observe  the  course  taken  by  our  Government.    They  agreed  to 

the  Vienna  note ;  not  fewer  than  five  members  of  this  Cabinet  have  filled  the  office 
of  Foreign  Secretary,  and  therefore  may  be  supposed  capable  of  comprehending  its 
meaning ;  it  was  a  note  drawn  up  by  the  friends  of  Turkey,  and  by  arbitrators  self - 
constituted  on  behalf  of  Turkey ;  they  urged  its  acceptance  on  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment, and  the  Russian  Government  accepted  it ;  there  was  then  a  dispute  about  its 
precise  meaning,  and  Russia  agreedj  and  even  proposed,  that  the  arbitrators  at 
Vienna  should  amend  it  by  explaining  it  and  limiting  its  meaning,  so  that  no 
question  of  its  intention  should  henceforth  exist.  But,  the  Turks  having  rejected  it, 
our  Government  turned  round,  and  declared  the  Vienna  note,  their  own  note, 
entirely  inadmissible,  and  defended  the  conduct  of  the  Turks  in  having  rejected  it. 
The  Turks  declared  war  against  the  advice  of  the  English  and  French  Governments 
— so,  afr  least,  it  appears  from  the  Blue  Book  ;  but  the  moment  war  was  declared  by 
Turkey  our  Government  openly  applauded  it.  England,  then,  was  committed  to 
the  war.  She  had  promised  armed  assistance  to  Turkey — a  country  without 
government,  and  whose  administration  was  at  the  mercy  of  contending  factions; 
and,  incapable  of  fixing  a  policy  for  herself,  she  allowed  herself  to  be  dragged  on  by 
the  current  of  events  at  Constantinople.  She  'drifted,'  as  Lord  Clarendon  said, 
exactly  describing  his  own  position,  into  the  war,  apparently  without  rudder  and 

without  compass They  promised  the  Turk  armed  assistance  on  conditions  or 

without  conditions.  They,  in  concert  with  France,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  took  the 
original  dispute  out  of  the  hands  of  Russia  and  Turkey,  and  formed  themselves  into 
a  court  of  arbitration  in  the  interests  of  Turkey ;  they  made  an  award,  which  they 
declared  to  be  safe  and  honourable  for  both  parties ;  this  award  was  accepted  by 
Russia  and  rejected  by  Turkey ;  and  they  then  turned  round  upon  their  own  award, 
declared  it  to  be  '  totally  inadmissible,'  and  made  war  upon  the  very  country  whose 
Government,  at  their  suggestion  and  urgent  recommendation,  had  frankly  accepted 
it.  At  this  moment  England  is  engaged  in  a  murderous  warfare  with  Russia, 
although  the  Russian  Government  accepted  her  own  terms  of  peace,  and  has  been 
willing  to  accept  them  in  the  sense  of  England's  own  interpretation  of  them  ever 
since  they  were  offered ;  and  at  the  same  time  England  is  allied  with  Turkey,  whose 
Government  rejected  the  award  of  England,  and  who  entered  into  the  war  in 
opposition  to  the  advice  of  England.  Surely,  when  the  Vienna  note  was  accepted 
by  Russia,  the  Turks  should  have  been  prevented  from  going  to  war,  or  should  have 
been  allowed  to  go  to  war  at  their  own  risk. 

"  I  have  said  nothing  here  of  the  fact  that  all  these  troubles  have  sprung  out  of 
the  demands  made  by  France  upon  the  Turkish  Government,  and  urged  in  language 
more  insulting  than  any  which  has  been  shown  to  have  been  used  by  Prince 
Menschikoff.  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  diplomatic  war  which  has  been  raging  for 
many  years  past  in  Constantinople,  and  in  which  England  has  been  behind  no  other 
Power  in  attempting  to  subject  the  Porte  to  foreign  influences.  I  have  said  nothing 
of  the  abundant  evidence  there  is  that  we  are  not  only  at  war  with  Russia,  but  with 
all  the  Christian  population  of  the  Turkish  empire,  and  that  we  are  building  up  our 
Eastern  policy  on  a  false  foundation — namely,  on  the  perpetual  maintenance  of  the 
most  immoral  and  filthy  of  all  despotisms  over  one  of  the  fairest  portions  of  the 
earth  which  it  has  desolated,  and  over  a  population  it  has  degraded  but  has  not  been 
able  to  destroy.  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  wretched  delusion  that  we  are  fighting 
for  civilisation  in  supporting  the  Turk  against  the  Russian,  and  against  the  subject 
Christian  population  of  Turkey.  I  have  said  nothing  about  our  pretended  sacrifices 
for  freedom  in  this  war,  in  which  one  great  and  now  dominant  ally  is  a  monarch 

U 


306  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BEIGHT.  [1854. 

who,  last  in  Europe,  struck  dowii  a  free  constitution,  and  dispersed  by  military 
violence  a  national  Representative  Assembly. 

•'My  doctrine  would  have  been  non-intervention  in  this  case.  The  danger  of 
the  Russian  power  was  a  phantom ;  the  necessity  of  permanently  upholding  the 
Mahometan  rule  in  Europe  is  an  absurdity.  Our  love  for  civili.sation,  when  we 
subject  the  Greeks  and  Christians  to  the  Turks,  is  a  sham ;  and  our  sacrifices  for 
freedom,  when  working  out  the  behests  of  the  Emperor  of  the  French  and  coaxing 
Austria  to  help  us,  is  a  pitiful  imposture.  The  evils  of  non-intervention  were 
remote  and  vague,  and  could  neither  be  weighed  nor  described  in  any  accurate  terms. 
The  good  we  can  judge  something  of  already,  by  estimating  the  cost  of  a  contrary 
policy.  And  what  is  that  cost  ?  War  in  the  north  and  south  of  Europe,  threatening 
to  involve  every  country  of  Europe.  Money,  perhaps  fifty  millions  sterling,  in  the 
course  of  expenditure  by  this  country  alone,  to  be  raised  from  the  taxes  of  a  people 
whose  extrication  from  ignorance  and  poverty  can  only  be  hoped  for  from  the 
continuance  of  peace.  The  disturbance  of  trade  throughout  the  world,  the  derange- 
ment of  monetary  affairs,  and  difficulties  and  ruin  to  thousands  of  families.  Another 
year  of  high  prices  of  food,  notwithstanding  a  full  harvest  in  England,  chiefly 
because  war  interferes  with  imports,  and  we  have  declared  our  principal  foreign  food- 
growers  to  be  our  enemies.  The  loss  of  human  life  to  an  enormous  extent.  Many 
thousands  of  our  own  countrymen  have  already  perished  of  pestilence  and  in  the 
field ;  and  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands,  of  English  families  will  be  plunged  into 
sorrow,  as  a  part  of  the  penalty  to  be  paid  for  the  folly  of  the  nation  and  its  rulers. 

"When  the  time  comes  for  the  '  inquisition  for  blood,'  who  shall  answer  for 
these  things  ?  You  have  read  the  tidings  from  the  Crimea ;  you  have,  perhaps, 
shuddered  at  the  slaughter ;  you  remember  the  terrific  picture — I  speak  not  of  the 
battle,  and  the  charge,  and  the  tumultuous  excitement  of  the  conflict,  but  of  the  field 
after  the  battle — Russians,  in  their  frenzy  or  their  terror,  shooting  Englishmen  who 
would  have  offered  them  water  to  quench  their  agony  of  thirst ;  Englishmen,  in 
crowds,  rifling  the  pockets  of  the  men  they  had  slain  or  wounded,  taking  their  few 
shillings  or  roubles,  and  discovering  among  the  plunder  of  the  stiffening  corpses 
images  of  the  'Virgin  and  the  Child.'  You  have  read  this,  and  your  imagination 
has  followed  the  fearful  details.  This  is  war, — every  crime  which  human  nature 
can  commit  or  imagine,  every  horror  it  can  perpetrate  or  suffer ;  and  this  it  is  which 
our  Christian  Government  recklessly  plunges  into,  and  which  so  many  of  our 
countrymen  at  this  moment  think  it  patriotic  to  applaud !  You  must  excuse  me  if  I 
cannot  go  with  you.  I  will  have  no  part  in  this  terrible  crime.  My  hands  shall  be 
unstained  with  the  blood  which  is  being  shed.  The  necessity  of  maintaining  them- 
selves in  office  may  influence  an  administration ;  delusions  may  mislead  a  people  ; 
Vattel  may  afford  you  a  law  and  a  defence ;  but  no  respect  for  men  who  form  a  Govern- 
ment, no  regard  I  have  for  '  going  with  the  stream,'  and  no  fear  of  being  deemed 
wanting  in  patriotism,  shall  influence  me  in  favour  of  a  policy  which,  in  my 
conscience,  I  believe  to  be  as  criminal  before  God  as  it  is  destructive  of  the  true 
interest  of  my  country." 

This  letter  provoked  a  great  deal  of  discussion  and  comment. 
It  was  condemned  almost  as  widely  as  it  was  canvassed.  Of 
course,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  either  the  opinions  or 
arguments  were  likely  to  command  impartial  consideration  in  the 
midst  of  such  prepossession  and  excitement  as  then  prevailed  on 
the  subject  of  the  war  with  Russia.  The  war  at  that  time  was 
popular,  but  so  up  to  a  certain  point  has  been  every  war 
in  which  this  country  has  engaged.  Was  the  war  neces- 
sary or  politic  ?  Were  the  grounds  on  which  Mr.  Bright 
ventured  his  own  views  with  reference  to  the  causes  which 
precipitated  the  war  correct?  In  after-years  the  general  opinion 
swerved  round  to  the  point  that  Mr.  Bright  was  in  the  right. 
But  here  was  a  noble  man,  breasting  the  curi-ent  of  national 
feeling,  under  the  strong  conviction  that  the  public  judgment 


1854.]  STORMY  MEETING  AT  MANCHESTER.  307 

was  warped  by  temporary  or  generous  impulse  to  an  impolitic 
course,  leaving1  futurity  to  decide  the  justice  of  their  motives. 

No  sooner  had  the  letter  appeared  than  every  exertion  was 
made  to  get  up  a  numerously  signed  requisition  to  the  Mayor 
of  Manchester,  requesting  him  to  call  a  public  meeting  of  the 
citizens  to  express  their  condemnation  of  the  views  avowed  by 
Mr.  Bright  in  his  notorious  letter.  This  requisition  received 
the  signatures  of  613  individuals  or  firms,  and  no  effort  was 
spared  to  try  to  prove  that  there  was  great  dissatisfaction 
amongst  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Bright,  but  when  the  613  signa- 
tures were  examined  it  was  found  that  amongst  them  were 
only  fifty  of  Mr.  Bright's  supporters.  However,  the  Mayor 
was  obliged  to  call  a  public  meeting,  and  it  was  held  on 
the  17th  of  December,  1854,  in  the  Town  Hall.  When  Mr. 
Absalom  Watkin  mounted  the  platform  there  was  a  call  for  Mr. 
Bright,  and  the  hon.  gentleman  entering  by  the  same  door  as  that 
by  which  the  audience  had  entered,  was  vociferously  cheered 
as  he  made  his  way  to  the  platform  through  the  mass  of  persons. 
The  Mayor,  Mr.  Benjamin  Nicholls,  presided.  Mr.  W.  R. 
Wood  was  received  with  a  storm  of  disapprobation,  which 
continued  for  some  time  with  more  or  less  fury,  intermingled 
with  cheers,  and  the  whole  of  his  address  could  scarcely  be  heard 
by  persons  close  to  him.  He  moved  the  first  resolution : — 
"  That  this  meeting  having  learned  that  the  letter  of  Mr.  John 
Bright  on  the  war  has  been  translated  and  circulated  in  Russia, 
desires  the  public  to  declare  that  the  citizens  of  Manchester  do 
not  concur  in  the  opinions  expressed  by  Mr.  Bright,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  they  are  convinced  that  the  war  is  just  and  necessary, 
and  do  earnestly  desire  that  it  may  be  carried  on  with  the 
utmost  vigour  until  it  shall  be  terminated  by  an  honourable 
peace/'  Mr.  Absalom  Watkin  seconded  this  resolution.  Mr. 
Alderman  W.  B.  Watkins  moved  as  an  amendment — "  That, 
whereas,  in  the  requisition  presented  to  the  Mayor,  requesting 
him  to  convene  a  public  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Manchester,  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  John  Bright,  our  honourable 
representative  in  the  Commons  House  of  Parliament,  to  one  of 
his  constituents,  is  alluded  to  as  the  cause  of  the  requisition 
having  been  got  up ;  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  that 
Mr.  Bright  exercised  an  undoubted  right  in  expressing  his 
opinion  on  the  subject  of  the  war  which  unhappily  exists 
between  this  country  and  Russia  ;  and  although  this  opinion  may 
differ  from  that  of  many  of  his  constituents,  it  would  be  unfair, 
tyrannical,  and  unjust,  to  censure  him,  even  by  implication,  for 
the  manly  avowal  of  his  sentiments  upon  a  subject  so  important 
i'  2 


308  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP  JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1854 

to  the  welfare  of  all  classes  in  the  kingdom."  Mr.  Alexander 
Henry  seconded  the  amendment.  Mr.  William  Entwisle  'spoke 
in  favour  of  the  original  motion.  Mr.  John  Bright  followed, 
but  could  scarcely  be  heard,  as  the  cheers  and  groans  were  loud 
and  contimaous.  For  ten  minutes  he  remained  standing,  unable 
to  be  heard  on  account  of  the  noise,  yet  determined  not  to  retire 
until  he  had  been  heard. 

"  Calmly  he  viewed  them — conscious  that  his  ends 
"Were  right,  and  truth  and  innocence  his  friends." 

At  last,  amidst  continued  disturbance,  which  rendered  the 
words  inaudible  except  to  the  reporters,  who  clustered  round  him, 
he  said : — 

"  The  gentlemen  who  have  spoken  on  the  other  side  may  disclaim  any  wish  in 
the  proceedings  of  this  day  to  make  any  attack  upon  me,  and  yet  their  friends  in  the 
body  of  the  meeting  are  evidently  anxious  that  not  a  word  that  I  have  to  say  shall 
be  heard  by  the  meeting.  I  shall  not  occupy  more  than  a  very  few  minutes  in 
saying  that  on  this  question  of  peace  or  war  I  claim  for  myself  to  have  the  right 
freely  to  express  my_  views,  and  if  I  am  unfortunate  enough  not  to  coincide  with  the 
views  of  any  portion  of  my  constituents  I  regret  it  extremely,  but  I  shall  not 
surrender  my  claim.  I  have  on  many  occasions  differed  from  a  large  portion  of  my 
constituents,  but  I  have  never  flinched  from  that  which  I  believe  to  be  true  and 
right  with  regard  to  public  affairs,  and  I  shall  not  flinch  from  it  now.  The  object  of 
my  letter  was  to  lead,  if  possible,  public  opinion  to  a  peaceful  temper,  in  the  hope 
that  the  Government  might  find  no  obstacle  in  their  way  when  any  opportunity 
offered  for  bringing  about  a  restoration  of  public  tranquillity.  I  do  not  regret  having 
written  that  letter;  I  am  able  to  -prove  everything  that  is  in  it,  and  I  rejoice  in  the 
discussion  which  it  has  created,  not  in  Manchester  only,  but  throughout  the 
kingdom,  and  in  many  parts  also  of  the  continent  of  Europe.  .  .  .  My  object  is  to 
avert  from  England  and  from  Europe  this  great  calamity  of  war,  and  whatever  may 
be  the  result  to  me  personally,  I  shall  never  shrink  from  taking  the  course  which  I 
have  taken  up  to  this  hour." 

Five  times  the  Mayor  called  upon  the  meeting  for  the 
expression  of  their  opinions,  but  so  evenly  balanced  was  the 
show  of  hands  that  the  Mayor  declared  that  he  was  not  able 
to  decide  the  matter,  and  accordingly  dismissed  the  meeting. 
Mr.  Bright  was  hooted,  insulted,  and  threats  of  violence  were 
used  against  him  by  some  of  those  who  did  not  agree  with  his 
opinions  on  the  war,  but  his  bearing  was  firm  and  fearless. 

Mr.  Bright's  friends  held  a  meeting  the  same  evening  at 
Newall's  Buildings,  and  Mr.  Bright  there  delivered  a  lengthy 
speech. 

"The  war,"  he  declared,  "will  double  the  army  of  Eussia,  will  double  the 
army  of  Austria,  will  increase  the  army  of  Prussia,  increase  the  army  of  France, 
and  double  the  armies  of  this  country.  (Cheers.)  Do  you  think  that  when  all  these 
armies  are  doubled,  and  men's  minds  are  led  off  from  the  contemplation  of  every- 
thing in  the  form  of  home  affairs,  when  every  man's  mind  is  filled  with  thoughts  of 
slaughter  and  glory,  and  by  your  literature  tinged  with  the  same  thing— I  ask  you 
whether  that  plant  of  freedom,  which  was  matured,  it  is  true,  by  the  blood  of  your 
ancestors,  and  nourished  by  the  tears  and  prayers  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us 
— I  ask  you  whether  you  think  that,  after  this  war,  liberty  in  Europe,  reform  or 
anything  good  in  the  politics  of  this  country,  will  be  in  a  better  position  than 


1854.]  PUBLIC   FRENZY.  309 

before  this  war  commenced?  (Applause  and  cries  of  'No.)  Rely  upon  it  that 
the  verdict  of  events  will  be  given,  if  there  can  be  no  verdict  to-day.  And  that 
verdict  of  events  will  be  given  in  our  favour."  (Cheers.) 

The  meeting  unanimously  tendered  to  Mr.  Bright  a  vote  of 
thanks  "  for  the  manliness  with  which  he  has  stood  forward  in 
the  face  of  such  a  meeting  as  that  we  have  left,  to  avow  his 
unflinching  attachment  to  those  principles  which  have  hitherto 
guided  his  conduct,  and  will  continue  to  guide  him." 

Mr.  Cobden  more  than  once  told  Mr.  Bright  that  when  the 
people  themselves  were  in  a  state  of  frenzy,  when  their  reason 
seemed  as  if  dethroned,  it  was  useless  to  argue  with  them,  and 
he  recommended  Mr.  Bright  to  wait  until  there  came  a  cooler 
and  a  more  reasonable  time.  Cobden  meanwhile  looked  on  sad 
and  dejected,  waiting  the  termination  of  the  strife,  but  Bright 
could  not  look  on  calmly  when  he  read  of  the  shocking  slaughter 
of  his  countrymen,  and  of  fields  covered  with  the  dead.  He 
availed  himself  of  every  opportunity  of  entering  his  protest 
against  the  continuance  of  this  useless  war,  which  entailed  the 
shedding  of  so  much  blood,  and  the  waste  of  vast  treasure. 

There  are  few  things  in  history  so  noble  and,  at  the  same  time, 
so  tenderly  moving  as  the  incidents  in  Mr.  Bright's  life.  There 
is  a  sincerity  and  a  reality  in  everything  that  he  says.  His  pathos 
is  no  bright  cold  gleam  of  the  imagination,  but  bursts  warm 
from  the  heart.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find,  in  the  annals  of 
any  country,  an  instance  of  more  splendid  popularity  than 
Mr.  Bright's  up  to  the  breaking  out  of  this  war ;  and  yet, 
perhaps,  there  never  was  an  occasion  upon  which  the  fickleness 
of  popular  favour  was  more  strikingly  or  basely  exemplified. 
Yet  through  all  that  stormy  time  he  never  swerved  for  a  moment 
from  the  position  he  had  assumed.  Nothing  in  his  life  was  so 
noble  as  his  attitude  towards  the  warlike  spirit  of  1855.  Pre- 
vioxisly  his  ears  were  filled  with  the  praises  of  his  countrymen. 
Now,  however,  he  found  himself  cast  out  by  auditories  who  had 
hung  on  his  very  words.  Amid  all  this  he  never  flinched  from 
the  path  of  duty. 

One  of  Mr.  Bright's  most  powerful  and  profound  speeches 
was  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  22nd  of 
December,  1854.  Certainly  the  House  was  not  with  him ;  that 
was  of  course  impossible.  He  had,  however,  the  most  deferen- 
tial attention,  deepening  every  instant.  The  rapid  piling  up 
of  his  charges,  the  accumulation  of  his  proofs,  the  cogency  of 
his  argument,  and  the  impetuosity  of  his  conclusions  equalled 
anything  of  the  kind  yet  delivered.  It  was  as  superior  to 
any  mere  parliamentary  vituperation  as  the  subject  itself  was 


310  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1854. 

superior  to  the  trivial  and  evanescent  personalities  that  impart 
piquancy  to  individual  exhibitors  in  the  public  arena.  It  was 
in  vain  that  official  callousness  assumed  an  unconsciousness  of 
its  force.  Before  he  had  got  half  into  the  speech,  almost  every 
man  on  the  ministerial  bench  had  turned  round  in  his  seat,  and 
gazed  at  the  speaker.  Lord  John  Russell  tried  desperately  to 
do  the  dignified,  and  covered  his  face  with  his  hands,  which  he 
occasionally  removed  to  attempt  a  spasmodic  laugh ;  but  when 
Mr.  Bright  came  to  talk  of  Colonel  Boyle  and  the  widow,  and 
the  five  little  orphans,  the  tears  started  to  the  eyes  of  many  a 
brave  man  who  heard  him,  and  Lord  John  laughed  no  more. 

"We  all  know  what  we  have  lost  in  this  House,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright.  "Here 
sitting  near  me,  very  often  sat  the  member  for  Frome  (Colonel  Boyle).  I  met  him 
a  short  time  before  he  went  out  at  Mr.  Westerton's,  the  booksellers,  near  Hyde 
Park  Corner.  I  asked  him  whether  he  was  going  out?  He  answered,  he  was 
afraid  he  was ;  not  afraid  in  the  sense  of  personal  fear — he  knew  not  that ;  but  he 
said,  with  a  look  and  a  tone  I  shall  never  forget,  '  It  is  not  a  light  matter  for  a  man 
who  has  a  wife  and  five  children.'  The  stormy  Euxine  is  his  grave  ;  his  wife  is  a 
widow,  his  children  fatherless.  On  the  other  side  of  the  House  sat  a  member  with 
whom  I  was  not  acquainted,  who  has  lost  his  life  (Colonel  Blair).  Who  is  there 
that  does  not  recollect  his  frank,  courageous,  and  manly  countenance?  I  doubt 
whether  there  were  any  men  on  either  side  of  the  House  who  were  more  capable  of 
fixing  the  goodwill  and  affection  of  those  with  whom  they  were  associated.  Well, 
but  the  place  that  knew  him  shall  know  him  no  more  for  ever." 

At  the  outset  of  Mr.  B  right's  speech  Lord  Palmerston 
"  had  pulled  his  hat  over  his  eyes,  folded  his  arms,  and 
thrown  himself  back  in  his  seat — his  custom  always  of  an 
afternoon,  especially  when  afternoon  gets  towards  next  morn- 
ing. But  case-hardened  as  he  was  to  every  emotion,  inured  by 
fifty  consecutive  years  of  parliamentary  fighting  on  both  sides, 
for  and  against  almost  every  cause,  he  was  so  completely  roused 
by  Mr.  Bright  that  he  could  not  maintain  even  the  sham  of 
seeming  torpidity  from  the  most  casual  observer.  True,  he  too 
tried  •  to  laugh — not,  like  Lord  John,  at  that  part  of  Mr. 
Bright's  speech  which  spoke  of  the  accuracy  of  his  own 
judgment,  but  at  that  passage  when  the  member  for  Manchester 
talked  of  the  member  for  Tiverton  upsetting  the  New 
Testament  in  a  couple  of  sentences  at  an  agricultural  dinner. 
Short-lived,  however,  was  the  merriment.  For  presently  Mr. 
Bright  passed  on  to  the  (  buffooneries  at  the  Reform  Club/ 
and  contrasted  the  general  flippant  levity  of  this  Ministry, 
amidst  the  grief  and  mourning  that  then  filled  the  land,  with 
the  grave  decorum  of  Peel,  even  in  the  shadow  of  an  antici- 
pated war ;  and  he  laughed  no  more.  As  for  Mr.  Gladstone 
he  seemed  much  distressed.  With  the  two  exceptions, 
Disraeli  and  Graham,  everybody  was  deeply  affected.  .  .  . 


18M.]  A    POWERFUL    SPEECH.  311 

This  extraordinary  Philippic  did  not  last  more  than  half  an  hour, 
yet  all  the  Coalition  could  not  furnish  a  debater  to  reply  to  it. 
The  consternation  of  Ministers  as  they  hurriedly  whispered  when 
Bright  sat  down,  the  painful  silence  (far  more  significant  than 
the  most  tumultuous  applause)  that  pervaded  the  benches,  as 
if  there  had  been  affirmed  some  dread  calamity  for  which  there 
was  neither  denial  nor  remedy — all  told  emphatically  that 
Bright 's  point  was  the  point." 

"  I  am  not,  nor  did  I  ever  pretend  to  be,  a  statesman,"  said  Mr.  Bright ;  "  but 
that  character  is  so  tainted  and  so  equivocal  in  our  day,  that  I  am  not  sure 
that  a  pure  and  honourable  ambition  would  aspire  to  it.  I  have  not  enjoyed 
for  thirty  years,  like  these  noble  Lords,  the  emoluments  of  office.  I  have  not 
set  my  sails  to  every  passing  breeze.  I  am  a  plain  and  simple  citizen,  sent  here 
by  one  of  the  foremost  constituencies  of  the  Empire,  representing,  feebly  perhaps, 
but  honestly,  the  opinions  of  very  many,  and  the  true  interests  of  all  that  have 
sent  me  here.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  I  am  alone  in  my  condemnation  of  this 
war,  or  of  an  incompetent  and  guilty  Ministry.  And,  even  if  I  were  alone,  if  my 
voice  were  the  solitary  one  raised  amid  the  din  of  arms  and  the  clamours  of  a 
venal  press,  I  should  have  the  consolation  I  have  to-night — and  which  I  trust 
will  be  mine  to  the  last  moment  of  my  existence — the  priceless  consolation  that 
I  have  never  uttered  one  word  that  could  promote  the  squandering  of  my  country's 
treasure,  or  the  spilling  of  one  single  drop  of  my  country's  blood." 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THE    CRIMEAN    WAR. 

Lord  Russell's  Oxford  Reform  Bill — Mismanagement  in  the  Crimea — Proposals  of 
Peace — Mr.  Bright  with  his  Constituents — Discussing  the  Subject  of  the  Prose- 
cution of  the  War — With  his  Townsmen — Failing  Health— Letter  to  his  Con- 
stituents and  the  Reply — The  Termination  of  the  War. 

MR.  BRIGHT'S  public  speaking  during  the  Anti-Corn-Law  crusade 
was  certainly  powerful,  still  he  had  amazingly  advanced  in  force 
and  finish  since  that  time.  The  attention  he  exacted  from  the 
House  of  Commons,  notwithstanding  the  unpopularity  of  his 
views  on  the  question  of  war,  was  the  best  tribute  to  his  great 
abilities.  Indeed,  some  short  time  before  this  date,  Lord  John 
Russell,  at  a  political  dinner  in  his  own  house,  said  he  considered 
Mr.  John  Bright  to  be  the  most  powerful  speaker  in  the  House 
of  Commons. 

During  the  session  Lord  John  Russell  introduced  his  Oxford 
Reform  Bill,  which  was  intended  to  make  further  provision 
for  the  good  government  and  extension  of  the  University  of 
Oxford  and  its  colleges.  Mr.  Bright,  in  opposing  this  measure, 
remarked  that : — 

"  It  seemed  to  him  that  two  principles  had  been  at  work  in  the  formation  of 
this  Bill,  which  was  the  result  of  a  compromise  between  them,  and  he  thought 
it  was  a  question  whether  a  Cabinet  that  could  not  agree  on  the  fundamental 
principles  of  a  measure  should  bring  it  forward.  He  felt  a  repugnance  to  assist 
in  the  tinkering  amendment  of  an  institution  from  which,  though  national,  he 
as  a  Dissenter  was  excluded,  and  with  which  he  had  no  sympathy.  You  do  not 
exclude  us  when  you  send  your  tax-gatherers  round,  or  when  you  ask  for  the 
performance  of  the  duties  of  citizenship ;  you  do  not  exclude  us  from  the  statistical 
tables  of  your  population,  of  your  industry,  of  your  wealth,  of  your  renown.  You 
take  all  your  population  in,  and  say,  '  This  is  a  great,  an  united  people,  which 
are  called  the  British  people ; '  and  you  declare  in  your  speeches  and  perorations 
that  you  are  p_roud  to  rule  over  such  a  nation.  But  when  you  come  to  the  question 
of  education  in  the  institutions  which  you  call  national  Universities,  then  you,  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  you  the  Liberal- Conservative,  or  the  Conservative  aud 
Liberal  Administration — you  who  occupy  the  offices  from  which  you  ignominiously 
ejected  your  predecessors — you  who  say  there  are  no  men  to  come  after  you — you 
ask  us  to  accept  a  Bill  of  this  pusillanimous  and  tinkering  character,  insulting,  as 
I  have  already  described  it,  to  one-half  the  population  of  the  country." 

Mr.  Bright  also,  during  this  session,  supported  a  bill  for 
the  repeal  of  the  stamp  duty  on  newspapers  and  periodicals, 
and  he  pointed  out  how  the  spread  of  knowledge  and  education 
was  seriously  retarded  by  the  existing  law. 


1855.]  SOIKEE   AT   MANCHESTER.  313 

Mr.  Berkeley  introduced  a  Bill  in  favour  of  the  Ballot, 
and  Mr.  Bright,  in  supporting  it,  expressed  the  opinion  that 
intimidation  prevailed  at  almost  all  the  contested  elections  in 
the  United  Kingdom.  Scenes  took  place  at  contested  elections 
which  were  not  only  degrading  to  the  country,  but  to  human 
nature  itself.  He  believed  that  so  great  was  this  evil,  that 
it  very  much  warped  all  their  efforts,  whether  by  education 
or  by  religious  influence,  to  improve  the  standard  of  morality, 
patriotism,  and  honourable  feeling  amongst  the  people.  More- 
over, no  harm  would  arise  from  the  experiment  of  the  Ballot, 
while  a  candidate  who  could  not  then  get  a  vote  by  intimida- 
tion or  threats  might  get  one  by  kindness,  argument,  and 
persuasion.  The  Bill  was  thrown  out  by  a  narrow  majority. 

Sir  W.  Clay  brought  in  a  measure  to  abolish  Church  Rates. 
Mr.  Bright  gave  it  his  support,  but  it  was  lost  by  a  majority 
of  27. 

In  the  Estimates  it  was  proposed  to  grant  £38,745  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  Nonconforming,  Seceding,  and 
Protestant  Dissenting  ministers  in  Ireland.  Mr.  Bright 
objected  to  the  grant,  but  the  vote  was  carried  by  a  majority 
of  87. 

In  January,  1855,  the  members  of  the  Liberal  party  of 
Manchester  got  up  a  soiree  in  the  Corn  Exchange  in  honour  of 
Messrs.  Gibson  and  Bright,  and  amongst  other  gentlemen 
present  were  Messrs.  R.  Cobden,  John  Cheetharn,  M.P.,  Joseph 
Crook,  M.P.,  Edward  Miall,  M.P.,  James  Kershaw,  M.P. ; 
George  Hadfield,  M.P.,  L.  Heyworth,  M.P.,  the  Duke  de 
Rousellon,  Major-General  Thompson,  and  a  large  number  of 
gentlemen  from  the  surrounding  towns.  Mr.  George  Wilson 
presided. 

"  I  know  I  am  opposed  to  many  of  my  countrymen,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright 
in  his  speech  ;  "I  am  opposed  doubtless  to  many  in  Manchester,  and  to  some  even 
in  this  audience,  but  that  opposition,  that  discordance,  will  last  only  for  a 
time.  (Applause.)  You  know  that  I  have  never  flattered  either  court  or  cabinet, 
and  I  will  not  now  stoop  to  flatter  even  the  people.  (Cheers.)  I  know  that 
passion  forms  no  part  of  reason,  and  can  be  no  solid  foundation  for  the  truth. 
I  behold  the  abyss  into  which  multitudes  would  plunge  the  country.  If  I  cannot 
save  them  from  it,  if  they  will  not  save  themselves,  at  least  I  will  warn  tltem 
of  their  danger,  and  I  will  be  no  partner  in  the  deeds  which  I  am  convinced  in 
my  conscience  will  receive,  as  they  well  merit,  the  condemnation  of  posterity." 
(Tremendous  cheers.) 

At  the  annual,  meeting  of  the  Manchester  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  in  February,  1855,  Mr  Bright  made  an  opportune 
speech  on  the  general  commercial  consequences  of  the  war,  but 
more  especially  on  the  influence  it  exercised  over  the  price  of 
food. 


314  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1856. 

"  At  this  moment,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "  if  it  were  not  for  the  annoyance  which  it 
gives  to  many  skinners  and  manufacturers  to  see  their  works  shut  two  or  three  days 
a  week,  and  their  hands  idling  about,  and  were  it  not  that  they  don't  like  to  appear 
to  submit  to  pressure  which  their  neighbours  are  still  able  and  willing  to  bear — 
if  it  were  not  for  that — a  feeling  of  pride  to  a  large  extent — or  a  feeling  of  goodwill 
to  the  workpeople  in  some,  or  for  a  hopefulness  that  things  will  mend  in  others, 
and  that  determination  not  to  be  beaten  which  is  common  to  Englishmen,  I 
am  sorry  to  say,  even  when  they  are  wrong — if  it  were  not  for  all  these  causes, 
men  who  carry  on  business  at  this  moment  six  days  a  week  would  probably 
far  more  rationally  be  working  four  or  three  days.  Well,  then  you  come  to 
the  condition  of  your  population.  Now,  what  is  that  condition  t  Take  two 
years  ago — three  years  ago.  At  that  time  every  man  who  was  charitably 
disposed  was  like  a  frozen-out  gardener :  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do.  All 
places  for  benefactions — soup  kitchens  and  things  of  that  kind — were  shut  up 
for  the  want  of  paupers.  Well,  now  you  find,  if  you  go  to  the  Chorlton 
Union,  the  Manchester  Union,  or  any  Union — I  believe  there  is  scarcely  a 
Union  throughout  the  kingdom  in  which,  at  this  moment,  the  increase  of  poor 
rates  is  not  most  marked.  In  some  of  the  London  Unions  the  increase  of 
paupers  is  absolutely  frightful;  and  I  doubt  much  if  in  any  Union  in  the 
country  the  increase  in  poor  rates  has  not  been  strongly  marked  during  the 
last  year.  (Hear,  hear.)  And  whereas  two  years  ago  you  hardly  ever  saw  a 
beggar,  unless  it  was  some  poor  man  who  was  so  from  long  habit  or  actual  in- 
capacity— one  of  those  poor  men  whom  everybody  allows  to  go  about  and  live 
upon  his  neighbours — there  were  no  beggars  to  be  found.  Well,  now  we  all 
know— at  least  I  know  as  far  as  regards  my  house,  and  our  works,  and  our 
neighbours,  where  I  believe  we  are  much  better  off  than  in  many  parts  of  the 
country — beggars  are  increasing  every  day,  and  becoming  almost  as  great  a 
trouble  as  they  were  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago ;  and  at  the  same  time  the  applications 
for  employment  on  the  part  of  those  who  certainly  do  not  wish  to  beg  are  veiy 
much  more  increased  than  they  were  some  time  ago.  I  said  that  in  our  town 
(Rochdale)  we  are  not  so  badly  off  as  in  many  places.  The  flannel  trade  has 
been  brisk,  I  believe;  frosty  weather  is  favourable,  but  Government  contracts 
have  added  to  the  activity  of  that  particular  branch  of  trade.  Some  men,  because 
they  have  got  Government  contracts,  fancy  that  trade  is  good,  and  that  the 
war  is.  good  for  trade.  Why,  it  is  but  carrying  on  the  trade  of  Rochdale,  or 
Dewsbury,  or  anywhere  else,  by  the  taxation  of  the  country  at  large ;  and  it  is  just 
like,  as  somebody  has  described  it,  endeavouring  to  keep  a  dog  alive  by  feeding 
him  with  his  own  tail."  (Laughter.) 

About  this  time  it  was  found  that  the  English  troops,  many 
of  whom  were  mere  boys,  had  been  suffering  terribly  in  the 
Crimea  through  mismanagement,  and  it  was  proved  before  a 
select  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  that  there  had  been 
inefficiency  and  utter  confusion.  Mr.  Dundas  had  seen  ship- 
loads of  fresh  vegetables  lying  in  Balaklava  which  remained 
there  until  they  went  rotten;  the  army  at  that  time  was 
suffering  severely  from  scurvy,  and  these  vegetables  had  been 
expressly  sent  for  as  the  only  remedy  for  that  disease.  At  the 
cavalry  camp,  about  a  mile  from  Balaklava,  horses  were 
picketed  without  clothing  or  any  other  protection  from  the 
inclement  weather.  They  were,  moreover,  starving;  although 
all  the  time,  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  Balaklava,  tons 
of  bran  in  bags  were  lying  on  the  muddy  banks  of  the 
harbour,  and  it  seemed  to  be  the  duty  of  no  one  to  con- 
vey this  food  to  the  horses.  While  the  army  was  perishing 
with  cold  at  the  camp  and  in  the  trenches,  there  were 
lying  in  the  harbour,  close  at  hand,  and  easily  procurable, 


1865.]  THE    SOEKOWS    OF   WAR.  31o 

immense  quantities  of  drift-wood,  the  remains  of  numerous 
vessels  wrecked  in  the  severe  snowstorm,  but  no  hand 
was  allowed  by  those  in  authority  to  touch  or  gather  it. 
The  hospitals  in  the  Bosphorus  were  also  kept  in  a  filthy 
state ;  in  fact,  the  army  was  short  of  medical  attendance, 
short  of  food  and  clothing,  short,  in  fact,  of  everything  that  it 
needed. 

The  mourners  of  those  who  had  perished  were  to  be  seen 
frequently  parading  English  towns  and  villages;  their  hearths 
had  been  rendered  desolate;  their  modest  homes  had  been 
broken  up  for  ever  by  the  criminal  waste  of  British  life  in  the 
East ;  and  thousands  "  of  desolate  women  in  their  far-off  homes 
waited  to  hear  the  step  that  never  came."  Meanwhile,  persons 
who  had  been  in  pretty  good  circumstances  when  the  war  com- 
menced lost  their  situations  through  the  depression  in  trade. 
The  consequence  was  the  little  they  had  stored  to  meet  the 
hour  of  accident  or  crippling  age  was  soon  consumed,  and 
shoals  of  them  sought  daily  bread  from  piiblic  charity. 

Mr.  Bright  delivered  another  speech  on  the  war,  on  the  23rd 
of  February,  in  the  House  of  Commons  : — 

"Whatever  may  be  said,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  "about  the  honour  of  the 
country  in  any  other  relation  involved  in  this  affair,  this,  at  least,  I  expect  every 
man  who  hears  me  to  admit — that  if  terms  of  peace  have  been  offered,,  they  have 
been  offered  in  good  faith,  and  shall  be  in  honour  and  good  faith  adhered  to  ;  so 
that  if,  unfortunately  for  Europe  and  humanity,  there  should  be  any  failure  at 
Vienna,  no  man  should  point  to  the  English  Government  and  to  the  authorities  and 
rulers  of  this  Christian  country,  and  say  that  we  have  prolonged  the  war  and  the 
infinite  calamities  of  which  it  is  the  cause.  I  have  said  that  I  was  anxious  that  the 
Government  of  the  noble  lord  should  not  be  overthrown.  Will  the  House  allow  me 
to  say  why  I  am  so  ?  The  noble  lord  at  the  head  of  the  Government  has  long_  been 
a  great  authority  with  many  persons  in  this  country  upon  foreign  policy.  His  late 
colleague,  the  present  envoy  to  Vienna,  has  long  been  a  great  authority 
with  a  large  portion  of  the  people  of  this  country  upon  almost  all  political  questions. 
With  the  exception  of  that  unhappy  selection  of  an  ambassador  at  Constantinople, 
I  hold  that  there  are  no  men  in  this  country  more  truly  responsible  for  our  present 
position  in  this  war  than  the  noble  lord  who  now  fills  the  highest  office  in  the  State 
and  the  noble  lord  who  is  now,  I  trust,  rapidly  approaching  the  scene  of  his 
labours  in  Vienna.  I  do  not  say  this  now  to  throw  blame  upon  those  noble  lords, 
because  their  policy,  which  I  hold  to  be  wrong,  they,  without  doubt,  as  firmly 
believe  to  be  right ;  but  I  am  only  stating  facts.  It  has  been  their  policy  that  they 
have  entered  into  war  for  certain  objects,  and  I  am  sure  that  neither  the  noble  lord 
at  the  head  of  the  Government  nor  his  late  colleague,  the  noble  lord  the  member 
for  London,  will  shrink  from  the  responsibility  which  attaches  to  them.  Well,  Sir, 
iiow  we  have  those  noble  lords  in  a  position  which  is,  in  my  humble  opinion, 
favourable  to  the  tcnnination  of  the  troubles  which  exist.  I  think  that  the  noble 
lord  at  the  head  of  the  Government  himself  would  have  more  influence  in  stilling 
whatever  may  exist  of  clamour  in  this  country  than  any  other  member  of  this 
House.  I  think,  also,  that  the  noble  lord  the  member  for  London  would  not  have 
undertaken  the  mission  to  Vienna  if  he  had  not  entertained  some  strong  belief  that, 
by  so  doing,  he  might  bring  the  war  to  an  end.  Nobody  gains  reputation  by 
a  failure  in  negotiation,  and  as  that  noble  lord  is  well  acquainted  with  the  whole 
'{uestion  from  begin  iiing  to  end,  I  entertain  a  hope — I  will  not  say  a  sanguine 
hope— that  the  result  of  that  mission  to  Vienna  will  be  to  bring  about  a  peace,  to 
extricate  this  country  from  some  of  those  difficulties  inseparable  from  a  state  of 


316  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  BBIGHT.  flgtf 

war.  There  is  one  subject  upon  which  I  should  like  to  put  a  question  to  the 
noble  lord  at  the  head  of  the  Government.  I  shall  not  say  one  word  here  about  the 
state  of  the  army  in  the  Crimea,  or  one  word  about  its  numbers  or  its  condition. 
Every  member  of  this  House,  every  inhabitant  of  this  country,  has  been  sufficiently 
harrowed  with  details  regarding  it.  To  my  solemn  belief  thousands,  nay,  scores  of 
thousands,  of  persons  have  retired  to  rest  night  sifter  night,  whose  slumbers  have 
been  disturbed,  or  whose  dreams  have  been  busied,  with  the  sufferings  and  agonies 
of  our  soldiers  in  the  Crimea.  I  should  like  to  ask  the  noble  lord  at  th?  head  of  the 
Government — although  I  am  not  sure  if  he  will  feel  that  he  can  or  ough ;  to  answer 
the  question — whether  the  noble  lord  the  member  for  London  has  power  after  the 
iiscussion  has  commenced,  as  soon  as  there  shall  be  established  good  grounds  for 
Believing  that  the  negotiations  for  peace  will  prove  successful,  to  enter  into 
iny  armistice?  (No,  no,  and  Hear,  hear.)  I  know  not,  sir,  who  it  is  says 
'No,  no,'  but  I  should  like  to  see  any  man  get  up  and  say  that  the  destruction 
of  200,000  human  lives  lost  on  all  sides  during  the  course  of  this  unhappy  war  is 
not  a  sufficient  sacrifice.  You  are  not  pretending  to  conquer  territory — you  are 
not  pretending  to  hold  fortified  towns ;  you  have  offered  terms  of  peace  which,  as 
I  understand  them,  I  do  not  say  are  not  moderate ;  and  breathes  there  a  man  in 
this  House,  or  in  the  country,  whose  appetite  for  blood  is  so  insatiable  that,  even 
when  terms  of  peace  have  been  offered  and  accepted,  he  pines  for  that  assault  in 
which  of  Russians,  Turks,  French,  and  English,  as  sure  as  one  man  dies,  20,000 
corpses  will  strew  the  streets  of  Sebastopol.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  should  like  to 
know,  and  venture  to  hope,  if  the  noble  lord  can  adopt  a  course  by  which 
all  future  waste  of  human  lif e  may  be  put  an  end  to,  and  the  enmities  between  the 

great  nations  healed  up I  do  not  suppose  that  your  troops  are  to  be 

beaten  in  actual  conflict  with  the  foe,  or  that  they  will  be  driven  into  the  sea; 
but  I  am  certain  that  many  homes  in  England  in  which  there  now  exists  a  fond  hope 
that  the  distant  one  may  return — many  such  homes  may  be  rendered  desolate 
when  the  next  mail  shall  arrive.  The  angel  of  death  has  been  abroad  throughout 
the  land ;  you  may  almost  hear  the  beating  of  his  wings.  There  is  no  one,  as 
when  the  firstborn  were  slain  of  old,  to  sprinkle  with  blood  the  lintel  and  the 
two  sideposts  of  our  doors  that  he  may  spare  and  pass  on.  He  takes  his  victims 
from  the  castle  of  the  noble,  the  mansion  of  the  wealthy,  and  the  cottage  of  the 
poor  and  the  lowly,  and  it  is  on  behalf  of  all  these  classes  that  I  make  this  solemn 
appeal." 

This  beautiful  passage  literally  thrilled  those  present, 
stirring  to  their  inmost  depths  hearts  that  had  no  friendly 
feeling  towards  the  speaker.  The  language,  almost  inspired, 
was  delivered  in  a  tone  which  seemed  to  have  caught  an  energy 
not  of  this  world's  creation.  All  felt  the  solemn  and  awful 
reality  which  was  thus  figuratively  depicted,  and  amongst 
many  there  was  a  sense  of  something  like  repentance  for  having 
been  deluded  into  taking  part  in  promoting  a  war  that  had 
sacrificed  so  much  human  life. 

The  acute  observer  must  have  noticed  that  the  style  of 
Mr.  Bright' s  oratory  had  gradually  improved  up  to  this  date. 
He  displayed,  apparently  without  effort,  all  the  accomplish- 
ments of  the  orator.  His  illustrations  are  not  forced,  and 
nearly  the  whole  of  his  pastoral  thoughts  and  images  are  taken 
from  the  Bible  and  Milton.  To  the  same  healing  fountain  he 
refers  when  his  heart  is  troubled,  and  images  of  peace  and  repose 
are  more  acceptable  to  his  mind  than  the  applause  of  towns  and 
crowded  senates. 

At  a  meeting  at  Newall's  Buildings,  Manchester,  on  the  6tb 
f  March,  Mr.  Bright  thus  concluded  a  speech  : — 


1855.1  ANTI-WAR    SPEECHES.  817 

"  I  confess  when  I  see  all  that  is  going  on  in  the  increase  of  trade,  tif  population, 
of  wealth,  and  all  that  many  men  are  contemplating  to  do  with  regard  to  education, 
and  with  regard  to  morals  and  religion  in  this  country,  I  cannot  but  be  oppressed 
with  the  melancholy  feeling  that  if  this  doctrine  of  constant  intervention  in  th« 
countries  of  Europe  be  one  which  we  aje  to  espouse  and  to  act  upon,  this  countrj 
cannot  by  any  possibility  continue  prosperous,  and  all  the  virtue  that  our  peopH 
profess  cannot  save  us  long  from  perils  of  the  most  fearful  character,  which  will 
endanger  the  monarchy  itself  and  every  institution  of  the  country  which  we  value. 
(Hear,  hear.)  For  war  is  a  fiend  of  such  insatiable  appetite  that  it  will  swallow  up 
all  that  the  most  ingenious  industry  can  create ;  and  virtue,  and  education,  and 
power  alike,  however  they  may  appear  for  a  moment  to  receive  some  glory  from 
successful  war,  must  at  last  fall  under  this  worst  of  demons  that  can  afflict  any 
country ;  and  when  I  find  men  going  about  our  streets  laughing  at  us,  ridiculing  us, 
telling  us  that  we  are  not  patriotic,  I  ask  if  there  had  been  somebody  sixty  years 
ago  to  take  this  principle  of  non-intervention  up,  and  to  adopt  it,  and  to  carry  it  out 
in  our  Government,  should  we  not  have  escaped  that  long  and  odious  war,  with  its 
expenditure  of  fifteen  hundred  millions  of  money — should  we  not  have  been  free 
from  the  barbarism  and  degradation  which  now  run  riot  over  our  population — and 
should  we  not  have  stood,  not  by  force  of  arms,  but  by  force  of  character  and  true 
greatness,  infinitely  more  the  arbiter  of  Europe  than  we  ever  can  be  by  the  greatest 
fleets,  or  by  the  most  powerful  and  enormous  armies  ?  "  (Prolonged  cheering.) 

A  large  meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall,  Manchester,  on 
the  6th  of  April,  to  hear  addresses  on  the  subject  of  the  war.  Mr. 
Bright's  speech  extended  over  three  columns,  and  on  this  occa- 
sion he  said  : — 

"  I  confess  that,  for  myself,  I  bow  my  head  with  shame  when  I  look  back  upon 
the  follies  and  crimes  that  this  nation,  of  which  I  am  a  citizen,  has  to  my  mind 
been  guilty  of.  (Hear,  hear.)  And  then  at  this  moment  I  feel  humiliated  because  we 
find  ourselves  in  such  a  helpless  condition;  for  with  this  feeling  of  shame  and 
disgust  there  appears  to  be  nothing  whatever  done  or  doing  on  the  part  of  the  nation 
to  bring  the  Government  to  a  better  course,  and  to  extricate  ourselves  from  the 
difficulties  into  which  we  have  so  passionately  plunged  ourselves.  We  have  a 
Government,  as  we  all  know,  of  distinguished  men — that  is  distinguished,  some  of 
them,  by  lines  of  ancestry — (laughter) — more  correctly  and  exactly  recorded  than 
anything  of  which  we  down  here  pretend  to  boast  of.  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter.) 
We  have  a  Government,  as  we  have  had  for  the  last  two  years,  made  up  almost 
exclusively  of  lords— (hear,  hear) — men  who-  do  not  consider  it  necessary  for  then) 
or  becoming  in  them,  one  or  the  other,  to  engage  in  those  avocations  which  il 
Lancashire  are  generally  considered  to  be  befitting  to  almost  all  men,  and  honour 
able  certainly  to  all  who  are  engaged  in  them.  (Hear,  hear.)  We  have  a  Govern 
ment  of  lords,  of  hereditary  persons  who  kindly  undertake  to  rule  this  great  nation, 
charging  us  £5,000  a  year  for  each  of  these  persons,  and  they  consider  it  very  oftel 
extremely  impertinent  if  we  make  any  comment  upon  the  manner  in  which  we  an 
governed.  Now,  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe,  notwithstanding  that  we  havt 
seen  foolish  of  late,  that  there  is  wisdom  enough,  manly  strength  enough,  power  o: 
intellect  enough,  morality  enough  in  this  country  to  afford  us  a  very  much  better 
Government  than  we  have  seen  of  late.  (Cheers.)  Possibly  when  we  take  matters 
a  little  more  into  our  own  hands  we  may  find  that  the  national  affairs  can  be 
managed  somewhat  better  than  they  have  been  in  recent  years." 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1855,  in  the 
discussion  respecting  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  Mr.  Bright 
said : — 

11  Is  war  the  only  thing  a  nation  enters  upon  in  which  the  cost  is  never  to  be 
reckoned?  Is  it  nothing  that  in  twelve  months  you  have  sacrificed  20,000  or  30,000 
men,  who  a  year  ago  were  your  own  fellow- citizens,  living  in  your  midst,  _and  inte- 
rested, as  you  are,  in  all  the  social  and  political  occurrences  of  the  day  P  Is  it  nothing 
that,  in  addition  to  those  lives,  a  sum  of — I  am  almost  afraid  to  say  how  much,  but 
£30,000,000  or  £40,000,000  will  not  be  beyond  (he  mark— has  already  been  expended ! 


818  LIFE   AND    /IMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  £1855. 

Aiid  let  the  House  bear  in  mind  this  solemn  fact — that  the  four  nations  engaged  in 
this  war  have  already  lost  so  many  men,  that  if  you  were  to  go  from  Chelsea  to 
Blnckwall,  and  from  Highgate  and  Hampstead  to  Norwood,  and  take  every  man  of 
ii  fighting  ag^e  and  put  him  to  death — if  -you  did  this  you  would  not  sacrifice  a  larger 
number  of  lives  than  have  already  been  scorified  in  these  twelve  months  of  war. 
Your  own  troops,  as  you  know,  have  suffered,  during  a  Crimean  winter,  tortures  anil 
horrors  which  the  great  Florentine  hardly  imagined  when  he  wrote  his  immortal 
epic.  Hon.  members  are  ready,  I  know,  to  say,  'Whose  fault  is  that? '  But  if  our 
loss  has  been  less  than  that  of  the  French,  less  than  that  of  the  Turks,  and  less  than 
that  of  the  Russians,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that,  whatever  mistakes  may  have  been 
committed  by  the  Government,  the  loss  in  the  aggregate  would,  even  under  other 
circumstances,  have  fallen  very  little  short  of  that  which  I  have  attempted  tc 
describe.  Are  these  things  to  be  accounted  nothing  ?  We  have  had  for  twelve 
years  past  a  gradual  reduction  of  taxation,  and  there  has  been  an  immense  improve- 
ment in  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  condition  of  the  people  of  this  country ; 
while  for  the  last  two  years  we  have  commenced  a  career  of  reimposing  taxes,  have 
bed  to  apply  for  a  loan,  and  no  doubt,  if  this  war  goes  on,  extensive  loans  are  still 
in  prospect.  Hon.  members  may  think  this  is  nothing.  They  say  it  is  a  '  low '  view 
of  the  case.  But,  these  things  are  the  foundation  of  your  national  greatness,  and  of 
your  national  duration ;  and  you  may  be  following  visionary  phantoms  in  all  parts  of 
the  world  while  your  own  country  is  becoming  rotten  within,  and  calamities  may  be 
in  store  for  the  monarchy  and  the  nation  of  which  now,  it  appears,  you  take  no  heed- 
Every  man  connected  with  trade  knows  how  much  trade  has  suffered,  how  much 
profits  in  every  branch  of  trade — except  in  contracts  arising  out  of  the  war — have 
diminished,  how  industry  is  becoming  more  precarious  and  the  reward  for  industry 
less,  how  the  price  of  food  is  raised,  and  how  much  there  is  of  a  growing  pressure  of 
all  classes,  especially  upon  the  poorest  of  the  people — a  pressure,  which  by-and-by 
• — not  just  now,  when  the  popular  frenzy  is  lashed  into  fury  morning  after  morning 
by  the  newspapers — [Murmurs] — but  I  say  by-and-by  this  discontent  will  grow 
rapidly,  and  you  (pointing  to  the  Ministerial  bench)  who  now  fancy  you  are  fulfilling 
the  behests  of  the  national  will,  will  find  yourselves  pointed  to  as  the  men  who  ought 
to  have  taught  the  nation  better. 

"  I  will  not  enter  into  the  question  of  the  harvest.  That  is  in  the  hand  of  Provi- 
dence, and  may  Providence  grant  that  the  harvest  may  be  as  bountiful  as  it  was  last 
year !  But  the  House  must  recollect  that  in  1853,  only  two  years  ago,  there  was  the 
worst  harvest  that  had  been  known  for  forty  years.  Prices  were  very  high  in  conse- 
quence. Last  year  the  harvest  was  the  greatest  ever  known,  yet  prices  have  been 
scarcely  lower,  and  there  are  not  wanting  men  of  great  information  and  of  sound 
judgment  who  look  with  much  alarm  to  what  may  come — I  trust  it  may  not  come — if 
we  should  have,  in  addition  to  the  calamities  of  war,  calamities  arising  from  a 
scarcity  of  food,  which  may  be  scarcely  less  destructive  of  the  peace  and  comfort  of 
the  population  of  this  country.  ...  It  certainly  appears  to  me  to  be  unjustifiable 
Miat  while  Lord  Aberdeen  was  honestly  endeavouring  to  bring  the  negotiations  to  a 
peaceful  conclusion,  the  noble  lord  was  taking  a  course  which  rendered  statesman- 
ship valueless  in  conducting  the  foreign  policy  of  the  nation.  The  noble  lord,  how- 
erer,  at  last  brought  his  conduct  to  a  climax.  The  hon.  member  for  Sheffield  (Mr. 
f.  A.  Roebuck)  came  forward  as  a  Little  David — (loud  laughter) — with  a  sling  and 
atone,  weapons  which  he  did  not  often  use — (hear,  hear) — at  the  sight  of  which  the 
Whig  Goliath — (renewed  laughter) — went  howling  and  vanquished  to  the  back 
benches.  (Loud  cheers  and  laughter.)  The  noble  lord  the  member  for  London 
(Lord  John  Russell)  was  the  captain  of  the  State  vessel,  and  the  noble  lord  the 
member  for  Tiverton  (Viscount  Palmerston)  was  the  mate ;  but  how  is  it  now  ?  The 
noble  lord  the  member*for  the  city  of  London  has  accepted  the  position  of  mate  in 
the  most  perilous  times,  in  the  most  tempestuous  weather,  and  with  no  chart  he  goes 
to  sea  on  a  most  dangerous  and  interminable  voyage,  and  with  the  very  reckless 
captain  whom  he  would  not  trust  as  mate.  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  The  noble  lord 
the  member  for  London  has  made  a  defence  of  his  conduct  at  Vienna.  I  am  willing 
to  give  him  credit  that  he  did  then  honestly  intend  peace  ;  but  I  do  think  that  wheu 
he  goes  again,  and  on  such  a  journey,  he  will  do  well  to  leave  some  of  his  historic 
knowledge  behind  him.  (Laughter.)  They  were  indeed  historic  fancies.  There  ia 
nothing^  to  me  so  out  of  place  as  the  comparison  which  the  noble  lord  made  between 
the  limitation  of  the  Russian  fleet  in  the  Black  Sea  and  the  destruction  of  Dunkirk, 
or  between  the  condition  of  the  Black  Sea  and  that  of  the  lakes  of  North  America. 
(Hear,  hear.)  I  have  observed  the  noble  viscount's  conduct  ever  since  I  had  the 
honour  of  a  seat  in  this  House ;  and  the  noble  viscount  will  excuse  me  if  I  state  the 


1855.]  MB..    ROEBUCK'S   VOTE    OF   CENSURE.  319 

reasons  why  I  have  often  opposed  him.  The  reason  is  that  the  noble  viscount  treats 
all  these  questions  and  the  House  itself  with  such  a  want  of  seriousness — (cheers) — 
that  it  has  appeared  to  me  that  he  has  no  serious,  or  sufficiently  serious,  conviction 
of  the  important  business  that  so  constantly  comes  before  this  House.  (Cheers  and 
laughter.)  I  judge  the  noble  viscount  as  a  man  who  has  experience,  but  who  with 
experience  has  not  gained  wisdom — as  a  man  who  has  age,  but  who,  with  age,  has 
uot  the  gravity  of  age — (cheers  and  laughter) — and  who,  now  occupying  the  highest 
seat  of  power  has — and  I  say  it  with  pain — not  appeared  affected  with  a  due  sense 
of  the  responsibility  that  belongs  to  that  elevated  position.  (Cheers.)  We  are  now 
just  in  the  hands  of  those  two  noble  lords.  They  are  the  authors  of  the  war.  It 
lies  between  them  that  peace  was  not  made  at  Vienna  upon  some  proper  terms. 
(Hear,  hear.)  And  whatever  disasters  may  be  in  store  for  this  country,  or  for 
Europe,  they  will  lie  at  the  doors  of  these  noble  lords." 

In  the  discussion  on  Mr.  Roebuck's  vote  of  censure  upon 
the  Government,  in  July,  which  was  lost  by  a  majority  of  107, 
Mr.  Bright,  in  alluding  to  the  conduct  of  Lord  Palmerston, 
said  : — 

"  He  seems  to  me  to  be  insensible  to  the  fact  that  clouds  are  gathering  round  the 
horizon  of  this  country ;  he  appears  not  to  know  that  his  policy  is  the  doom  of 
death  to  thousands  upon  thousands,  carrying  desolation  to  the  homes  of  England, 
and  sorrow  to  millions  of  hearts.  He  may  perchance  never  see  that  which  comes 
often  to  my  vision — the  interminable  ghastly  procession  of  our  slaughtered  country- 
men, to  which  every  day  fresh  lists  of  victims  are  added.  I  see  these  things  ;  I  speak 
in  apprehension  of  them ;  and  in  their  presence  I  have  no  confidence  in  the  noble 
lord,  whose  conduct  is,  I  believe,  humiliating  to  the  House  and  full  of  peril  to  the 
country;"  (Loud  cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the  H ulnae  Friendly  Society's 
festival  on  the  27th  of  September,  and,  in  alluding  to  his  career, 
he  said : — 

"  I  went  into  the  House  of  Commons  unexpectedly  and  accidentally.  I  have  been 
at  my  post  for  twelve  years,  and  no  man  is  able  to  say  that  during  that  time  I  have 
acted  upon  any  other  principle  than  those  which  I  previously  expounded — (cheers) — 
or  that  I  have  ever  showji  any  desire  to  promote  any  other  interest  than  that  of  the 
whole  country  of  which  I  am  a  citizen.  (Cheers.)  My  notion  is  that  the  legislation 
of  this  country  should  not  be  a  legislation  of  politicians  and  statesmen,  according  to 
their  antiquated  theories,  but  a  legislation  based  upon  just,  moral,  and  Christian 
principles ;  and  being  so,  I  believe  Government  would  be  perfectly  secure,  for  the 
people  who  were  well  governed  would  generally  be  contented  and  happy."  (Cheers.) 

The  Liberals  of  Rochdale  met  on  the  3rd  of  October  for  the 
purpose  of  presenting  Mr.  W.  Sharman  Crawford,  their  late 
member,  with  a  silver  candelabrum,  as  a  testimony  of  their  esteem 
for  his  public  services  while  representing  them  in  Parliament 
for  a  period  of  eleven  years.  Mr.  Bright  was  one  of  the  speakers, 
and  in  a  part  of  his  speech  he  remarked  : — 

"  I  forget  sometimes  when  speaking  here  whether  I  am  speaking  as  an  inhabitant 
of  Rochdale  or  whether  I  am  speaking  in  rather  a  more  public  character ;  and  I  am 
sometimes  disposed  to  pay  compliments  which  I  could  pay  with  greater  modesty  if  I 
came  from  somewhare  else,  but  which  I  feel  a  difficulty  in  paying  while  here,  as  it 
seems  as  if  one  were  complimenting  one's  self.  (Laughter.)  But  I  do  take  great  de- 
light in  this  f eeling,  that  for  twenty  years  past  at  least— I  think  with  very  little  excep- 
tion ever  since  this  borough  was  enfranchised — we  have  endeavoured  to  perform  our 
dutj  to  our  country  faithfully,  in  the  exercise  of  our  rights  as  citizens  and  as  electors. 
We  have  not  spent  enormous  sums,  and  we  have  not  to  any  great  extent  exercised 
undue  or  improper  influence ;  we  have  not  sold  our  political  power,  but  we  have 
endeavoured,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  to  seek  for  men  to  represent  us  who  could 


320  LIFE    AND    TIMES   OP   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1855. 

conie  before  us  with  unspotted  private  and  unspotted  public  characters,  whose  true 
and-honest  object  in  goiug  to  Parliament  was  to  advance  that  which  is  good  and 
moral  and  just  in  the  legislation  of  the  country.  (Cheers.)  I  take  the  liberty  of 
thinking  that  the  questions  about  which  we  have  shown  great  interest  have  generally 
been  those  on  which  the  welfare  of  the  country  did  most  depend.  (Hear,  hear.) 
Unfortunately,  now  we  find  ourselves  in  tempestuous  times,  and  I  am  not  sure 
whether  we  have  either  rudder  or  compass,  or  know  exactly  whither  we  are  driving. 
But  looking  back  over  a  series  of  years,  we  have  been  anxious  to  make  the  industry 
of  this  country  perfectly  free,  by  which  every  mau,  be  he  poor  or  be  he  rich,  should 
have  a  fair  field  and  no  favour,  and  no  legal  or  legislative  impediments  to  his  pra- 
gress  and  to  his  success Now,  I  have  not  a  particle  of  regard  for  a  news- 
paper any  more  than  I  have  for  anybody  else,  unless  I  can  see  in  what  is  urged, 
and  the  arguments  that  are  used,  an  honest  spirit.  I  confess  for  myself — I  can  say 
it  with  truth — that  often  as  I  have  spoken,  in  Parliament  or  out  of  it,  to  my  country- 
men, I  have  never  to  my  knowledge  stated  that  to  be  a  fact  which  I  did  not  believe 
to  be  so,  and  I  have  never  made  use  of  any  argument  which  I  did  not  think  was  fair 
and  honest,  as  bearing  upon  the  question.  (Cheers.)  Therefore,  when  I  discuss 
with  other  men  I  like  to  have  a  return  of  that  honesty  in  regard  to  the  question.  If 
what  I  have  said  about  the  press  is  reported  in  the  press,  of  course  I  shall  be  abused 
by  the  press.  But  I  have  heard  Lord  John  Russell  say  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
without  contradiction,  that  in  the  year  1808,  when  there  was  a  peace  made  between 
England  and  France — a  peace  which  lasted  only  a  few  months— the  reason  the 
Government  could  not  preserve  the  peace  was  not  ih  it  Napoleon  wanted  to  break  it, 
but  that  the  press  of  England  stimulated  the  people,  concealed  what  would  have 
been  the  true  interests  of  the  people,  and  made  it  impossible  for  the  Government  to 
preserve  the  peace.  The  result  of  that  was  eleven  years  of  the  most  extensive  war 
which  has  ever  taken  place  in  modern  times.  The  eleven  years  of  war  made 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  beggars  and  criminals  within  the  United  Kingdom,  and 
every  £100  now  which  our  Chancellor  takes  in  taxes  for  this  war  is  making  also  its 
pauper  or  its  criminal.  Don't  let  us  be  told  that  if  it  be  a  righteous  war  we  are  not 
to  regard  the  cost.  The  war  may  be  honourable,  but  I  assure  you  that  those  little 
children  of  yours,  who  are  now  ornamenting  your  homes  and  gladdening  your 
hearts,  when  they  grow  up  to  be  men  and  women,  and  look  back  to  the  history  of 
the  times  through  which  we  are  now  passing,  they  will  have  wonderful  difficulty  to 
discover  in  the  restoration  of  Mohammedan  power,  or  the  humiliation  of  Russia,  or 
the  glory  of  the  British  arms,  anything  that  can  compensate  them  for  the  crushing 
taxes  from  which  they  can  only  escape  by  emigrating  from  a  country  which  should 
have  afforded  them  a  happy  home  during  their  lives.  (Loud  cheers.) 

The  members  of  the  Marsden  Institute  invited  Mr.  Bright 
to  their  annual  meeting,  which  was  held  in  a  large  room  on 
the  premises  of  Messrs.  William  Ecroyd  and  Son,  Lorneshaye, 
near  Burnley/ on  the  14th  of  December,  and  he  explained  that 

"Whenever he  could  possibly  do  so,  he  spent  three  or  four  hours  of  an  evening 
reading  some  works  of  history  and  of  biography,  and  he  never  went  to  bed 
with  more  perfect  feeling  of  enjoyment,  or  more  strengthened,  than  when  he 
had  so  spent  the  evening.  He  did  not  in  the  least  believe  in  the  grand  schemes 
of  policy  advanced  by  kings,  queens,  or  cabinets,  which  flew  in  the  face  of 
almost  ordinary  resolutions  of  Christian  morality,  as  applied  to  our  own 
conduct ;  and  there  was  no  greater  evil  that  came  from  the  state  of  twilight 
to  which  he  had  alluded  than  that  we  were  always  getting  into  a  state  of  panic. 
A  man  wholly  ignorant  or  half  informed  was  not  only  the  most  ignorant  of  real 
danger,  but  he  was  the  most  likely  to  be  alarmed  where  no  danger  existed.  Such 
was  very  often  the  condition  of  this  country.  Every  three  or  four  years  we 
had  a  panic,  at  which  four  or  five  years  afterwards  all  the  world  laughed.  Let 
them  at  any  rate  bring  up  their  children  so  that  they  should  read  and  think, 
and  then  if  they  ever  went  into  war  they  should  know  its  definite  object,  cost, 
probable  result,  and  whether  the  thing  to  be  obtained  woTild  at  all  pay  for  the 
charges  of  blood  and  treasure  that  would  have  to  be  incurred.  Many  might 
say  that  he  had  no  business  to  go  into  this  question.  (Hear,  hear.)  But  if  they 
had  to  talk  to  people  it  was  no  use  talking  about  what  th  >y  thought  they 
understood  as  well  as  themselves,  or  about  things  in  which  they  fell  no  interest 


1855.]  AN   EMIGRANT'S   RETURN.  821 

(Hear,  hear.)  He  was  a  politician,  unfortunately,  and  was  obliged  to  pay  attention 
to  these  subjects  as  much  as  the  surgeon  to  anatomy  or  the  physician  to  medicine, 
and  that  which  he  had  examined  and  thought  he  understood,  and  in  which  his  ideas 
had  deep  interest,  could  hardly  be  a  question  that  he  could  be  blamed  for  touching 
upon  at  some  length."  (Hear,  hear.) 

When  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  sen.,  began  business  on  his  own 
account,  he  employed  a  mechanic  named  Whitehead,  who,  in  the 
year  1820,  emigrated  to  America,  with  the  intention  of  improving 
his  condition  in  life,  and  ultimately  he  was  successful.  During 
his  residence  there,  his  thoughts  often  fondly  wandered  to  his 
own  native  town  across  the  Atlantic.  His  imagination  fre- 
quently recalled  the  familiar  and  sonorous  sound  of  the  mill- 
bell,  the  genial  and  beloved  face  and  figure  of  his  employer 
(Mr.  Jacob  Bright),  the  pleasant  faces  of  his  fellow- workmen, 
the  noisy  cawing  of  the  multitude  of  rooks  which  made 
Foxhole's  Wood  their  home,  and  while  he  yearned  over  these 
many  associations  of  his  native  town,  the  pleasant  walks  rose 
up  before  his  memory.  Can  we  wonder  that  an  Englishman, 
being  absent  from  his  native  land  for  thirty-six  years,  should 
determine  to  undertake  the  then  somewhat  perilous  voyage  across 
the  Atlantic,  so  that  he  might  once  more  visit  the  haunts  of 
his  boyhood,  and  see  again  friends  amongst  whom  his  early 
life  had  been  spent?  He  set  sail  for  Liverpool,  and  although 
the  steamer  ploughed  with  the  usual  rapidity  through  the 
waves,  yet  it  did  not  keep  pace  with  his  desire.  The  sailor- 
watchman's  warning,  "  Land  ahead/'  was  received  with  joy. 
It  was  England — a  name  that  had  grown  more  precious  since  he 
had  left  its  shores.  Having  at  last  disembarked,  he  lost  no 
time  in  travelling  to  Rochdale,  and  he  speedily  repaired  to  the 
residence  of  Mr.  Samuel  Tweedale,  the  manager  of  Messrs. 
Bright's  factories.  Over  the  tea-tray  Mr.  Tweedale  gave  an 
outline  of  the  events  which  had  transpired  during  his  absence,  and 
the  saddest  news  he  had  to  tell  his  visitor  was  the  death  of  his 
old  employer,  and  of  numerous  other  friends.  The  two  men  left 
the  house,  and  the  Anglo- Yankee  was  again  disappointed  when  he 
found  that  his  rural  walks  of  the  past  had  been  intruded  upon 
by  dwellings.  The  cawing  rooks,  so  fondly  remembered,  when 
far  away,  had  dwindled,  and  both  birds  and  trees  were  scanty 
in  numbers.  All  he  had  examined  so  far  caused  depression ; 
but  lo !  the  dear  old  sound  of  the  mill-bell  greeted  his  ear,  and 
his  face  brightened,  as  if  he  was  in  gladsome  mood,  listening 
to  some  enchanting  music,  and  as  if  he  were  young  again.  Next 
he  visited  some  old  comrades,  who  welcomed  him  in  true 
Lancashire  fashion.  Lastly,  he  went  to  the  quiet  grave -yard 
of  "  The  Friends'  Meeting  House,"  to  view  the  grave  of  his  lost 


322  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BEIQHT.  [1856. 

employer.  Then  he  began  to  reflect  on  the  career  of  Mr.  John 
Bright,  for  his  fame  had  long  since  crossed  the  ocean,  and  he 
found  that  the  condition  of  the  working  class  had  been  greatly 
improved,  mainly  owing  to  the  labours  of  Mr.  Bright  and  his 
colleagues.  Still,  when  he  contrasted  the  social  condition  of  the 
working  classes  in  the  two  countries,  he  found  that  the  poor, 
over-taxed  English  workmen  were  far  behind  the  labouring 
class  in  America.  Having  satisfied  as  far  as  'possible  the  yearn- 
ings of  his  heart,  he  set  sail  for  America,  more  reconciled  with 
his  new  home. 

The  electors  of  Manchester  invited  their  representatives,  Mr. 
Bright  and  Mr.  M.  Gibson,  to  a  meeting  in  the  Corn  Exchange, 
on  the  28th  of  January,  1856.  On  this  occasion  Mr.  Bright 
delivered  a  long  speech. 

"  'The  defence  of  the  liberties  of  Europe,'  "  he  remarked,  "is  a  phrase  that  Lord 
John  Russell  used,  and  which  he  borrowed  from  the  King's  Speech  in  the  time  of 
William  III.  (Loud  laughter  and  cheers.)  '  The  balance  of  power '  is  another  phrase 
— it  is  an  admirable  phrase,  it  is  a  phrase  no  man  living  has  ever  understood,  that 
nobody  has  ever  succeeded  in  defining— it  is  precisely  one  of  those  things  that  lasts 
for  ever — that  is,  until  you  grow  wiser,  and  find  that  there  is  nothing  whatever  in  it 
— like  hunting  for  the  philosopher's  stone  or  perpetual  motion,  or  any  of  these 

things,  or  like  having  a  perpetual  trail  of  hounds  that  may  hunt  for  ever We  • 

have  been  living  under  a  government  of  old,  old  lords,  since  1688.  I  can  tell  you, 
you  would  not  be  able  to  sleep  in  your  beds  if  those  men  who  manage  the  affairs  of 
this  country  were  also  the  managers  of  your  private  affairs ;  but  those  men  who  have 
those  titles,  having  had  forefathers  of  whom  we  know  but  little,  and  that  little  not 
to  their  advantage,  must  needs  be  a  grand  institution  of  the  country  and  its 
hereditary  governors.  I  must  quote  the  words  of  a  quaint  writer  who  said :  '  If  you 
would  hood  an  ass  in  reverend  purple,  if  you  would  hide  his  two  ambitious  ears,  he 
should  pass  for  a  cathedral  doctor.'  (Loud  laughter  and  cheers.)  On  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic  there  were  no  old  lords,  or  new  lords  either* ;  but  did  any  one  see 
that  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  from  General  Washington  down  to  President 
Pierce,  were  not  as  good  rulers  as  the  average  of  the  monarchs  of  this  country  or  of 
the  rest  of  Europe  ?....!  know  very  well,  and  you  must  know,  that  there  are 
steeps  of  Alma  in  morals  as  well  as  on  the  field  of  battle — of  blood.  (Hear,  hear.) 
We  must  borrow  our  metaphors  from  events  which  pass  before  us.  If  I  am  a 
political  soldier,  I  strive  to  maintain  the  ranks  and  to  confront  unflinching  all  the 
batteries  that  ridicule  or  malice  may  point  against  us.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  wish  to 
pass  on  uninfluenced  by  the  baits  that  seduce  and  by  the  temptations  that  feed 
ambition.  I  wish  to  make  a  lode-star  of  my  political  career ;  and  if  I  felt  what  I 
hold  to  be  just  and  true,  above  and  beyond  the  dignity  of  representing  this  great 
city  in  the  Imperial  Parliament,  I  trust  I  shall  not  on  that  account  be  less  worthy  of 
that  dignity  to  which  your  favour  and  confidence  have  raised  me."  (Cheers.) 

For  some  time  before  this  date,  and  while  the  thousands  of 
graves  were  growing  green  in  the  Crimea,  Mr.  Bright' s  health 
began  to  fail  through  over-exertion  and  increasing  public  labour 
for  fifteen  years ;  and  the  unkind  remarks  made  respecting  his 
upright  conduct  in  opposing  the  war,  as  well  as  misrepresentation, 
had  produced  an  injurious  effect  upon  his  sensitive  constitution. 

For  upwards  of  two  years  he  opposed  the  war  party  almost 

*  In  connection  with  this  statement  the  reader  may  be  reminded  of  the  mechanic, 
Whitehead's  contrast  between  the  labouring  classes  of  the  two  countries. 


1856.]  MR.  GLADSTONE  ON  ME.  BRIGHT'S  CONDUCT.  323 

alone,  and  during  that  time  he  never  allowed  the  most  dexterous 
of  his  antagonists  to  gain  the  slightest  advantage  over  him. 
He  was  never  betrayed  into  a  rash  expression,  and  never  inflamed 
into  unbecoming  wrath.  He  sat,  night  after  night,  in  the 
House,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  advantage  of  any  opportunity 
to  try  to  prevent  the  further  slaughter  of  his  countrymen ;  and 
when  he  rose  he  gave  utterance  to  eloquence  in  pathetic  and 
generous  appeals,  and  vigorous  and  caustic  remarks  which 
withered  his  opponents.  He  persevered  with  a  manliness  which 
conferred  the  highest  panegyric  on  his  nature,  a  penetration 
which  placed  his  ability  in  the  highest  point  of  view,  and  a  con- 
fidence in  the  national  character,  which  nothing  but  singular 
nobleness  in  the  heart  of  a  philanthropist  could  have  dictated  and 
sustained. 

In  later  years,  in  a  speech  at  Birmingham,  Mr.  Bright  said : — 

"  Well,  I  cannot  forget  all  that  took  place  on  that  occasion.  There  is  much  of  it 
I  wish  I  could  forget.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  wish  I  could  forget  the  slanders  that  were 
uttered  against  me  ;  slanders  from  many  writers  of  the  press,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
some  of  the  most  bitter  were  from  those  people  who  are  supposed  to  write  for  the 
religious  newspapers.  I  should  be  glad  if  I  could  forget  that  I  was  at  one  time 
hissed  and  hooted  by  mobs,  and  forget,  further,  a  story  that  I  was  burnt  in  effigy  by 
those  I  was  most  anxious  to  serve ;  and,  finally,  that  in  consequence  of  the  course  I 
took  on  a  great  public  question  I  lost  my  seat  in  Parliament  for  one  of  the  first 
constituencies  of  the  kingdom.  But  I  may  recollect  that,  after  all,  I  never  lost  the 
sense,  and  I  have  not  lost  it  yet,  that  I  did  what  was  my  duty  to  my  country,  under 
the  trying  and  the  difficult  circumstances  in  which  I  was  placed."  (Applause.) 

The  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone  at  the  same  meeting,,  paid 
a  tribute  of  respect  to  Mr.  Bright : — • 

"We  ought  to  be  ready,"  said  Mr.  Gladstone,  "as  my  right  hon.  friend,  Mr. 
Bright,  showed  himself  to  be  ready  at  the  time  of  the  Crimean  war  to  lay  his 
popularity  as  a  sacrifice — (loud  cheers) — upon  the  altar  of  his  duty,  I  will  not  say 
without  a  moment  of  regret,  because  I  am  sure  that  to  a  man  of  his  feelings  and 
strong  sympathies  it  must  have  been  a  matter  of  regret  to  find  himself  less  in 
harmony  for  a  time  with  the  sentiment  of  that  day  than  he  had  been  theretofore. 
Perhaps,  with  many  sentiments,  many  moments  of  regret,  but  without  one  sentiment 
or  one  moment  of  hesitation.  (Cheers.)  That,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  conduct  which 
beyond  all  others  ennobles  the  man  that  pursues  it  and  the  country  that  produces 
such  men.  It  is  not  every  one  who  has  the  opportunity  of  making  such  splendid 
offerings  to  duty  as  he  did,  because  it  is  not  every  one  that  can  accumulate  the  stock 
of  public  approbation  and  esteem  out  of  which  alone  they  can  be  made.  But  every 
one  of  us  nan,  from  early  life  onwards,  to  some  extent  imitate  such  conduct,  though 
we  may  be  content  to  labour  in  the  dark — content  to  labour  under  suspicion,  content 
to  labour  under  reproach,  well  assured  that  if  we  keep  the  pole-star  of  duty  well 
fixed  in  our  vision  we  never  shall  fail  to  reach  the  end  which  we  have  in  view,  as  far 
as  it  involves  the  good  of  the  country,  and  to  reach  such  mode  and  measure  of  public 
approval  as  may  be  good  and  sufficient  for  ourselves."  (Hear,  hear.) 

Throughout  the  war  both  Liberals  and  Conservatives 
denounced  the  unpopular  part  taken  up  by  the  sturdy  represen- 
tative of  Manchester,  but  he  passed  through  the  keen  ordeal  in 
the  House  of  Commons  with  credit,  and  came  out  a  recognised 
favourite  in  that  assembly,  valued  by  his  friends  and  respected 


824  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  |1857. 

by  his  opponents.  In  him  was  seen  a  magnificent  specimen  of 
the  Puritan  :  fervour,  devotion,  honest  indignation,  moral  fear- 
lessness, uncompromising  integrity,  were  all  conspicuous,  and 
unalloyed  by  hypocrisy. 

Mr.  Bright  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  George  Wilson,  the  chair- 
man of  the  election  committee  of  Manchester,  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1856,  in  which  he  stated  : — 

"  For  fifteen  years  I  have  worked  chiefly,  not  had  rest,  with  very  little 
relaxation,  and  now  I  discover  that  the  brain  has  had  too  much  exercise  and  the 
body  too  little.  I  have  been  to  London  twice  since  the  opening  of  the  session,  but 
have  found  myself  quite  unable  to  attend  to  the  House.  My  medical  adviser 
strongly  urges  me  to  give  up  all  attention  to  business  for  three  months,  and  spend 
the  time  in  seeking  relief  in  a  Continental  journey.  I  need  not  tell  you  how  un- 
willing I  am  to  abandon,  even  for  a  short  time,  the  performance  of  my  duties  in 
Parliament ;  but  necessity  has  no  law,  and  so  I  submit  to  what  I  cannot  avoid. 
My  constituents,  who  for  nearly  nine  years  past  have  been  so  tolerant  with  my 
shortcomings,  will,  I  trust,  believe  that  I  have  not  quitted  my  post  without  a 
sufficient  cause.  I  hope,  when  peace  is  made  and  men's  minds  return  to  matters  of 
home  interest,  I  may  yet  be  able  to  render  some  slight  service  to  the  public.  If  I 
cannot  undertake  to  sustain  by  force  of  arms  the  independence  of  the  Sultan  and 
the  liberties  of  Europe,  I  may  work  in  a  humble  sphere  to  strengthen  the  liberties 
and  promote  the  welfare  of  my  own  country." 

The  Liberal  electors  of  Manchester  were  called  together  on 
the  30th  of  Jamiary,  1857,  to  consider  a  communication  received 
from  Mr.  Bright,  offering  to  resign  his  seat  as  member  for 
Manchester  on  account  of  his  ill  health ;  at  the  same  time  he 
intimated  that  in  the  event  of  his  being  restored  to  his  former 
vigour,  he  intended  to  present  himself  again  at  the  next  election. 
Mr.  Bright,  in  a  letter  dated  November  5th,  1856,  had  stated  : — 

"I  have  consulted  physicians  of  extensive  practice  and  eminent  in  the  pro- 
fession, and  their  opinions  all  concur  in  this,  that  a  complete  rest  from  labour  for 
a  longer  period  is  necessary,  and  that  this,  it  is  believed,  will  give  me  renewed 
health  and  strength.  Acting  upon  this  advice,  which  my  own  judgment  entirely 
approves,  I  am  about  to  leave  home  for  some  months,  and  shall  therefore  in  all 
probability  not  be  able  to  attend  the  House  of  Commons  during  the  next  session  of 
Parliament." 

Mr.  George  Wilson  presided,  and  moved  : — 

"  That  this  meeting  expresses  its  profound  regret  at  the  circumstances  which 
unhappily  necessitate  the  absence  of  its  esteemed  representative,  Mr.  John  Bright, 
and  desires  to  record  its  unabated  confidence  in  the  signal  ability  and  high  moral 
courage,  universally  acknowledged,  with  which  he  has  hitherto  represented  this 
great  metropolis  o_f  industry  in  Parliament ;  that  it  hereby  begs  respectfully  to 
express  its  admiration  of  the  undeviating  consistency  and  unflinching  firmness  with 
which  he  has  adhered  to  those  great  principles  on  which  he  was  elected,  as  well  as 
its  warmest  gratitude  for  the  eminent  services  which  he  has  rendered  to  the  nation : 
that,  while  deeply  sympathising  with  him  under  the  serious  indisposition  which  has 
compelled  him  to  retire  for  a  season  from  public  duties,  it  derives  the  sincere  satis- 
faction from  the  prospect  that  he  will  be  able  ere  long  to  re-enter  upon  them ;  and 
that,  while  cheerfully  conceding  to  him  the  interval  of  repose  which  may  be 
necessary  for  the  complete  restoration  of  his  health,  it  requests  him  to  allow  the 
continuance  of  his  Parliamentary  connection  with  this  city,  in  the  earnest  hope  that 
the  cause  of  popular  rights,  of  social  progress,  and  of  international  concord,  may 
soon  regain  the  assistance  of  his  disinterested  and  distinguished  advocacy  in  the 
House  of  Commons."  (Great  cheering.) 


MR.    HEIGHT'S   ILLNESS.  826 

Mr.  Bazley,  in  seconding  the  motion,  said  : — 

"The  assiduity  with  which  Mr.  Bright  has  performed  his  public  duties  has 
unfortunately  led  to  failing  health,  and  now  in  truth  has  his  mind  over-worked  its 
tenement  of  clay.  Many  years  ago  he  joined  a  faithful  and  patriotic  band  to  assist 
in  the  repeal  of  the  iniquitous  Corn  Laws,  and  from  that  field  of  labour  he  was  called 
upon  to  enter  the  House  of  Commons,  where  with  unceasing  zeal  he  has  been 
a  constant  advocate  of  freedom  of  labour — of  the  due  reward  that  industry  is 
entitled  to,  of  reform,  of  education,  of  peaceful  progress,  and  of  any  improvement 
which  would  promote  the  solid  progress  of  his  fellow -creatures.  (Applause.)  The 
Parliamentary  career  of  our  member  may  be  traced  by  his  untiring  energy — (cheers) 
—his  convincing  eloquence,  and  his  undaunted  moral  and  political  courage." 
(Cheers.) 

The  Right  Hon.  Milrier  Gibson,  in  adding  his  testimony  to 
that  of  the  previous  speakers,  said  : — 

"  I  will  say  that  whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  his  constituents  as  to  his  merits, 
there  is  a  still  more  unanimous  conviction  in  the  House  of  Commons  upon  that 
subject — (cheers) — where  all  parties  bear  testimony  to  his  eloquence  and  ability,  the 
courage  which  he  has  displayed,  qualities  in  wtiich  he  has  few  rivals,  and  none 
exceed  him  in  that  example."  (Cheers.) 

News  was  received  in  London,  in  January,  1856,  that  the 
Czar  of  Russia  had  accepted  a  proposal  as  a  basis  for  negotiating 
a  treaty  of  peace,  and  an  armistice  was  concluded.  On  the 
30th  of  March  the  treaty  was  signed,  on  the  27th  of  April 
the  ratifications  were  exchanged,  and  thus  ended  one  of  the 
greatest  wars  in  which  this  country  was  ever  engaged.  The 
number  of  British  soldiers  that  fell  was  estimated  at  22,000  ;  of 
these  about  4,000  died  by  violence,  the  remainder  having  died 
from  diseases  brought  on  by  exposure  to  wet  and  cold,  and  by 
improper  food.  £50,000,000  was  the  estimated  cost  in  money 
to  this  country,  to  say  nothing  of  the  injury  it  had  done  to  the 
foreign  and  home  trade.  The  only  trophies  brought  back  by 
the  soldiers  were  a  few  wrecks  of  the  field  of  battle  in  the 
shape  of  their  enemies'  cannon,  which  ornament  a  few  parks  in 
England.  Is  this  experience  to  be  lost  on  the  people  of  England? 
What  authority  have  we  to  mortgage  the  flesh  and  bones  and 
sweat  of  future  generations  to  gratify  the  insane  pugnacity  or 
extravagance  of  one  ?  Mr.  Bright  was  a  strong  advocate  for 
peace,  because  he  saw  it  had  triumphs  more  extensive  and 
important  and  permanent  than  those  of  war — triumphs,  not 
of  airy  glory,  that  beggars  kingdoms  and  leaves  an  insolvent 
posterity,  but  that  which  elevates  nations  to  the  loftiest  pitch  of 
prosperity — 

"  Were  half  the  power  that  fills  the  world  with  terror, 

"Were  half  the  wealth  bestowed  on  camps  and  courts, 
Given  to  redeem  the  human  mind  from  error, 
There  were  no  need  for  arsenals  and  forts." 

No  doubt  a  small  fraction  of  the  sums  which  are  squandered 
in  needless  war  would  provide  complete  instruction  for  the 


326  LIFE    AND    TIMES  OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  |1857. 

workiog  people,  impart  important  knowledge  useful  in  their 
callings,  and  consistent  with  the  necessity  of  toiling  for  a 
livelihood. 

It  was  a  saying  of  Channhig's,  that  if  we  would  only  dress 
our  soldiers  in  butchers'  blouses,  the  eyes  of  mankind  would  at 
ouce  be  opened  to  the  true  nature  of  "  glorious  war."  But  even 
without  the  help  of  the  butcher's  blouse,  John  Bright  has  been 
able  to  pierce  through  the  scarlet  and  white  and  gold  trappings 
of  military  glory,  and  see  the  foul  blood-smeared  idol  beneath. 
The  members  of  the  "  Society  of  Friends "  have  always  pro- 
tested against  this  scourge,  which  has  shed  rivers  of  human 
blood,  and  whitened  the  plains  and  mountain-tops  with  lines  of 
ghastly  bones  to  bleach  under  foreign  skies,  and  thus  shown 
themselves  some  centuries  in  advance  of  the  rest  of  the  Christian 
Church — 

"  But  still  that  line  of  spectral  white 
For  ever  is  renewed." 

Mr.  Bright  has  many  times  complained  in  his  speeches  of 
the  apathy  of  the  clergy  in  denouncing  war  ;  but  perhaps 
he  forgot  that  some  of  the  more  fortunate  ones  commence  life  in 
the  dragoons,  and  finish  their  probation  in  the  Church.  It  may 
be  called  a  redeeming  period  in  such  lives  when  the  sword  of 
war  is  substituted  for  the  sword  of  the  Christian  divine,  and 
the  justice  of  the  peace.  Instead  of  raising  their  voices  against 
war,  it  is,  perhaps,  natural  that  these  men  should  look  upon  it, 
at  least,  with  a  certain  degree  of  favour. 


BEIGHT  AND  COBDEN  UNSEATED. 

Death  of  Mr.  Cobden's  Son — Mr.  Bright  Travels  on  the  Continent — Palmerston 
Defeated  in  the  House  by  Cobden — The  Country  Appealed  to — Bright,  Gibson, 
and  Cobden  Unseated — Opinions  of  the  Press — A  Farewell  Address. 

SPRING  always  cheered  the  heart  of  Richard  Cobden,  and  he 
would  be  often  seen  on  the  terrace  walk  of  his  residence  at 
Durnford  feeding  the  birds  that  flew  to  him  from  the  neigh- 
bouring plantation.  Robins  followed  him  about  from  bush  to 
bush,  and  sang  their  lively  notes.  It  was  at  such  a  time  of  the 
year,  in  April,  1856,  that  Mr.  Cobden's  only  son,  a  promising 
youth  of  fifteen,  who  was  at  school  at  Weinheim,  suddenly  died 
from  an  attack  of  scarlet  fever,  and  was  interred  very  soon  after. 
Mr.  Cobden,  who  was  staying  in  London  at  the  time,  was  about 
to  sit  down  with  a  friend  to  breakfast  at  his  apartments,  when 
on  opening  his  letters,  he  learnt  not  of  the  illness,  but  of 
the  actual  death  and  burial  of  his  son.  The  blow  to  Mr. 
Cobden  was  appalling ;  and  after  journeying  five  hours  by  rail, 
he  had  the  sad  task  of  breaking  the  disastrous  tidings  to  Mrs. 
Cobden.  At  first  he  decided  to  communicate  the  news  to 
her  gradually,  but  his  haggard  and  wan  appearance  as  soon 
as  he  met  her  eyes  convinced  her  that  he  had  brought  evil 
tidings  which  he  could  no  longer  conceal ;  and  while  his 
little  girls  were  merry  in  the  drawing-room,  he  had  to  retire 
to  his  chamber,  and  there  he  sat  with  bowed  head  and  helpless 
form,  and  life  grew  dark.  His  wife  at  first  could  not  realise 
the  actual  sorrow  that  had  fallen  upon  them,  and  devoted  her 
attention  to  her  sorrowing  husband.  The  stupor  of  grief, 
however,  soon  came  over  her  too,  and  she  was  transformed 
as  if  into  marble,  and  "appeared  her  own  pale  monument." 
Mr.  Cobden  revived,  and  was  able  to  administer  to  her  mental 
suffering ;  but  her  recovery  from  the  shock  was  very  slow,  and 
after  it  had  extended  over  months  her  hair  was  perceptibly 
whitened.  This  was  the  loss  of  their  first  hope,  and  their 
hearts  were  lone  and  desolate.  Durnford  House  heard  his 
sighs,  and  witnessed  his  solitary  communings.  Mr.  Bright 
sympathised  with  them  in  their  sorrow,  and  he  was  one  who 
could  realise  the  suffering  through  which  they  were  passing,  and 


328  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  f!85& 

in  his  condolence  he  had  said,  "  that  we  know  but  imperfectly 
what  a  mother's  sufferings  are  in  such  a  case." 

Mr.  Bright's  health  was  still  in  a  very  weak  state,  and  even 
in  the  midst  of  his  grief  Mr.  Cobden  could  not  shake  off  the 
apprehensions  of  fear  : — 

"  I  have  had  a  sort  of  selfish  share  in  Mr.  Bright's  career,"  wrote  Mr.  Cobden 
to  a  friend,  "  for  I  have  felt  as  though,  when  passing  the  zenith  of  life,  I  was  handing 
over  every  principle  and  cause  I  had  most  at  heart  to  the  advocacy  of  one  not  only 
vounger  and  more  energetic,  but  with  gifts  of  natural  eloquence  to  which  I  never 
pretended.  Perhaps  there  were  never  two  men  who  lived  in  such  transparent 
intimacy  of  mind  as  Mr.  Bright  and  myself.  Next  to  the  loss  of  my  boy,  I  have  had 
no  sorrow  so  constant  and  so  great  as  from  his  illness.  The  two  together  make  me 
feel  quite  unnerved,  and  I  seem  to  be  always  feeling  about  in  my  mind  for  an  excuse 
for  quitting  the  public  scene.  Bright's  loss,  if  permanent,  is  a  public  calamity.  If 
you  could  take  the  opinion  of  the  whole  House,  he  would  be  pronounced,  by  a  large 
majority,  to  combine  more  earnestness,  courage,  honesty,  and  eloquence  than  any 
other  man." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cobden  retired  to  a  friend's  house  at  Bangor, 
and  Mr.  Bright  with  his  family  sought  the  refreshing  air 
of  Llandudno  in  the  autumn  of  this  year.  Both  friends 
exchanged  visits,  agreeing  that  politics  should  be  eschewed 
for  the  time  being.  In  March  of  this  year  Lord  Brougham 
offered  Mr.  Bright  and  his  family  the  occupancy  of  his  villa  at 
Cannes,  but  at  that  time  the  offer  was  gratefully  declined,  as  the 
hydropathic  establishment  at  Ben  Rhydding  was  recommended 
to  him  as  a  likely  place  to  recruit  his  health.  After  spending 
two  months  there,  and  finding  that  his  health  was  not  much  im- 
proved by  his  stay,  he  visited  Scotland,  where  he  spent  a  short 
time  with  Mr.  Edward  Ellice,  M.P.  for  Coventry,  at  Glengarry. 
He  next  visited  Lord  Aberdeen,  at  Haddo  House,  in  Aberdeen- 
shire;  and,  as  his  health  was  not  yet  robust,  in  November  he 
went  to  Algiers,  where  he  stopped  a  few  weeks.  He  travelled 
from  there  to  Italy  in  company  with  Miss  Helen  Priestman 
Bright,  his  eldest  daughter.  The  Empress  of  Russia,  upon 
hearing  that  Mr.  Bright  had  arrived  at  Nice,  in  January,  re- 
quested Baron  Meyendorf  to  wait  upon  the  distinguished  English- 
man, and  to  invite  him  to  an  interview  with  her  Majesty.  Mr. 
Bright,  accompanied  by  his  daughter,  waited  upon  the  Empress 
on  New-year's  Day,  and  the  interview  was  very  interesting.  <(  I 
know  you  have  been  just  to  my  country/'  said  the  Empress  to 
Mr.  Bright,  who  replied  that  he  wished  to  be,  and  thought  he 
had  been,  just  to  both  countries.  In  further  conversation  her 
Majesty  remarked  that  she  could  not  understand  why  England 
should  have  made  war  upon  Russia.  Baron  Meyendorf  was  pre- 
sent at  the  interview,  and  related  to  Mr.  Bright  the  loss  of  his 
son  at  Sebastopol,  and  both  were  much  affected. 


1856.]  LOED   PALMEESTON   DEFEATED.  829 

Mr.  Bright  next  travelled  through  Switzerland  to  Civita 
Vecchia  and  Borne,  where  he  sojourned  for  about  two 
months. 

During  the  absence  of  Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Cobden  began  again 
to  take  more  interest  in  politics,  and  a  quarrel  which  arose  in 
Hong  Kong  between  Sir  John  Bowring,  the  governor  of  Hong 
Kong,  and  the  Chinese  governor,  attracted  his  attention.  The 
Chinese  had  boarded  the  Arrow,  and  rescued  twelve  of  their 
countrymen  from  it  on  a  charge  of  piracy.  Sir  John  Bowring 
protested  against  malfeasants  on  board  of  a  British  ship  being 
seized,  and  contended  that  the  lawful  course  was  to  make  the 
demand  through  the  consul.  Nine  of  the  twelve  men  were  re- 
turned without  delay,  but  Sir  John  gave  notice  that  unless  the 
other  three  were  returned  within  eight-and-forty  hours,  with 
apologies  for  the  past  and  pledges  for  the  future,  he  would  use 
physical  force.  The  other  three  prisoners  were  accordingly 
returned,  with  a  protest  from  the  Chinese  governor  that  the 
Arrow  was  not  a  British  ship ;  and  such  was  the  case,  for  its 
licence  had  expired.  The  day  after  the  three  men  were  returned 
Sir  John  Bowring  bombarded  the  harbour  and  town,  and  a  great 
number  of  Chinese  junks  were  destroyed  and  part  of  the  town 
was  battered  down ;  and  this  was  the  commencement  of  a  costly 
war. 

Mr.  Cobden,  on  the  26th  of  February,  1856,  brought  forward 
the  following  motion  in  the  House  of  Commons : — 

"That this  House  has  heard  with  concern  of  the  conflicts  which  have  occurred 
between  the  British  and  Chinese  authorities  in  the  Canton  river ;  and  without  ex- 
pressing an  opinion  as  to  the  extent  to  which  the  Government  of  China  may  have 
afforded  this  country  cause  of  complaint  respecting  the  non-fulfilment  of  the  treaty 
of  1842,  this  House  considers  that  the  papers  which  have  been  laid  upon  the  table 
fail  to  establish  satisfactory  grounds  for  the  violent  measures  resorted  to  at  Canton 
in  the  late  affair  of  the  Arrow,  and  that  a  select  committee  be  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  state  of  our  commercial  relations  with  China."  "I  ask,  what  are  the 
grounds  of  this  devastation  and  warfare  which  are  now  being  carried  on  in  the 
Canton  river  ?"  said  Mr.  Cobden  in  the  course  of  his  speech.  "  Our  plenipotentiary 
in  China  alleges  that  a  violation  of  our  treaty  rights  has  taken  place  in  regard  to 
this  vessel,  the  Arrow.  In  the  first  place,  I  think  that  is  a  question  which  might 
have  been  referred  home,  before  resorting  to  extreme  measures.  In  the  next  place, 
I  ask,  what  is  the  case,  as  a  question  of  international  law  ?  I  will  take  the  opinion 
of  one  of  the  highest  legal  authorities  of  the  country ;  for  I  should,  after  the  state- 
ment which  I  heard  made  by  Lord  Lyndhurst  in  another  place  on  Tuesday  evening, 
think  myself  very  presumptuous  if  I  were  to  detain  you  by  any  statement  of  my 
opinions.  I  heard  Lord  Lyndhurst  declare  that,  with  reference  to  this  case  of  the 
Arrow,  the  Chinese  Government  is  right ;  and  I  heard  him  say  that,  in  giving  his 
opinion,  he  could  not  do  better  than  use  the  very  words  used  by  the  Chinese  governor 
— that  this  vessel,  the  Arrow,  is  not  in  any  respect  a  British  vessel." 

The  Right  Hon.  T.  Milner  Gibson  seconded  the  motion, 
which  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  sixteen,  and  Lord  Palmerston 
thereupon  appealed  to  the  country. 


330  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1857. 

Mr.  Bright,  on  hearing  of  the  defeat  of  the  Government, 
wrote  to  Mr.  Cobden,  stating  : — 

"  I  need  not  tell  you  how  greatly  pleased  I  was  with  the  news,  and  especially  that 
the  blow  was  given  by  your  hand.'' 

Previous  to  this  date  Mr.  Cobden  had  decided  not  to  offer 
himself  for  re-election  for  the  West  Riding,  which  at  that  time 
he  was  representing — for  the  reason  that  his  views  on  education 
and  the  Russian  war  had  not  been  approved  by  his  constituents, 
and  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  contest  Huddersfield. 

The  committee  of  the  Manchester  Liberals  held  a  meeting  in 
the  Free-trade  Hall,  on  the  10th  of  March,  to  select  candidates, 
and  to  prepare  for  the  general  election.  Mr.  G.  Wilson  presided. 
The  Right  Hon.  Milner  Gibson's  address,  in  justification  of  his 
recent  vote,  was  listened  to  with  deep  attention,  and  received 
with  loud  applause.  The  absence  of  Mr.  John  Bright  was  felt 
to  be  a  misfortune ;  still,  the  circumstances  of  his  enforced  and 
most  reluctant  withdrawal  for  a  short  season  from  public  life 
were  of  a  character  to  engage  the  grateful  sympathies  of  a  large 
number  of  his  supporters,  and  the  meeting  was  unanimous  in 
selecting  their  late  distinguished  representatives.  The  editor  of 
the  Manchester  Examiner  and  Times,  in  alluding  to  a  letter 
received  from  Mr.  Bright,  addressed  from  Rome,  wrote  thus  : — 

"  Our  absent  representative  speaks  to  us  on  this  occasion  from  classic  ground. 
He  has  penned  his  protest  on  behalf  of  humanity  just  in  the  midst  of  scenes  which 
once  resounded  with  the  eloquence  of  Cicero,  and  witnessed  the  triumphs  of  the 
Scipios  and  the  Caesars.  Ages  have  rolled  away  since  Rome  held  the  sceptre  of  the 
civilised  world.  Her  tribunes  are  empty,  her  orators  are  dumb,  the  heritage  of  her 
might  has  descended  to  other  hands ;  but  of  one  great  truth  Rome  stands  as  the 
eternal  monitor.  Her  ruins  remind  us  of  the  evanescence  of  power  when  leagued 
with  corruption,  wielded  by  usurpers,  and  divorced  from  morality.  Nowhere  on 
earth  could  a  British  statesman  more  appropriately  remind  his  countrymen  of  the 
perils  which  wait  upon  unprincipled  aggression,  popular  sycophancy,  and  executive 
despotism." 

Mr.  B  right's  letter  was  dated  the  8th  of  March,  1857,  and 
sent  from  Rome  to  Mr.  G.  Wilson. 

"With  regard  to  my  health,"  wrote  Mr.  Bright,  "  I  have  found  myself  sensibly 
improving  from  week  to  week,  and  from  month  to  month,  during  the  four  months  I 
have  been  absent  from  England ;  and  by  those  with  whom  I  come  in  contact  here, 
I  am  supposed  to  be  quite  well,  as,  in  reality,  I  appear  to  be.  Judging  from  the 
past  and  my  present  condition,  I  have  been  indulging  a  confident  expectation  that 
during  the  present  year  I  should  find  myself  able  to  remain  at  home,  and  to  return 
to  my  usual  occupation;  and  that,  I  think,  would  be  the  opinion  of  my  friends  and 
of  my  medical  advisers  could  they  see  me  now.  I  do  not  say  that  this  is  certain, 
but  I  certainly  think  it  is  highly  probable.  Under  these  circumstances,  then,  what 
ought  I  to  do  ?  But  this  is  not  the  whole  case.  I  am  away  from  England  and 
cannot  at  present  return ;  and  if  I  could  I  should  not  deem  it  wise  for  me  to  en- 
counter any  of  the  turmoil  of  an  election.  You  have  then  a  double  difficulty  with 
me — the  supposed  uncertainty  as  to  my  health,  and  my  absence  during  the  time  of 
the  election.  Now,  allowing  all  I  can,  and  most  for  the  kindness  of  my  friends,  it 
is  not  unreasonable  that  many  of  them  may  doubt  my  early  recovery,  and  others 


1857.]  ELECTION   CONTEST   AT   MANCHESTER.  331 

may  think  my  absence  very  prejudicial  at  such  a  time.  Whilst  this  doubt  and  my 
absence  may  be  worked  strongly  against  me  by  those  who  have  not  hitherto  shown 
themselves  very  magnanimous  or  scrupulous  as  to  their  modes  of  attack,  I  have 
consulted  some  persons  here  whom  I  know,  and  they  are  altogether  unwilling  to 
entertain  the  idea  that  the  state  of  my  health  now  is  any  sufficient  reason  why  I 
should  withdraw ;  and  I  should  say  the  same  did  not  I  know  how  often  we  are 
biassed  by  our  wishes  in  deciding  questions  in  which  we  are  deeply  interested. 
After  much  consideration  I  have  come  to  a  conclusion,  in  which,  perhaps,  nothing 
is  absolutely  concluded — for  after  stating  the  case  fairly  I  must  leave  it  in  other 
hands.  The  interests  of  the  constituency — that  is  of  the  Liberal  majority — and  the 
welfare  of  the  Liberal  cause,  must  in  reality  decide  the  question.  Don't  for  a 
moment  even  put  my  f eelings,  or  position,  or  prospects  in  the  scale  against  what  is 
best  for  the  interest  and  reputation  of  the  constituency  of  Manchester.  If  there  is 
a  wish  that  I  should  stand  as  a  candidate  at  this  election,  and  if  it  be  thought  that 
the  something  of  uncertainty  as  to  my  health  and  my  unavoidable  absence  from 
England  at  this  moment  will  not  prevent  my  return  if  I  am  brought  f  orward,  then  I 
am  willing  to  offer  myself  for  re-election.  If,  on  the  contrary,  many  persons  should 
doubt  my  being  able  again  to  return  to  public  life,  and  if  they  should  be  unwilling 
that  one  of  their  representatives  should  be  so  long  absent  from  the  House,  and  5 
they  should  show  a  coldness  because  I  am  not  present  to  assist  in  the  contest,  and  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  make  the  election  a  difficult  and  doubtful  one,  then  I  think  you 
will  do  your  duty  to  me  and  the  constituency  by  not  allowing  my  name  to  appear. 
I  am  sure  you  will  decide  for  the  best,  and  I  shall  be  entirely  satisfied  with  the 
result." 

Mr.  Bright  enclosed  with  his  letter  an  address  to  the 
electors,  in  the  event  of  his  friends  deciding  to  bring-  him 
forward  as  a  candidate.  The  committee  unhesitatingly  decided 
to  present  him  for  re-election,  and  on  the  18th  of  March  there 
was  a  meeting  in  the  Free-trade  Hall  of  the  Liberal  electors 
of  Manchester.  Mr.  G.  Wilson  officiated  as  chairman,  and  the 
attendance  was  very  large.  The  Eight  Hon.  T.  M.  Gibson 
addressed  those  present.  Mr.  Thomas  Bazley  moved  a  vote 
of  thanks  to  their  members  of  Parliament  for  their  past  services, 
and  pledging  to  use  every  lawful  means  to  return  them  again  to 
the  House  of  Commons.  Mr.  Alderman  Watkins  seconded  the 
motion,  which  was  carried  with  only  a  few  dissentients. 

Mr.  Cobden  was  present  to  do  duty  for  his  absent  friend. 

"In  his  name,"  said  Mr.  Cobden,  "I  thank  you  in  the  outset  for  the  kind  re- 
ception with  which  you  have  greeted  the  mention  of  his  name,  and  I  thank  you 
for  the  all  but  unanimous  vote  with  which  you  have  announced  his  candidature 
at  this  election.  ...  I  have  lived  with  Mr.  Bright  in  the  most  transparent 
intimacy  of  mind  that  two  human  beings  ever  enjoyed  together.  I  don't  believe 
there  is  a  view,  I  don't  believe  there  is  a  thought,  I  don't  believe  there  is  one 
aspiration  in  the  minds  of  either  of  us  that  the  other  is  not  acquainted  with. 
I  don't  know  that  there  is  anything  that  I  have  sought  to  do  which  Mr.  Bright 
would  not  do  in  my  place,  or  anything  that  he  aim  sat  which  I  would  not 
accomplish  if  I  had  the  power.  Knowing  him,  then,  I  stand  here  in  all  humility 
as  his  representative,  for  what  I  have  long  cherished  in  my  friend  Mr.  Bright 
is  this,  that  I  have  seen  in  him  an  ability  and  an  eloquence  to  which  I  have  had 
no  pretensions — (great  cheering)  —  because  I  am  not  gifted  with  the  natural 
eloquence  with  which  he  is  endowed;  and  that  I  have  had  the  fond  consolation 
of  hoping  that  Mr.  Bright,  being  seven  or  eight  years  younger  than  myself, 
will  be  advocating  principles — and  advocating  them  successfully — when  I  shall  no 
longer  be  on  the  scene  of  duty.  With  these  feelings  I  naturally  take  the 
deepest  interest  in  the  decision  of  this  election.  I  feel  humiliated,  I  feel 
disgusted,  to  see  the  daily  personal  attacks,  the  diatribes  that  are  made  against 
this  man  (cries  of  '  shame,'  and  loud  cheers).  ...  I  will  deal  very  candidly  with 


332  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1857. 

you,  men  of  Manche8ter,  in  this  respect.  I  say  you  have  not  the  character,  or 
fame,  or  the  destinies  of  Mr.  John  Bright  in  your  hands,  but  I  will  tell  you  this,  that 
your  own  character  and  reputation  are  at  stake.  Your  character  and  reputation 
with  the  country  and  with  the  world  at  large  are  at  stake  in  the  conduct  which 
you  pursue  on  this  occasion.  One  who  has  served  you  so  faithfully  and  so 
assiduously  —  even  to  the  partial  destruction  of  his  own  health  —  who  is  no 
longer  able  to  appear  before  you.  Why,  the  manhood  that  is  in  you  must  all 
rebel  against  the  cowardly  assaults  that  are  made  upon  him.  (Cheers.)  You 
must  go  to  the  House  of  Commons  for  his  character ;  to  either  side  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  I  will  venture  to  say  that  you  will  hear  but  one  opinion  from 
Whig,  Tory,  or  Radical.  I  will  tell  you  what  I  heard  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  sagacious  men  in  the  House  of  Commons  say,  that  he  did  not  believe  that 
there  was  any  man  in  the  House,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Bright  and 
Mr.  Gladstone,  who  ever  changed  votes  by  their  eloquence.  (Hear,  hear.) 
Now  that  is  a  great  tribute  to  pay  to  a  man.  (Applause.)  Because,  although 
we,  many  of  us,  may  probably  convince  people  by  our  arguments,  we  do  not 
convert  them  and  make  them  change  their  votes.  It  requires  logic  and  reasoning 
power,  but  it  requires  something  else— it  requires  those  transcendent  powers 
of  eloquence  which  your  representative  possesses.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  am  told 
that  this  Manchester  School,  as  it  is  called,  do  not  pay  sufficient  attention  to 
the  interests  of  Manchester.  Now  I  think  we  have  done  as  much  for  Manchester 
as  anybody.  Have  you  not  got  your  daily  newspapers  now  ?  But  for  my  right 
hon.  friend  you  might  have  had  to  be  content  with  your  news  three  days  old. 
(Cheers.)  Have  you  not  got  an  addition  to  your  register  of  4,000  names  now ': 
(Cheers.)  Who  was  it  that  got  those  4,000  names  added  to  your  register  by 
haying  a  clause  inserted  in  favour  of  the  compound  householders?  It  was  Mr. 
Bright.  (Cheers.)  No  man  of  less  energy  or  of  influence  than  he  could  have 
done  it,  because  it  is  a  thing  repugnant  to  the  governing  classes  in  the  House  of 
Commons  to  have  any  addition  to  the  register  at  all.  (Hear,  hear.)  Well 
now,  this  Manchester  School  and  their  getting  the  Com  Laws  repealed  and 
Free-trade  established,  from  which  the  trade  of  this  country  has  pretty  nearly 
doubled  during  the  last  twelve  years — I  say,  who  has  benefited  so  much  as 
Manchester  by  that  ?  "  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.) 

Mr.  Cobden  also  addressed  the  electors  of  Huddersfield  on 
his  own  candidature,  and  also  visited  Salford,  and  spoke  there 
in  the  interest  of  Sir  E.  Armatage.  He  again  visited 
Manchester  for  the  purpose  of  advocating  the  claims  of:  Mr. 
Bright ;  but  he  was  not  equal  to  the  toil  and  excitement  of 
contesting  three  boroughs,  and  while  a  crowded  meeting 
awaited  his  arrival  at  the  Free-trade  Hall,  news  was  re- 
ceived that  he  had  fallen  prostrate  from  sheer  exhaustion,  and 
was  confined  to  a  bedroom  at  the  "Clarence"  Hotel  in 
Manchester. 

Sir  John  Potter  and  Mr.  James  Aspinall  Turner,  eminent 
merchants  of  Manchester,  and  Liberals,  acceded  to  the  wishes  of 
a  large  number  of  Palmerstonian  requisition ists,  and  came  out 
as  candidates.  Excitement  ran  very  high.  The  nomination 
took  place  in  St.  Ann's  Square,  in  the  presence  of  20,000  people. 
The  Mayor,  Mr.  James  Watts,  presided.  Mr.  Alderman  Wat- 
kins  first  nominated  the  Right  Hon.  T.  Milner  Gibson.  Mr. 
Alderman  Mackie  seconded  the  nomination.  Mr.  Thomas  Bazley 
nominated  Mr.  John  Bright.  Mr.  Alexander  Henry  was  the 
seconder.  At  this  stage  Dr.  John  Watts  stepped  forward  to  the 
front  of  the  hustings,  and  called  out,  "Bright  and  complete 


1857.]  RESULT   OF   THE   CONTEST.  333 

suffrage" — (loud  cheers)  ;  "  Bright  and  short  Parliaments." 
(Great  cheering.) 

Mr.  Alderman  Neild  next  nominated  Sir  John  Potter  as  a  fit 
representative.  Mr.  Thomas  Fairbairn  seconded  the  nomination. 
Mr.  William  Entwisle  nominated  Mr.  James  Aspinall  Turner, 
and  Mr.  John  Pender  was  the  seconder. 

The  Right  Hon.  T.  M.  Gibson  addressed  the  immense 
gathering.  Mr.  Vaughan,  barrister,  Mr.  John  Bright's  brother- 
in-law,  spoke  on  behalf  of  Mr.  John  Bright.  The  two  other 
candidates  also  delivered  addresses.  The  Mayor  declared  that  the 
show  of  hands  was  in  favour  of  Mr.  Bright  and  Sir  John  Potter. 
The  election  came  off  the  next  day,  and  the  supporters  of 
Lord  Palmerston's  Government  achieved  a  victory,  the  numbers 
being : — 

Sir  John  Potter 8,368 

J.A.Turner  7,854 

The  Bight  Hon.  T.  M.  Gibson 5,588 

John  Bright..         ..         6,458 

At  four  o'clock  on  the  day  of  the  election  the  Liberals  held 
a  meeting  in  NewalFs  Buildings.  The  chair  was  occupied  by 
Mr.  George  Wilson,  who  said  that  Mr.  John  Bright  was  almost 
the  only  man  the  cotton  districts  had  produced  who  had  become 
foremost,  not  only  in  the  House  of  Commons,  but  in  the  world ; 
and  it  was  sad  to  think  that  Manchester,  that  had  been  repre- 
sented by  such  men,  possessing  such  ability,  and  without  proving 
one  single  accusation  against  them,  or  showing  that  they  had 
deviated  the  least  iota  from  their  principles,  such  a  change 
should  have  taken  place  as  they  had  seen  that  day.  Mr.  Jacob 
Bright,  junior,  informed  those  present  that  he  knew,  when  the 
telegraph  message  reached  his  brother,  what  feelings  it  would 
produce  in  his  mind.  There  was  no  man  within  twenty  miles 
of  that  city  who  had  a  larger  sympathy  with  the  population 
amongst  which  he  was  born,  and  no  man  who  had  a  purer 
ambition  to  promote  the  interests  of  that  population.  He 
believed  he  would  rather  have  been  the  representative  of  a 
large  constituency  in  Lancashire  than  have  taken  any  official 
position,  whatever  dignity  it  might  have  added  to  his  name.  His 
sorrow  would  be,  not  that  it  had  rejected  him,  but  because  it 
seemed  for  the  moment  to  trample  upon  his  principles. 

The  cause  of  the  overthrow  of  Messrs.  Gibson  and  Bright  was 
attributed  to  a  coalition  of  Conservatives  and  Palmerstonians 
against  the  more  advanced  Liberals.  Lord  Palmerston  had  made 
the  appeal  to  the  country  under  favourable  circumstances,  and 
caught  the  aura  popular  is,  as  he  had  gained  much  popularity  by 


334  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF  JOHN   BRIGHT.  [185?. 

the  firmness  with  which  he  had  carried  on  the  Crimean  war,  and 
the  terms  upon  which  he  had  brought  it  to  a  conclusion. 
Accounts  of  frightful  atrocities,  said  to  have  been  committed  by 
the  Chinese — such  as  poisoning  the  wells,  poisoning  the  bread 
by  the  bakers,  and  murdering  Europeans — produced  a  "  tempes- 
tuous sea  of  ignorance  to  run  so  rough  and  high  "  in  his  favour. 
The  Conservatives  voted  almost  to  a  man  for  Messrs.  Potter  and 
Turner,  and  there  had  been  a  considerable  defection  from  the 
Liberal  ranks.  In  the  excitement,  the  arduous  labours  of  Mr. 
Bright,  which  had  brought  on  his  illness,  were  forgotten,  and 
those  fickle  persons  who  had  been  benefited  displayed  an  evanes- 
cent gratitude,  and  assisted  in  "  stoning  the  prophets/'' 

Mr.  Cobden  received  only  590  votes,  whereas  his  opponent 
was  favoured  with  823.  Mr.  Miall,  too,  was  thrown  out  at 
Rochdale,  and  Mr.  Fox  at  Oldham ;  and  Lord  Palmerston's 
success  was  far  beyond  expectation.  The  defeat  of  Mr.  Bright 
at  Manchester  was  a  greater  trouble  to  Mr.  Cobden  than  his  own 
at  Huddersfield. 

"  The  time  will  come,"  wrote  Mr.  Cobden  to  a  friend,  "  when  Manchester  will 
feel  the  want  of  a  brave  heart  and  an  eloquent  voice  to  liberate  her  from  other 
dangers  and  other  difficulties ;  then  she  will  feel  remorse  for  her  ingratitude  to  John 

Bright As  for  me,  several  reasons,  personal  and  domestic,  make  me  long  for 

a  rest  from  public  work.  I  confess,  however,  that  the  medicine  administered  at 
Huddersfield  was  a  little  bitter ;  but  like  other  remedies,  I  hope  it  will  do  me  good." 

It  is  well  worth  while  here  to  give  extracts  from  the  leading 
articles  of  various  newspapers  as  to  the  opinions  they  expressed  at 
the  time,  and  we  will  begin  with  the  leading  journal — the 
Times : — "  We  regret  the  fate  which  has  overtaken  Messrs. 
Bright  and  Cobden.  Nothing  can  be  more  alien  to  our  feelings 
than  to  insult  those  gentlemen  with  expressions  of  commiseration 
when  the  battle  of  life  has  for  the  moment  turned  against  them  ; 
save  in  so  far  as  for  personal  and  domestic  affliction  they  need 
not  the  pity  of  any  man.  How  many  among  public  men  now 
living  have  done  what  they  have  accomplished  ?  What  we  now 
say  with  regard  to  Mr.  Bright  we  said  when  the  contest  was  as 
yet  undecided,  and  when  the  constituency  of  Manchester  had  not 
as  yet  passed  upon  him  a  vote  of  ostracism.  With  regard  to 
Mr.  Cobden,  we  can  only  repeat  that  in  our  opinion,  while  he  is 
living  and  in  full  possession  of  all  his  faculties,  no  English 
House  of  Commons  will  be  complete  without  him.  For  ten 
years  we  have  opposed  these  two  gentlemen  in  well  nigh  every 
act  of  their  public  lives,  and  yet  now  we  must  honestly  say 
that  we  deeply  regret  to  see  erased  from  the  roll-call  of  the 
House  of  Commons  the  names  of  Mr.  John  Bright  and  Mr. 
Richard  Cobden." 


1857-]  OPINIONS   OF   THE   PEESS.  886 

"  Well,  Mr.  Gibson  and  Mr.  Bright/'  wrote  the  editor  of 
the  Morning  Post,  "  who  have  been  so  long  before  the  public  as 
connected  with  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  and  the  latter  of 
whom  is  a  man  of  eminent  ability  as  a  debater,  have  both  lost 
their  seats  by  numerous  majorities,  even  though  they  were  sup- 
ported by  the  busting  oratory  of  Mr.  Cobden/' 

"  In  the  great  work  Mr.  Cobden  sacrificed  his  fortune," 
stated  the  editor  of  the  Liverpool  Daily  Post,  "  and  Mr.  Bright 
undermined  the  most  sacred  part  of  his  health.  Grateful  people 
compensated  the  first — the  reward  of  the  latter  has  been  a  vote 
of  censure,  whilst  the  object  of  it  is  seeking  in  Rome  to  restore 
the  balance  of  a  great  intellect,  overworked  in  the  public  cause. 
Passing  from  the  fables  of  history,  the  authentic  annals  of  the 
world  hardly  afford  a  more  shameless  instance  of  ingratitude 
than  Manchester  presented  on  Saturday  last.  Mr.  Blight's 
principles  had  undergone  no  change ;  a  Quaker,  he  was  a  man 
of  peace  from  first  to  last.  In  the  Chinese  debate  he  took  no 
part,  and  the  excuse  of  his  being  unable  to  attend  to  his  duty 
was  answered  by  anticipation,  when  he  wrote  that  in  a  short 
time  his  health  would  be  perfectly  restored.  From  the  odium 
of  this  election  our  neighbours  will  never  escape/' 

"  Mr.  John  Bright,  the  greatest  living  orator,"  so  ran  the 
leading  article  of  the  Edinburgh  Daily  Express,  "  the  most  con- 
scientious of  public  men,  twice  returned  triumphantly  for 
Manchester,  after  wasting  his  health  and  perilling  his  life 
in  the  people's  cause,  is  placed  at  the  foot  of  the  poll,  upwards  of 
2,000  votes  under  Mr.  Aspinall  Turner,  a  Conservative.  Lastly, 
Mr.  Thomas  Milner  Gibson,  the  consummate  tactician,  the 
accomplished  and  amiable  gentleman,  the  unswerving  Liberal, 
who  perilled  his  fortune  and  the  favour  of  his  friends  by 
adhesion  to  his  principles,  the  man  who,  despising  the  honours 
of  office  and  the  prejudice  of  class,  has  devoted  his  energies  to 
promote  measures  that  would  benefit  the  masses  of  the  people, 
has  now,  after  representing  Manchester  for  sixteen  years,  been 
turned  out  in  favour  of  Sir  John  Potter,  a  gentleman  never 
heard  of  beyond  Manchester,  save  by  his  mercantile  friends/' 

"  The  town  which  has  worn  with  such  effect  so  great  a  fame 
in  the  electoral  field/'  wrote  the  editor  of  the  Daily  News, 
"  now  sinks  back  into  insignificance,  preferring  local  thrift  to 
the  world-wide  honour  of  being  represented  by  the  most  dis- 
tinguished men  in  Parliament,  and  in  that  insignificance 
Manchester  may  be  left  for  the  present,  while  others  draw  the 
moral  which  is  yielded  by  the  defeat  of  the  peace  party 
in  all  directions/' 


336  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BEIGHT.  [1857. 

"  There  is  no  single  man  to  whom  Manchester  owes  more 
than  to  Mr.  John  Bright/'  declared  the  editor  of  the  Leeds 
Mercury,  "nor  is  there  any  man  whose  continued  exclusion 
from  the  House  we  should  more  deeply  regret.  At  the  present 
moment,  however,  this  unexpected  relief  from  Parliamentary 
duties  may  be  of  great  advantage  to  the  health  of  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  champions  of  Free-trade,  of  one  of  our 
ablest  orators,  and  of  one  of  the  most  independent  represen- 
tatives who  has  ever  had  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons. " 

"  The  result  of  the  Manchester  election/'  it  was  stated  in 
the  leading  article  of  the  .Edinburgh  Review,  "  will  be  received 
with  regret  by  every  one  who  respects  great  talent,  allied  to 
thorough  uprightness,  earnestness,  and  consistency.  The  exclu- 
sion of  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Bright  from  the  House  of  Commons 
is  a  national  loss.  No  doubt  the  business  of  the  country  will  go 
on  as  usual.  The  House  of  Commons  will  meet,  and  debate,  and 
divide,  and  vote  the  supplies,  and  perform  all  its  functions  just  the 
same  as  before,  and  the  Times  will  report  it  all  each  morning ;  but 
as  we  read  over  the  dreary  columns  of  aimless  talk  by  men  of  no 
name,  we  shall  miss  the  glowing  eloquence  of  the  man  who 
never  spoke  but  to  forward  the  cause  of  truth  and  justice,  and 
never  ceased  without  having  added  something  to  the  glory  and 
fame  of  the  assembly  of  which  he  was  a  member.  What  the 
country  has  lost  in  John  Bright  may  be  estimated  if  we  could 
only  imagine  the  House  of  Commons  stripped  of  all  its  great 
actors  and  its  tried  leaders.  What  a  miserable,  helpless,  and 
uninfluential  body  it  would  be.  Its  character  would  invite  con- 
tempt, and  offer  a  premium  to  encroachment  upon  popular 
rights.  The  people  would  be  judged  by  their  representatives, 
and  treated  accordingly/' 

"  When,  in  1843,  Mr.  John  Bright  was  elected  for 
Durham/'  stated  the  editor  of  the  The  Commonwealth,  "he 
announced  the  principles  upon  which  his  conduct  as  a  member  of 
the  British  Senate  should  be  based.  Throwing  aside  party 
considerations,  he  should  support  measures  of  improvement  from 
whatever  quarter  they  might  come.  The  effect  of  this  policy 
upon  both  of  the  great  sections  of  the  House  of  Commons  is 
manifest  in  the  obvious  relief  with  which  their  organs  speak, 
now  that  they  fancy  themselves  rid  of  the  disturbing  element 
which,  during  the  last  fifteen  years,  so  perplexed  their  calcu- 
lations. Before  the  rise  of  the  Manchester  School,  we  had 
men  in  Parliament  who  were  above  being  seduced  by  the 
blandishments  of  power — men  who  made  the  people's  cause  their 
own;  but  they  were  for  the  most  part  isolated,  acting  alone, 


V»7.]  OPINIONS   OP   THE   PRESS.  337 

without  any  sort  of  combination.  The  natural  result  was  that 
their  solitary  protests  were  unheeded,  and  they  were  utterly 
unable  to  leave  any  impression  of  their  opinions  upon  the  policy 
of  the  State.  We  also  have  had  demagogues  who  were  capable 
by  their  extreme  views  and  sonorous  oratory  of  kindling  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  country,  but  never  until  the  rise  of  the 
Manchester  men  had  we  a  party  capable  at  once  of  rousing  the 
nation  and  commanding  the  ears  of  the  Senate.  Such  a  party 
is  much  too  valuable  to  be  permitted  to  pass  away.  It  will  one 
day  be  wanted  quite  as  much  as  at  any  former  time/' 

"  Had  any  member  of  the  last  Parliament  been  asked  to 
name  the  six  foremost  men  of  that  assembly,"  declared  the  editor 
of  the  Birmingham  Daily  Press,  "  the  name  of  Mr.  John  Bright 
would  have  been  one  of  the  six.  He  was  foremost  in  oratory, 
and,  better  still,  in  singleness  of  purpose,  straightforwardness  of 
speech,  and  thorough  conscientious  honesty.  We  could  not  agree 
with  him  on  all  points,  but  when  most  we  disagreed  we  could 
not  for  a  moment  withhold  from  him  our  profound  respect ;  yet 
this  is  the  man  whom,  when  worn  out  for  a  while  in  the  service, 
the  electors  of  Manchester  have  dismissed  to  make  the  way  for 
some  local  gentleman,  a  decent  kind  of  man  in  his  way,  no  doubt, 
but  still  a  mediocrity." 

"  The  electors  of  Manchester  have  exercised  their  undoubted 
right  of  dismissing,  as  to  them  seem  good,  one  set  of  representa- 
tives and  replacing  them  by  another/'  observed  the  editor  of  the 
Liverpool  Northern  Daily  Times,  "  and  yet  we  feel  that  they 
have  acted  with  something  like  ingratitude  to  one  who  had 
served  them  with  such  distinguished  ability  so  faithfully  and  so 
well.  The  whole  country  listened  to  Manchester,  through  their 
two  eminent  and  able  representatives  —  Messrs.  Gibson  and 
Bright.  No  one  has  shown  himself  more  able  to  sound  the  war 
clarion  when  an  onslaught  was  to  be  made  on  some  great  abuse 
of  Church  and  State.  The  amount,  of  labour  Mr.  Bright  has 
gone  through  must  have  been  quite  prodigious,  and  no  wonder 
that  brain  and  health  have  been  impaired.  We  trust  that  this 
will  only  be  for  a  time,  and  that  he  will  rise  up  like  a  giant 
refreshed  with  sleep,  and  again  gird  himself  to  the  combat  with 
political  and  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places/' 

The  Saturday  Review  declared  that  "  In  Bright,  Parliament 
has  lost  one  of  its  aptest  scholars  and  brightest  ornaments,  and 
these  are  not  times  in  which  such  losses  are  easily  repaired.  The 
great  danger  to  our  institutions  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  deterio- 
ration of  the  character  and  ability  of  their  representative  body. 
It  may  be  very  convenient  for  an  administration  to  rule  with 
w 


338  LIFE    AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BBIGHT.  [1857. 

undisputed  sway  over  submissive  mediocrities ;  but  if  the 
standard  of  ability  in  the  House  of  Commons  should  ever  be 
permanently  degraded  in  public  estimation,  the  end  of  Parlia- 
mentary government  will  not  be  far  off." 

a  The  great  and  'distinctive  feature  of  this  general  election, 
however,  were  it  in  want  of  feature,  is  the  signal  defeat  suffered 
by  the  Manchester  School ;  "  thus  commented  the  editor  of  the 
Dublin  University  Magazine.  "  It  exists  in  Parliament,  as  a 
school,  no  longer.  Neither  Cobden,  Bright,  nor  Milner  Gibson 
has  a  seat.  There  are  hundreds  of  men  who  rejoice  over  this 
defeat  who  forget  the  stout  Leaguers  in  the  opponents  of  the 
Crimean  war,  and  who  really  and  truly  believe  that  the  exclu- 
sion of  Cobden  and  Bright  from  the  House  of  Commons  is  a 
gain  to  the  country.  The  error  and  the  gross  injustice  of  this 
verdict  on  the  lives  of  two  public  men  commands  a  protest  from 
all  who  can  approach  the  public  ear.  The  question  is  not  whether 
we  agree  or  disagree  with  the  opinion  of  these  two  Free-trade 
champions ;  but  whether  or  not  they  accomplished  the  greatest 
change  ever  effected  in  the  commercial  principles  of  the  country; 
whether  this  change  has  been  found  good  or  bad,  and  whether 
this  great  work  entitles  them  to  a  voice  in  the  legislative 
assembly  of  this  country ;  and  surely  no  measure  of  this  century 
has  been  so  popular  as  that  which  the  Manchester  School  forced 
upon  Sir  Robert  Peel.  Yet  in  the  midst  of  a  wondrous  pros- 
perity, which  most  men  and  all  commercial  men  accomplished  by 
the  triumph  of  Free-traders,  the  two  foremost  champions  of  free 
commerce  are  summarily  expelled  the  House  of  Commons.  But 
we  are  bound  to  say,  strongly  as  we  differ  from  the  late  policy 
of  these  great  Manchester  twins,  that  neither  their  honour  nor 
their  motives  are  assailable,  and  that  the  men  who  have  been 
returned  in  their  stead  can  no  more  be  compared  to  them  than 
the  Bushman  can  be  ranked  with  a  Briton.  The  country  has 
failed  in  its  gratitude." 

"  A  few  words  spoken  or  unspoken,  a  little  trimming  at  the 
right  time,  a  degree  of  suppleness  on  great  questions  which  is 
often  set  down  as  prudence,"  wrote  the  editor  of  the  Manchester 
Examiner  and  Times,  "  would  have  sufficed  to  ensure  him  (Mr. 
Bright)  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  popularity.  True  to  the 
instincts  of  a  noble  nature  he  has  chosen  a  different  career.  He 
refused  to  evade  difficulties ;  he  has  not  flattered  by  word  or  act 
when  he  knew  full  well  that  everything  which  usually  gratifies 
ambition  was  at  stake.  .  .  .  He  has  maintained  the  same 
uncompromising  independence  towards  great  and  small,  ministers 
and  people,  the  blandishments  of  aristocratic  favour,  and  the 


1887.]  A   FAREWELL   ADDRESS.  839 

acclamation  of  the  populace.  Yet  his  heart  has  not  been  desti- 
tute of  ambition.  Yes,  his  was  the  pure  ambition  to  check  the 
abuses  of  the  executive,  to  urge  a  righteous  and  beneficent 
policy  upon  the  Government,  to  stand  forth  as  the  dauntless 
champion  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  to  infuse  into  our  dealings 
with  other  nations  that  justice  and  that  generosity  which  alone 
becomes  a  Christian  State,  and  to  harmonise  the  interests  of 
England  with  what  is  due  to  the  welfare  and  progress  of  man- 
kind. He  has  never  deviated  a  hair's  breadth  from  the  accom- 
plishment of  these  objects.  .  .  .  The  man  whom  God  endows 
with  the  gifts  of  commanding  intellect,  noble  susceptibilities, 
and  persuasive  eloquence,  has  a  sacred  trust  committed  to  him 
which  none  of  the  accidents  of  life  can  set  aside." 

While  staying  at  Florence,   Mr.  Bright  wrote  his  farewell 
address  to  the  electors  of  Manchester,  on  the  31st  of  March,  1857. 

"  Gentlemen, — I  have  received  a  telegraph  despatch  informing  me  of  the  result 
of  the  election  contest  in  which  you  have  been  engaged.  That  result  has  not  greatly 
surprised  me,  and  so  far  as  I  am  personally  concerned — inasmuch  as  it  liberates  me 
from  public  life  in  a  manner  which  involves  on  my  part  no  shrinking  from  any  duty — 
I  cannot  seriously  regret  it.  I  lament  it  on  public  grounds,  because  it  tells  the  world 
that  many  amongst  you  have  abandoned  the  opinions  you  professed  to  hold  in  the 
year  1847,  and  even  so  recently  as  in  the  year  1852.  I  believe  that  slander  itself  has 
not  dared  to  charge  me  with  having  forsaken  any  of  the  principles,  on  the  honest 
support  of  which  I  offered  myself  twice,  and  was  twice  accepted,  as  your  represen- 
tative. The  charge  against  me  has  rather  been  that  I  have  too  warmly  and  too 
faithfully  defended  the  political  views  which  found  so  much  favour  with  you  at  the 
two  previous  elections.  If  the  change  in  the  opinion  of  me  has  arisen  from  my 
course  on  the  question  of  the  war  with  Russia,  I  can  only  say  that  on  a  calm  review 
of  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case — and  during  the  past  twelve  months  I  have  had 
ample  time  for  such  a  review — I  would  not  unsay  or  retract  any  one  of  the  speeches 
I  have  spoken,  or  erase  from  the  records  of  Parliament  any  one  of  the  votes  I  have 
given  upon  it,  if  I  could  thereby  reverse  the  decision  to  which  you  have  come,  or 
secure  any  other  distinction  which  is  in  the  power  of  my  countrymen  to  confer.  I 
am  free,  and  will  remain  free,  from  any  share  in  the  needless  and  guilty  bloodshed 
of  that  melancholy  chapter  in  the  annals  of  my  country.  I  cannot,  however,  forget 
that  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  in  the  recent  contest  have  not  been  influenced  by 
my  conduct  on  this  question.  They  were  less  successful,  but  not  less  bitter,  in  their 
hostility  in  1852,  and  even  in  1847,  when  my  only  public  merit  or  demerit  consisted 
in  my  labours  in  the  cause  of  Free-trade.  On  each  occasion  calling  themselves 
Liberals,  and  calling  their  candidates  Liberals  also,  they  have  coalesced  with  the 
Conservatives,  whilst  now,  doubtless,  they  have  assailed  Mr.  Gibson  and  myself  011 
the  ground  of  a  pretended  coalition  with  the  Conservatives  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. I  have  esteemed  it  a  high  honour  to  be  one  of  your  representatives,  and  have 
given  more  of  mental  and  physical  labour  to  your  services  than  was  just  to  myself. 
I  feel  it  scarcely  less  an  honour  to  suffer  in  the  cause  of  peace,  and  on  behalf  of 
what  I  believe  to  be  the  true  interests  of  the  country, — though  I  could  have  wished 
that  the  blow  had  come  from  other  hands,  and  at  a  time  when  I  could  have  been 
present  to  meet  face  to  face  those  who  dealt  it.  In  taking  my  leave  of  you  and  of 
public  life,  let  me  assure  you  that  I  can  never  forget  the  many — the  innumerable — 
kindnesses  I^have  received  from  my  friends  amongst  you.  No  one  will  rejoice  more 
than  I  shall  in  all  that  brings  you  prosperity  and  honour ;  and  I  am  not  withou' 
a  hope  that,  when  a  calmer  hour  shall  come,  you  will  say  of  Mr.  Gibson  and  of  mo, 
that  as  colleagues  in  your  representation  for  ten  years,  we  have  not  sacrificed  our 
principles  to  gain  popularity,  or  bartered  our  independence  for  the  emoluments  of 
office  or  the  favours  of  the  great.  I  feel  we  have  stood  for  the  rights  and  interests 
and  freedom  of  the  people,  and  that  we  have  not  tarnished  the  honour  or  lessened 
the  renown  of  your  eminent  city. 

"  I  am  now,  as  I  have  hitherto  been,  very  faithfully  yours, 

W    2  "JOHNBBIOHT." 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

MEMBEE  FOR  BIRMINGHAM. 

Explanation  of  the  Defeat — Utterances  in  favour  of  International  Arbitration — 
The  Indian  Mutiny — Mr.  Bright  returns  Home — Invited  to  Contest  Birmingham 
— Consents — Again  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons. 

THE  tone  of  the  foregoing  letter  leads  one  to  think  that  at  this 
time  Mr.  Bright's  faith  in  the  public  had  been  somewhat  shaken, 
for  he  had  over-estimated  the  esteem  of  those  who  are  of  all  beings 
the  most  subject  to  change ;  but  he  remembered  those  of  his 
admirers  whose  opinions  were  uniform  and  fixed,  and  not  built 
upon  sandy  foundations,  and  to  them  he  looked  for  approbation 
for  his  past  services.  Still,  he  had  intended  to  retire  into  private 
life,  which  would  have  been  a  great  calamity  in  more  respects 
than  one,  for  his  useful  puM-ic  services  would  have  been  lost,  and 
the  House  of  Commons  deprived  of  one  of  its  greatest  orators; 

but 

"  He  was  not  for  himself  alone  designed. 
But  torn  to  be  of  use  to  all  mankind." 

He  shared  the  fate  of  public  favourites,  and  experienced  that 
there  is  an  ebb  as  well  as  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  public  men. 
This  was  a  favourable  moment,  too,  for  forming  a  real  estimate  of 
his  merits,  when  the  first  glowing  sunshine  of  success  had  been 
sobered  down  by  some  clouds  of  neglect,  and  he  came  out  of  the 
criticism  he  went  through  revered  and  beloved,  for  he  had  stood 
upon  the  vantage  ground  of  truth,  humanity,  and  duty,  which 
is  a  trophy  nobler  than  the  conqueror's  sword.  He  had 
laboured  for  the  prosperity  of  England  and  the  good  of  mankind, 
and  had  endeavoured  to  save  the  nation  from  the  shame  and  guilt 
of  the  Crimean  war;  but  he  was  hooted  and  yelled  at  in  the 
crowded  streets  of  the  ungrateful  city  for  whose  inhabitants  he 
had  worked  hard.  His  bosom  friend  sympathised  with  him, 
and  assuring  him  that  in  the  future  there  would  be  a  prolonged 
peace,  and  that  the  English  people  in  time  would  see  the  folly 
of  war,  made  sunshine  in  his  heart  when  all  was  gloom  around. 
The  experience  he  gained  was  of  great  value,  for  it  enabled 
him  to  look  no  longer  at  everything  through  the  genial  atmo- 
sphere of  his  own  existence,  but  to  grow  more  literal — not  only 
to  feel  the  warmth  of  summer,  but  the  winter's  cold  as  well. 

He  was  in  his  retirement,  however,  cheered  by  the  tone  of  the 


1857.]  AT    VENICE.  841 

still  small  voice  which  comes  out  of  futurity,  assuring  him  that  the 
storm  will  pass  away,  and  the  sun  shine  forth.  It  was  a  triumph 
of  moral  principle  over  the  love  of  popular  applause.  And  he 
was  a  greater  man  when  public  meetings  would  not  listen  to 
him  because  he  advocated  peace  than  when  he  stood  on  the  very 
pinnacle  of  fame  after  having  assisted  to  break  the  fetters  of 
monopoly.  It  was  Mr.  Bright's  happy  destiny  to  be  permitted 
to  outlive  this  time  of  trial,  and  to  occupy  again  a  supreme  place 
in  the  esteem  and  affection  of  his  countrymen. 

Many  years  after,  Mr.  Bright  said  in  one  of  his  speeches  : — 

"I  do  not  know  why  I  differed  from  other  people  so  much,  but  sometimes  I  have 
thought  it  happened  from  the  education  I  had  received  in  the  religious  sect  with 
which  I  am  connected.  We  have  no  creed  which  monarchs  and  statesmen  and  high 
priests  have  written  out  for  us.  Our  creed,  so  far  as  we  comprehend  it,  comes  pure 
and  direct  from  the  New  Testament.  We  have  no  thirty-seven  Articles  to  declare  that 
it  is  lawful  for  Christian  men,  at  the  command  of  the  civil  magistrate,  to  wear  weapons 
and  to  serve  in  wars — which  means,  of  course,  and  was  intended  to  mean,  that  it  is 
lawful  for  a  Christian  man  to  engage  in  any  part  of  the  world,  in  any  cause,  at  the 
command  of  a  monarch,  or  of  a  prime  minister,  or  of  a  parliament,  or  of  a 
commander-in-chief,  in  the  slaughter  of  his  fellow-men,  whom  he  might  never  have 
seen  before,  and  from  whom  he  had  not  received  the  smallest  injury,  and  against 
whom  he  had  no  reason  to  feel  the  smallest  touch  of  anger  or  resentment.  Now,  my 
having  been  brought  up  as  I  was  would  lead  me  naturally  to  think  that  going  3,000 
miles  off,  for  it  is  nearly  as  far  as  that  by  sea,  to  carry  on  the  war  with  Bussia  in  the 
Crimea,  was  a  matter  that  required  very  distinct  evidence  to  show  that  it  was  lawful, 
or  that  it  was  in  any  way  politic  or  desirable.  Well,  I  studied  the  Blue  Books  with 
great  care.  I  had  at  that  time  the  advantage  of  constant  daily  and  hourly  communi- 
cation with  our  lamented  friend  Mr.  Cobden,  of  whom  I  say  not  too  much 
when  I  say  that  no  man  in  our  time  has  shown  greater  sagacity  than  he  did  on  this 
question,  and  that  no  man  was  a  wiser  counsellor  to  a  private  friend,  as  I  was — to  a 
Government  or  a  nation— than  he  was  during  the  whole  course  of  his  political  life. 
Well,  I  came  to  the  conclusion — it  was  impossible  that  I  should  come  to  any  other — 
that  the  war  of  1854,  not  only  upon  the  principle  of  sect,  but  upon  the  ordinary  prin- 
ciples of  all  moral  and  Christian  men,  was  unnecessary,  that  it  was  unpolitical,  and 
that  it  was  unjust." 

While  sojourning  at  Venice,  on  the  16th  of  April,  1857,  Mr. 
Bright-wrote  again  to  Mr.  Cobden,  and  stated  : — 

"  I  have  been  intending  to  write  to  you  from  day  to  day  since  I  received  your 
letter.  It  was  most  refreshing  to  me  to  read  it,  although  its  topics  were  not  of  the 
most  pleasing,  but  it  came  at  the  right  time,  and  it  said  the  right  thing,  and  was 
ju-t  such  as  I  needed.  In  the  sudden  break-up  of  the  '  School'  of  which  we  have 
been  the  chief  professors,  we  maylearn  how  far  we  hav3  been,  and  are,  ahead  of 
the  public  opinion  of  our  time.  We  purpose  not  to  make  a  trade  of  politics,  and 
not  to  use  as  may  best  suit  us  the  ignorance  and  the  prejudices  of  our  countrymen 
for  our  own  advantage,  but  rather  to  try  to  square  the  policy  of  the  country  with 
the  maxims  of  common  sense  and  of  a  plain  morality.  The  country  is  not  yet  ripe  for 
this,  but  it  is  far  nearer  being  so  than  at  any  former  period ;  and  I  shall  not  despair 
of  a  revolution  in  opinion  which  shall  within  a  few  years  greatly  change  the  aspect 
of  affairs  with  reference  to  our  foreign  policy.  During  the  comparatively  short 
period  since  we  entered  public  life,  see  what  has  been  done.  Through  our  labours 
mainly  the  whole  creed  of  millions  of  people,  and  of  the  statesmen  of  our  day,  has 
I  •  totally  changed  on  all  the  questions  which  affect  commerce,  and  customs  duties, 
and  taxation.  They  now  agree  to  repudiate  as  folly  what,  twenty  years  ago,  they 
accepted  as  wisdom.  Look  again  at  our  colonial  policy.  Through  the  labours  of 
Moleaworth,  Roebuck,  and  Hume,  more  recently  supported  by  us,  and  by  Gladstone, 


342  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1857. 

every  article  in  the  creed  which  directed  our  colonial  policy  lias  been  abandoned,  and 
now  men  actually  abhor  the  notion  of  undertaking  the  government  of  the  colonies ; 
on  the  contrary,  they  give  to  every  colony  that  asks  for  it  a  Constitution  as  demo- 
cratic as  that  which  exists  in  the  United  States.  Turn  to  the  question  of  Parlia- 
mentary Reform.  '  Finality '  stoutly  repudiated,  not  by  Lord  John  Russell  alone, 
but  by  the  Tories.  I  observe  that  at  the  recent  elections,  Tories  have  repeatedly 
admitted  that  there  must  be  Parliamentary  Reform,  and  that  they  will  not  oppose  a 
moderate  dose  of  it ;  and  I  suppose  something  before  long  will  be  done,  not  so  real 
as  we  wish,  but  something  that  will  make  things  move  a  little.  But  if  on  commer- 
cial legislation,  on  colonial  policy,  on  questions  of  suffrage — and  I  might  have  added 
on  questions  of  Church,  for  a  revolution  in  opinion  is  apparent  there  also — we  see 
this  remarkable  change,  why  should  we  despair  of  bringing  about  an  equally  great 
change  in  the  sentiments  of  the  people  with  regard  to  foreign  affairs  ?  Palmerstoii 
and  his  press  are  at  the  bottom  of  the  excitement  that  has  lately  prevailed ;  he  will 
not  last  long  as  Minister  or  as  man.  I  see  no  one  ready  to  accept  his  mantle  when  it 
drops  from  him.  Ten  years  hence,  those  who  live  so  long  may  see  a  complete 
change  on  the  questions  on  which  the  public  mind  has  been  recently  so  active  and  so 
much  mistaken.  This  is  bringing  philosophy  to  comfort  us  in  our  misfortunes,  you 
will  say,  and  does  not  mend  the  present ;  and  it  is  true  enough ;  but  it  is  just  the 
line  of  reasoning,  I  doubt  not,  which  has  presented  itself  to  your  mind  when  free 
from  the  momentary  vexation  caused  by  recent  events.  I  am  the  least  unfortunate 
of  our  small  section,  for  a  year  of  idleness  and  of  ill-health  has  made  absence  from 
Parliament  familiar  to  me,  and  I  have  contemplated  resigning  my  seat  since  the 
beginning  of  1856.  Personally,  therefore,  to  be  out  is  neither  strange  nor  unplea- 
sant, and  I  am  surprised  how  very  little  I  have  cared  about  the  matter  on  my  own 
account.  I  hope  you  can  f  e_el  somewhat  as  I  do — conscious  that  we  are  ostracised 
because  our  political  creed  is  in  advance  of,  and  our  political  morality  higher  than, 
that  of  the  people  for  whom  we  have  given  up  the  incessant  labour  of  nearly  twenty 
years.  Time  will  show,  and  a  long  time  will  not  be  needed  to  show,  the  hollowness 
of  the  imposture  which  now  rules.  Its  face  may  be  of  brass,  but  its  feet  are  of  clay. 
It  is  strange  after  so  much  experience  that  we  should  be  disappointed  that  opinion 
goes  on  so  slowly.  "We  have  taught  what  is  true  in  our  '  School, '  but  the  discipline 
was  a  little  too  severe  for  the  scholars.  Disraeli  will  say  he  was  right ;  we  are 
hardly  of  the  English  type,  and  success,  political  and  personal  success,  cannot  afford 
to  reject  the  use  which  may  be  made  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  among  a  people. 
This  is  his  doctrine,  and  with  his  views  it  is  true ;  but  as  we  did  not  seek  personal 
objects  it  is  not  true  of  us.  If  we  are  rejected  for  peace  and  for  truth,  we  stand 
higher  before  the  world  and  for  the  future  than  if  we  mingled  with  the  patient 
mediocrities  which  compose  the  present  Cabinet.  I  hope  the  clouds  may  break,  and 
that  sunshine  may  come  again." 

Mr.  Samuel  Morley,  M.P.,  has  collected  several  striking 
utterances  in  favour  of  international  arbitration.  They  include 
the  following  :  President  Grant,  on  his  return  to  America,  after 
his  voyage  round  the  world,  used  these  words  :  ' '  Though  I  have 
been  trained  as  a  soldier  and  participated  in  many  battles,  there 
never  was  a  time  when,  in  my  opinion,  some  way  could  not  be 
found  of  preventing  the  drawing  of  the  sword.  I  look  forward 
to  an  epoch  when  a  great  recognised  Committee  of  Nations  will 
settle  international  differences  instead  of  keeping  large  standing 
armies  as  they  do  in  Europe."  And  the  Secretary  of  State 
under  President  Hayes  said :  "  It  is  the  deliberate  purpose  of 
this  Administration  to  arbitrate  every  case  of  difficulty  or 
difference  that  may  arise  between  this  country  and  any  other." 
Mr.  Gladstone  said  upon  one  occasion  :  "  The  proposal  to  submit 
international  differences  to  arbitration  is  in  itself  a  very  great 
triumph — a  powerful  engine  on  behalf  of  civilisation  and 


1857.1  INTERNATIONAL    ARBITRATION.  343 

humanity ."  Earl  Russell  said :  "  Ou  looking  at  all  the  wars 
that  have  been  carried  on  during  the  last  century,  and 
examining  into  the  causes  of  them,  I  do  not  see  one  of  these 
wars  in  which,  if  there  had  been  a  proper  temper  between  the 
parties,  the  questions  in  dispute  might  not  have  been  settled 
without  recourse  to  arms."  The  Marquis  of  Ripon,  in  reference 
to  the  Treaty  of  Washington,  said  :  "  You  have  here,  in  a  public 
instrument  between  two  great  countries,  the  first  important 
consecration — absolutely  the  first  consecration  as  far  as  I  know — 
of  the  great  principle  that  nations,  like  men,  are  bad  judges  of 
their  own  quarrels.  I  believe  in  that  treaty  may  be  found 
principles  which,  if  I  do  not  deceive  myself,  are  likely  to  have  a 
large  influence  in  the  cause  of  the  greatest  of  earthly  blessings — 
the  cause  of  peace/'  Mr.  Morley  himself  adds  :  "  I  have  great 
pleasure  in  expressing  my  deep  sympathy  with  the  work  of  the 
Peace  Society.  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  more  than  once 
expressing  my  adherence  to  its  principles,  besides  being  a 
subscriber  to  its  funds.  I  do  hope  that  great  success  will  attend 
its  efforts. " 

Mr.  Bright  experienced  but  a  brief  leisure  from  public  cares, 
for  while  staying  at  Geneva,  in  May,  1857,  a  public  meeting, 
held  in  Ardwick,  sent  him  an  expression  of  goodwill,  giving  an 
opinion  as  to  the  result  of  the  Manchester  and  Huddersfield 
elections,  and  their  determination  to  agitate  for  reform,  free 
trade,  and  retrenchment.  Mr.  Bright,  in  the  course  of  his 
reply,  wrote : — 

"  I  lose  no  time  in  replying  to  say  I  am  very  glad  to  find  that  in  your  town  the 
cause  of  reform,  free  trade,  and  retrenchment  has  so  many  warm  friends,  and  that 
you  have  understood  and  approved  the  policy  which  Mr.  Cobden,  Mr.  M.  Gibson, 
and  myself  have  supported  in  the  House  of  Commons.  On  the  question  of  Free- 
trade  little  progress  has  been  made  for  some  years  past.  As  to  retrenchment,  the 
word  has  become  almost  obsolete,  and  the  military  expenditure  of  the  country  is  now 
nearly  double  the  amount  which  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Sir  Robert  Peel 
thought  necessary  in  1835,  although  we  have  no  more  territory  to  defend,  and 
although  a  large  army  is  no  longer  necessary  to  maintain  tranquillity  in  Ireland. 
As  to  Reform,  whilst  almost  everybody  professes  to  be  in  favour  of  it  in  some  shape, 
the  preparation  of  the  particular  Bill  to  be  brought  forward  next  year  is  left  in  the 
hands  of  a  minister  whose  hostility  to  every  proposition  for  Reform  since  the  year 
1832  is  notorious  and  undeniable.  Whether  on  these  three  points,  to  which  your 
resolutions  refer,  the  country  is  in  a  satisfactory  position  I  must  leave  the  friends  of 
free  trade,  reform,  and  retrenchment  to  decide ;  and  with  regard  to  the  promised 
reform,  let  me  warn  you  to  look  more  to  the  question  of  the  franchise  than  to  the 
other  arrangement  of  the  measure.  It  would  be  easy  to  double  the  number  of 
electors,  and  at  the  same  time  increase  the  aristocratic  influence  in  Parliament.  To 
give  votes,  without  giving  representation  in  some  fair  degree  in  proportion  to  the 
votes,  is  to  cheat  the  people ;  to  give  a  large  number  of  votes  without  security  of  the 
ballot  will  subject  the  increased  numbers  of  our  countrymen  to  the  degrading 
influence  which  wealth  and  power  now  exercise  so  unscrupulously  upon  the  existing 
electoral  body." 

Mr.  Cobden  was  disgusted  with  the  treatment  Mr.  Bright 


344  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   HEIGHT.  [185J 

had  received  from  the  electors  of  Manchester,  and  in  a  letter 
to  a  friend  stated  that  "  they  (the  inhabitants  of  Manchester) 
are  mainly  indebted  to  Mr.  Bright  for  the  prosperity  which 
has  converted  a  majority  into  little  better  than  Tories,  and 
now  the  base  snobs  kick  away  the  ladder/'  Mr.  Cobden 
retired  to  his  quiet  home  in  West  Sussex,  and  for  nearly  two 
years  could  not  be  induced  to  enter  again  the  public  arena  of 
politics. 

In  the  month  of  May,  news  arrived  that  the  Sepoys,  or 
native  army  of  British  India,  had  mutinied.  Expressions  of 
discontent  had  been  noticed  by  the  British  residents  for  some 
time  before,  and  although  General  Napier  had  protested,  as 
far  back  as  1851,  against  the  management  of  the  Bengal 
native  army,  which  he  foretold  would  lead  to  evil  results, 
the  Government  had  not  taken  any  steps  to  remedy  the  evils 
complained  of.  The  causes  of  the  outbreak  were  attributed 
to  religious  and  ambitious  motives,  but  the  want  of  a 
thorough  sympathy  and  good  understanding  between  British 
officers  and  native  soldiers  was  one  chief  cause  that  made  others 
formidable.  The  whole  military  force  available  in  British 
India  could  hardly  be  estimated  as  amounting  to  more  than 
about  half  a  million  of  men — a  small  body  to  hold  in  subjection 
territories  inhabited  by  one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  people. 
Even  of  that  force  a  very  small  minority  consisted  of  Englishmen, 
and  these  were  thinly  scattered  over  a  vast  area.  However, 
troops  were  sent  from  home,  and  gradually  the  mutiny  was 
suppressed,  and  those  of  the  leaders  who  had  been  most  active 
in  fomenting  the  rebellion  were  blown  from  the  mouths  of 
cannon.  Under  the  moderate  and  circumspect  government  of 
Lord  Canning  the  insurrection  was  brought  to  a  close,  and 
order  restored  throughout  India. 

A  month  later,  on  the  16th  of  June,  1857,  Mr.  Bright 
arrived  in  London,  and  at  once  made  his  way  to  Rochdale, 
much  improved  in  health,  and  his  neighbours  gathered  round 
him,  and  greeted  their  friend  again.  His  workpeople  were  so 
grateful  for  his  return  in  health  and  strength  that  they 
hoisted  a  flag  over  the  mills,  with  an  inscription  upon  it — 
"  Long  life  to  John  Bright,  Esq."  For  only  a  short  time  was 
Mr.  Bright  permitted  to  enjoy  retirement,  and  his  seclusion  was 
interrupted  by  a  deputation  from  Birmingham,  pressing  him  to 
consent  to  become  a  nominee  for  their  borough. 

On  Saturday,  August  1st,  1857,  a  meeting  of  Liberals  was 
held  in  Birmingham,  to  select  a  candidate  to  fill  the  vacancy 
caused  by  the  death  of  Mr.  G.  F.  Muntz.  Mr.  Hodgson,  the 


1867.]  INVITED   TO    CONTEST   BIRMINGHAM.  245 

ex-mayor,,  presided.  Mr.  Alderman  Lloyd  expressed  himself 
of  opinion  that  Mr.  Bright  was  of  that  courageous  and  manly 
disposition  that  peculiarly  fitted  him  to  become  their  re- 
presentative. Mr.  Bright  was  well  versed  in  national  and 
foreign  affairs,  and  as  there  was  no  man  in  the  House  of 
Commons  who  had  given  so  much  attention  to  the  affairs  of 
England's  great  tributary,  India,  his  counsel  would  be  especially 
valuable  at  the  present  crisis.  He  placed  the  name  of  Mr. 
Bright  before  that  meeting  as  that  of  a  man  whose  election 
would  do  them  honour.  Mr.  Alderman  Manton  seconded  the  pro- 
position. Mr.  Councillor  Stinton  opposed  Mr.  Bright's  election. 
He  gave  him  credit  for  possessing  wonderful  talent,  great  energy, 
and  thorough  honesty,  but  he  did  not  believe  that  Birmingham 
would  return  any  gentleman  who  entertained  those  peace 
crotchets  possessed  by  Mr.  Bright.  After  further  discussion  it 
was  decided  to  adjourn  the  subject  to  the  evening  meeting. 

Mr.  Alderman  Hodgson  again  presided  at  the  evening  meet- 
ing. Mr.  J.  S.  Wright  informed  those  present  that  on  one 
occasion  Lord  John  Russell,  in  the  middle  of  a  great  speech,  had 
stopped  to  utter  his  profound  regret  that  the  master  mind  of 
Mr.  John  Bright  was  not  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  enlighten 
them  with  his  counsels.  In  Reform  matters  Mr.  Bright 
was  suitable  for  the  electors  of  Birmingham.  Mr.  Bright 
would  extend  the  suffrage,  and  give  an  enlightened  and  strong 
support  to  the  noble  principle  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
At  this  crisis  in  Indian  affairs  Mr.  Bright  was  much  wanted 
in  the  House,  and  if  there  was  any  man  fully  capable  of 
contributing  to  the  real  glory  of  the  British  people,  who 
would  develop  the  resources  and  energies  of  the  Indian  Empire, 
and  raise  the  sleeping  capacities  of  the  Hindoo,  that  man 
was  Mr.  John  Bright,  and  they  would  do  themselves  an  honour 
by  electing  him  their  representative.  Mr.  Alderman  Manton 
seconded  the  proposition  moved  by  the  previous  speaker,  that 
Mr.  John  Bright  should  represent  Birmingham  in  Parliament. 
Mr.  Dalziel  contended  that  Mr.  Bright  would  not  be  a  suitable 
member  for  Birmingham,  as  their  trading  interests  depended 
upon  war,  and  he  proposed  Mr.  Joshua  Walmsley.  Mr.  B. 
Hill  opposed  the  election  of  both  candidates,  and  proposed 
Mr.  William  Mathews.  Mr.  Mytton  admitted  that  he  knew 
no  nobler  being  than  Mr.  John  Bright,  but  they  could  not 
expect  Mr.  Bright  to  aid  in  promoting  the  gun  trade.  Mr. 
George  Harrison  reminded  those  present  that  a  few  years 
before  that  date  Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  speech  in  the  Birm- 
ingham Town  Hall  upon  India,  and  he  remembered  the  great 


346  LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1857 

knowledge  displayed  on  that  occasion,  and  he  firmly  believed 
that  if  some  of  his  warnings  had  been  duly  attended  to  that 
dreadful  calamity  in  India  might  have  been  averted.  It 
was  ultimately  decided  to  call  a  public  meeting  on  the 
following  Tuesday  evening,  when  the  matter  was  to  be 
settled. 

Upwards  of  8,000  persons  were  present  at  the  meeting  on 
the  Tuesday  evening,  in  the  Town  Hall.  Mr.  William  Lucy 
occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  George  Edmunds  moved  that  Mr. 
Bright  be  their  representative  ;  Mr.  Alderman  Manton  seconded 
the  motion.  Mr.  T.  A.  Attwood  proposed  Mr.  Webster ;  Mr. 
J.  Goodman  seconded  the  motion.  Mr.  Councillor  Holland 
reminded  those  present  that  the  following  year  they  were  to 
have  a  new  Reform  Bill,  and  when  Lord  Palmerston  brought  it 
forward  was  Mr.  Webster  capable  of  discussing  such  a  measure  ? 
If  Lord  Palmerston  proposed  a  dribbling  and  miserable  exten- 
tension  of  the  suffrage,  Mr.  Bright  would  be  the  man  to  oppose 
such  a  measure.  Mr.  Alderman  Lawde  supported  the  claim  of 
Mr.  Webster.  Mr.  M.  A.  Dalziel  stated  that  he  had  examined 
minutely  the  political  character  of  Mr.  Bright,  and  he  found 
that  Mr.  Bright  had  done  some  excellent  things,  and  had 
accomplished,  during  his  Parliamentary  career,  what  would  send 
his  name  with  honour  to  future  generations ;  but,  notwith- 
standing all  that,  he  maintained  that  Mr.  Bright  was  not  the 
man  to  represent  Birmingham.  The  man  who  had  for  fourteen 
years  fought  the  battle  of  democracy,  and  almost  single-handed, 
was  Mr.  George  Dawson.  That  gentleman  possessed  youth  on 
his  side,  and  brilliant  talents,  and  everything  requisite  to  make 
a  senator.  Mr.  George  Dawson  came  forward,  and  said  he  was 
unable  to  stand  as  a  candidate.  It  was  his  opinion  that  Mr. 
Bright  was  the  only  man  on  whom  there  was  any  chance  of  their 
agreeing.  He  differed  from  Mr.  Bright  respecting  the  Russian 
war,  and  also  on  some  other  questions,  but  these  differences 
would  not  incline  him  to  prefer  a  mere  respectable  Birmingham 
man,  untried  in  politics,  and  who  had  done  little  service,  to  a 
man  who  was  foremost  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  who  was 
one  of  the  most  straightforward  and  honest  of  Englishmen. 
He  was  not  the  one  to  oppose  such  a  man.  A  forest  of 
hands  was  held  up  in  favour  of  Mr.  Bright,  and  only  a  few 
for  Mr.  Webster.  The  Conservatives  brought  forward  Mr. 
McGreachy  in  their  interest. 

Mr.  Bright,  after  being  waited  upon  by  a  deputation,  accepted 
the  decision  of  the  public  meeting,  and  issued  his  address,  in 
the  course  of  which  he  stated  : — 


1857.]  MEMBER   FOE    BIRMINGHAM.  347 

"  There  is  another  question  which  at  this  moment  occupies  aud  absorbs  public 
attention — the  revolt  in  India.  Whilst  I  deplore  this  terrible  event,  along  with  the 
rest  of  my  countrymen,  I  am  perhaps  less  surprised  at  it  than  most  of  them  are. 
For  twelve  years  I  have  given  great  attention  to  the  subject  of  India.  I  have 
twice  brought  it  before  Parliament,  once  in  moving  for  a  select  committee,  and  once 
in  moving  for  a  Royal  Commission  of  inquiry ;  and  I  took  an  active  part  in  the 
debates  on  the  Bill  recently  passed  to  continue  the  powers  of  the  East  India 
Company,  and  attended  public  meetings  in  several  of  our  large  cities  with  a  view  to 
excite  public  interest  in  the  great  question  of  the  government  of  India.  The  success 
of  the  insurrection  would  involve  anarchy  in  India,  unless  some  great  man, 
emerging  from  the  chaos,  should  build  up  a  new  empire,  based  on,  and  defended  by, 
military  power.  I  am  not  prepared  to  defend  the  steps  by  which  England  has 
obtained  dominion  in  the  East ;  but,  looking  to  the  interests  of  India  and  of  England, 
I  cannot  oppose  such  measures  as  majr  be  deemed  necessary  to  suppress  the  existing 
disorder.  To  restore  order  to  India  is  a  mercy  to  India ;  but  heavy  will  be  the 
guilt  of  our  countrymen  should  we  neglect  hereafter  any  measure  which  would  con- 
tribute to  the  welfare  of  its  hundred  millions  of  population.  I  hope  the  acts  of  the 
Government  will  be  free  from  the  vindictive  and  sanguinary  spirit  which  is  shown 
iu  many  of  the  letters  which  appear  in  the  newspapers,  and  that  when  the  present 
crisis  is  over,  all  that  exists  of  statesmanship  in  England  will  combine  to  work  what 
good  is  possible  out  of  so  much  evil. " 

Mr.  Bright,  on  account  of  the  state  of  his  health,  did  not 
visit  Birmingham  at  that  time.  Every  hour  the  canvass 
proceeded  showed,  however,  that  he  was  a  great  favourite  with 
the  electors,  and  that  he  would  be  returned  by  an  immense 
majority.  The  friends  of  both  the  other  candidates,  ascertaining 
that  such  would  be  the  result,  wisely  withdrew  their  candidates, 
and  on  10th  of  August,  1857,  Mr.  Bright  was  returned  for 
Birmingham.  Mr.  John  Ratcliff,  the  mayor,  was  the  returning 
officer.  Mr.  Alderman  Lloyd  nominated  Mr.  John  Bright,  and 
Mr.  George  Edmunds  seconded  the  nomination. 

Mr.  Duncan  McLaren,  at  that  time  ex-Provost  of  Edinburgh, 
and  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Bright,  said  that  Mr.  Bright  was 
staying  at  his  house  when  the  telegraph  despatch  came,  and  he 
proposed  to  accompany  Mr.  Bright  to  Tamvvorth,  to  meet  some 
of  the  gentlemen  from  Birmingham.  He  offered,  on  behalf  of 
his  absent  relative,  his  grateful  thanks  for  the  great  honour  they 
had  done  him.  Mr.  Bright's  medical  advisers  had  stated  that, 
although  he  appeared  to  be  pretty  well,  and  although  he  could 
read  and  speak  as  well  as  ever  he  did  in  his  life,  he  must  give 
his  brain  at  least  two  years'  repose  before  he  ventured  into  any 
kind  of  excitement,  and  they  laid  down  a  strict  injunction  that 
not  only  should  he  refrain  from  public  speaking,  but  he  should 
not  appear  at  a  public  meeting,  where  exciting  circumstances 
might  occur.  Eighteen  months  of  that  period  had  now  elapsed, 
and  the  two  years  would  expire  before  he  could  be  called  upon 
to  take  his  seat  in  Parliament ;  and  it  was  his  firm  belief,  and 
Mr.  Bright's  own  hope,  that  when  Parliament  assembled  he 
would  be  able  to  take  his  place  to  advocate  their  interests  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  When  Mr.  Bright  came  to  Tamworth, 


348  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BEIGHT.  [185>. 

he  wrote  the  address  which  they  had  all  read.  Mr.  Bright 
retired  into  a  private  room  for  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour, 
and  returned  with  four  slips  (which  made  above  half  a 
column  in  the  newspapers),  which  bore  the  marks  of  scarcely  any 
alterations ;  and  when  the  address  was  read  to  his  friends  there 
was  not  one  suggestion  or  alteration  of  a  single  syllable.  He 
doubted  very  much  if  any  election  address  to  any  constituency 
was  ever  prepared  so  quickly  and  altered  so  little,  for  it  was  not 
altered  even  to  the  extent  of  one  word.  They  had,  therefore, 
in  that  address  his  spontaneous,  undisguised  opinions.  Mr. 
Bright  came  forward  with  no  apology,  with  no  retractions,  with 
no  expression  of  sorrow,  and  with  no  promise  of  amendment ; 
but  he  came  forward,  saying  that  as  he  had  been  advocating  his 
country's  interests  and  the  rights  of  the  working  classes,  and 
was  the  supporter  of  good  legislation  of  every  kind,  so  he 
would  continue  honestly  to  advocate  the  views  which  he  believed 
to  be  right,  whether  they  should  be  consonant  or  not  with 
popular  opinions  of  the  day. 

During  Mr.  Bright's  involuntary  seclusion  every  scrap  of 
news  that  could  be  gleaned  of  him  was  eagerly  inserted  in  the 
newspapers,  and  the  public  read  it  with  more  than  usual  interest, 
for  he  lived  in  the  endeared  recollections  of  thousands  of  his 
countrymen,  and  his  vacant  place  in  the  House  of  Commons 
they  felt  as  a  reproach.  The  people  began  to  appreciate  his 
views  and  spontaneously  gather  round  the  man  who  had  so 
recently  incurred  public  disapprobation ;  for  they  discovered  that 
he  was  an  honest  politician  who  was  not  clamorous  for  the 
applause  of  the  world,  but  anxious  only  for  the  silent  satisfaction 
which  results  from  having  acted  well. 

Birmingham  was  honoured  in  those  services  which  it 
rendered  to  the  nation  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Bright,  for  its 
distinguished  representative  was  universally  acknowledged  to  be 
a  leading  statesman,  who  would  not  be  carried  away  by  "every 
wind  of  doctrine;  "  and  much  was  expected  from  him.  In  fact, 
Mr.  Bright's  admirers  anticipated  for  him,  and  for  the  cause  with 
which  he  allied  himself,  a  future  of  glorious  and  lasting  results. 
His  constituents  looked  forward  with  interest  to  his  visit  to 
Birmingham. 

On  the  2nd  December,  1857,  Mr.  Bright  found  that  he  would 
not  be  able,  from  due  regard  to  his  health,  to  take  his  seat  until 
after  Christmas,  and  he  therefore  wrote  to  Mr.  Alderman  Lloyd, 
the  chairman  of  the  election  committee,  announcing  this  fact, 
and  adding : — 

"  Two  years  ago,  when  the  Indian  Bill  was  about  to  come  under  discussion,  I 


Ig5?.]  A   REFORM   MEETING.  849 

thought  I  knew  something  of  India,  and  felt  that  I  could  give  advice  on  the  subject, 
but  the  scene  has  totally  changed,  and  what  was  easy  to  be  done  in  fair  weather  may 
be  impossible,  or  of  little  avail,  when  the  storm  rages.  I  presume,  however,  that  the 
days  of  the  Leadenhall  Street  rulers  of  India  are  numbered.  Without  character, 
without  power,  it  required  but  a  vote  of  Parliament  to  give  legal  effect  to  that 
which,  I  believe,  the  public  opinion  of  England  has  already  decreed.  If  the  coming 
session  shall  establish  the  government  of  India  on  a  secure  and  wise  basis,  so  far  as 
that  is  possible  in  the  unnatural  position  in  which  we  stand  to  that  country,  I  shall 
feel  that  Parliament  has  not  laboured  in  vain,  and  if  the  threatened  postponement  of 
the  Reform  Bill  is  a  disappointment  to  me  and  others,  I  shall  endeavour  to  console 
myself  with  the  hope  that  the  improvement  of  our  representation  will  hereafter  be 
entrusted  to  more  friendly  hands  than  those  that  now  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
country." 

Mr.  Milner  Gibson  was  returned  for  Ashton-under-Lymc 
on  the  12th  of  December,  1857,  by  a  majority  of  184.  His 
opponent  was  considered  eccentric. 

On  the  2nd  of  February,  1858,  about  5,000  persons  assembled 
in  Birmingham  to  consider  the  subject  of  Reform.  The  Mayor 
presided.  Mr.  Bright  was  not  able  to  attend,  so  he  sent  a  letter, 
in  which  he  stated  : — 

"If  your  great  city,  with  its  great  constituency,  is  only  to  send  two  men  to 
Parliament,  whilst  an  equal  population  and  property  in  some  other  part  of  the 
kingdom  is  to  send  twenty  men  to  Parliament,  then  I  say  that  the  franchise  is  of 
little  avail.  .  .  .  Any  Reform  Bill  which  is  worth  a  moment's  thought,  or  smallest 
effort  to  carry  it,  must  at  least  double — aud  it  ought  to  do  more  than  double — the 
representation  of  the  metropolitan  boroughs  of  the  great  cities  of  the  United  King- 
dom. (Cheers.).  .  .  .  With  regard  to  the  ballot,  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  no 
meeting  has  been  held  for  many  years  in  favour  of  Reform  at  which  the  ballot  has 
not  been  strongly  insisted  on.  If  Reform  is  to  be  granted  to  gratify  and  content 
Reformers,  if  their  judgment  and  unanimity  are  sufficient  to  justify  or  to  for$e  its 
concession,  then  surely  the  ballot  cannot  be  denied  to  us,  but  I  feel  certain  it  will  not 
long  be  refused." 

(Three  enthusiastic  cheers  were  given  in  favour  of  their  dis- 
tinguished representative.) 

Mr.  Bright,  a  few  days  after,  presented  to  the  House  of 
Commons  a  petition,  which  had  been  sent  to  him  from  the 
Reform  meeting  at  Birmingham.  The  petition  sought  to  obtain 
a  vote  for  every  ratepayer  in  boroughs,  to  establish  a  £10 
franchise  in  counties,  and  to  effect  a  more  equitable  arrangement 
of  the  representation.  It  also  advocated  vote  by  ballot,  trien- 
nial Parliament8,  and  the  abolition  of  the  property  qualification 
of  members. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

EETUEN  TO  ACTIVE  LIFE. 

Defeat  of  Lord  Palmerston— A  New  Conservative  Ministry— The  Powers  of  the  East 
India  Company  Abolished — The  French  Scare  again — Mr.  Bright  introduced  to 
his  Constituents — His  Appeal  for  Parliamentary  Reform — His  Eeview  of  the  Past 
— Invited  to  Prepare  a  Reform  Bill — Visits  his  Old  Constituents— At  Edinburgh, 
Glasgow,  &c. — Amongst  his  Fellow-Townsmen — Disraeli's  First  Reform  Bill — 
Appeal  to  the  Country— Cobden  Returned  for  Rochdale — Bright  for  Birm- 
ingham. 

AFTER  the  attempt  by  Felice  Orsini  to  assassinate  the  Emperor 
of  the  French,  Lord  Palmerston  introduced  into  the  House  of 
Commons  a  "  Conspiracy  to  Murder  Bill/'  its  object  being,  it 
was  stated,  to  restrain  and  punish  conspiracies  hatched  in  Great 
Britain  against  the  lives  of  foreign  potentates.  The  English 
people  were  at  once  incensed  against  such  a  measure,  as  it  was 
deemed  an  encroachment  upon  the  ancient  British  privileges  of 
asylum.  The  object  of  Lord  Palmerston  was  not  to  amend  the 
law,  but  to  make  a  show  of  compliance  with  the  demands  pre- 
ferred by  the  French  Government.  Count  Persigny  wanted 
some  restriction  to  be  placed  on  the  right  of  aliens  ;  but  the  Bill 
left  this  right  untouched.  The  Count  asked  for  such  increased 
stringency  in  our  police  arrangements  as  to  facilitate  the  detec- 
tion of  conspiracies ;  but  Lord  Palmerston's  Bill  merely  increased 
the  punishment  for  the  crime  when  discovered. 

Not  many  months  before  this  event  Lord  Palmerston  had 
flattered  himself  that  he  had  put  his  "  heel  on  the  political  neck" 
of  Bright  and  Gibson.  Now,  however,  that  they  were  both  in 
the  House  again,  and  as  they  disapproved  of  Palmerston's  con- 
duct with  regard  to  the  Conspiracy  Bill,  they  determined  upon 
a  trial  of  strength  with  the  Premier,  and  on  the  second  reading 
on  the  18th  of  February  Mr.  Milner  Gibson  proposed  as  an 
amendment : — 

"That  the  House  hears  with  much  concern  that  it  is  alleged  that  the  recent 
attempts  on  the  life  of  the  Emperor  of  the  French  have  been  devised  in  England, 
and  expresses  its  detestation  of  such  guilty  enterprises.  That  this  House  is  ready 
at  all  times  to  assist  in  remedying  any  defects  in  the  criminal  laws  which,  after  due 
investigation,  are  proved  to  exist;  yet  it  cannot  but  regret  that  her  Majesty's 
Government,  previously  to  inviting  the  House  to  amend  the  laws  of  conspiracy  at 
the  present  tune,  have  not  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  make  some  reply  to  the  im- 
portant despatch  received  from  the  French  Government,  dated  Paris,  January  20th, 
1858,  and  which  has  been  laid  before  Parliament." 

Mr.  Bright  seconded  this  amendment,  which  received  234  votes 
in  its  support,  and  215  against  it,  there  thus  being  a  majority 


1868.]  LORD   PALMERSTON.  351 

of  19  against  the  Government.  The  vote  was  a  true  expression 
of  national  feeling,  in  which  all  the  parties  concurred,  for  they 
disapproved  of  Lord  Palmerston's  readiness  to  change  the  laws  of 
England  at  the  dictation  of  a  foreign  potentate.  It  was  a  very 
severe  reverse,  coming  within  a  year  after  his  triumph;  and 
the  Premier  felt  it  to  be  so.  When  the  numbers  were  an- 
nounced, he  sat  for  a  time  with  his  face  hidden,  so  that  the 
excited  gazers  could  not  see  how  deeply  he  was  moved. 

Lord  Palmerston  and  his  Cabinet  resigned  on  the  20th 
February,  1858,  when  Lord  Derby  was  called  in,  and  he  con- 
sented to  form  a  Ministry.  The  following  appointments  were 
made : — Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  Leader  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  Mr.  Disraeli;  Lord  Chancellor,  Sir  F.  Thesiger; 
President  of  the  Council,  Marquis  of  Salisbury ;  Foreign  Secre- 
tary, Lord  Malmesbury. 

Lord  Palmerston  and  his  Cabinet,  and  supposed  followers, 
who  had.  been  regarded  as  very  formidable,  were  blown  away,  as 
it  were,  by  a  puff  of  wind.  Here  was  a  minister  of  great  ex- 
perience, who  was  regarded  as  a  sagacious  politician,  suddenly 
tripped  up  by  an  almost  unpremeditated  stroke  of  Parliamentary 
tactics,  after  having  provoked  his  downfall  by  palpable  blunders 
committed  in  the  very  field  of  action  which  had  been  the  study 
and  occupation  of  his  life.  His  popularity  resembled 

"  The  uncertain  glory  of  an  April  day ; 
Which  now  shows  all  the  beauty  of  the  sun, 
And  by-and-bye  a  cloud  takes  all  away." 

Cunning  and  dexterity  avail  more  to  worldly  success  than 
true  wisdom.  In  many  instances  things  work  themselves,  and 
events  carry  forward  the  man  as  often  as  the  man  directs  them. 
Besides,  the  greater  instrument  of  success  is  the  adaptation  of  a 
man's  peculiar  faculties  to  the  work  in  hand,  rather  than  the 
superior  order  of  his  general  abilities.  Such  were  Lord  Palmers- 
ton's  characteristics.  It  might  be  said  that  he  was  conducted 
by  accident  to  the  helm  of  the  nation,  and  his  career  has  shown 
that  ordinary  faculties,  when  aided  by  place  and  pertinacity, 
may  produce  great  changes  in  the  destinies  of  a  nation. 

"  When  I  read,"  said  Mr.  Cobden  to  a  friend,  "  the  account  of  Bright  and  Gibson 
walking  up  to  the  table  of  the  House  to  pass  sentence  upon  that  venerable  political 
sinner,  I  could  not  help  thinking  what  a  fine  historical  picture  the  artist  missed. 
There  was  surely  something  more  than  chance  in  bringing  back  these  two  men  to 
inflict  summary  punishment  on  the  man  who  flattered  himself  a  few  months  ago  that 
he  had  put  his  heel  on  their  political  necks.  For  the  first  time  I  felt  regret  at  not 
being  there  to  witness  that  scene  of  retributive  justice." 

The  new  Ministry  brought  forward  an  important  measure  on 
the  26th  March,  1858,  for  the  abolition  of  the  ruling  power  of 


362  LIFE    AND   TIMES   OP    JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1858. 

the  East  India  Company,  and  for  the  future  government  of 
India  by  the  Crown.  Mr.  Bright  for  twelve  years,  both  in  and 
out  of  Parliament,  had  opposed  the  existence  of  this  Company, 
and,  during  the  debates,  delivered  able  speeches  as  to  the  best 
mode  of  governing  India.  On  the  1st  May,  1858,  Mr.  Disraeli 
introduced  the  Bill  to  the  House  of  Commons.  At  the  adjourned 
debate,  on  the  20th  May,  Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  lengthy  speech, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  said  : — 

"  I  am  willing  to  avow  that  I  am  in  favour  of  justice  and  conciliation — of  the 
law  of  justice  and  of  kindness.  Justice  and  mercy  are  the  supreme  attributes  of  the 
perfection  which  we  call  Deity,  and  all  men  everywhere  comprehend  them ;  there  is 
no  speech  nor  language  in  which  their  voice  is  not  heard,  and  they_  could  not  have 
been  vainly  exercised  with  regard  to  the  docile  and  intelligent  millions  of  India. 
You  had  the  choice.  You  have  tried  the  sword.  It  has  broken;  it  now  rests 
broken  in  your  grasp ;  and  you  stand  humbled  and  rebuked.  You  stand  humbled 
and  rebuked  before  the  eyes  of  civilised  Europe.  You  may  have  another  chance. 
You  may,  by  possibility,  have  another  chance  of  governing  India.  If  you  have,  I 
beseech  you  to  make  the  best  use  of  it.  Do  not  let  us  pursue  such  a  policy  as  many- 
men  in  India,  and  some  in  England,  have  advocated,  but  which  hereafter  you  will 
have  to  regret,  which  can  end  only,  as  I  believe,  in  something  approaching  to  the 
ruin  of  this  country,  and  which  must,  if  it  be  persisted  in,  involve  our  name  and 
nation  in  everlasting  disgrace."  (Cheers.) 

On  the  24th  June,  1858,  Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  masterly 
address  in  the  House  of  Commons  as  to  how  India  could  be 
most  beneficially  governed  with  a  view  to  the  welfare  of  the 
people  and  the  permanence  of  our  rule,  and  said  : — 

"  What  is  it  we  have  to  complain  of  in  India  P  What  is  it  that  the  people  of 
India,  if  they  spoke  by  my  mouth,  have  to  complain  of  ?  They  would  tell  the  House 
that,  as  a  rule,  throughout  almost  all  the  Presidencies,  and  throughout  those  Presi- 
dencies most  of  which  have  been  longest  under  British  rule,  the  cultivators  of  the  soil, 
the  great  body  of  the  population  of  India,  are  in  a  condition  of  great  impoverish- 
ment, of  great  dejection,  and  of  great  suffering.  I  have,  on  former  occasions, 
quoted  to  the  House  the  report  of  a  committee  which  I  obtained  ten  years  ago,  upon 
which  sat  several  members  of  the  Court  of  Directors ;  and  they  all  agreed  to  report 
as  much  as  I  have  now  stated  to  the  House — the  report  being  confined  chiefly  to  the 
Presidencies  of  Bombay  and  Madras.  If  I  were  now  submitting  the  case  of  the  popu- 
lation of  India,  I  would  say  that  the  taxes  of  India  are  more  onerous  and  oppressive 
than  the  taxes  of  any  other  country  in  the  world.  I  think  I  could  demonstrate  that 
proposition  to  the  House.  I  would  show  that  industry  is  neglected  by  the  Govern- 
ment to  a  greater  extent  probably  than  is  the  case  in  any  other  country  in  the  world 
which  has  been  for  any  length  of  time  under  what  is  termed  a  civilised  and  Christian 
government.  I  should  be  able  to  show  from  the  notes  and  memoranda  of  eminent 
men  in  India — of  the  Governor  of  Bengal,  Mr.  Halliday,  for  example — that  there 
is  not,  and  never  has  been  in  any  country  pretending  to  be  civilised,  a  condition  of 
things  to  be  compared  with  that  which  exists  under  the  police  administration  of  the 
province  of  Bengal.  With  regard  to  the  courts  of  justice  I  may  say  the  same  thing. 
I  could  quote  passages  from  books  written  in  favour  of  the  Company  with  all  the 
bias  which  the  strongest  friends  of  the  Company  can  have,  in  which  the  writers 
declare  that,  precisely  in  proportion  as  English  courts  of  justice  have  extended, 
have  perjury,  and  all  the  evils  which  perjury  introduces  into  the  administration  of 
justice,  prevailed  throughout  the  Presidencies  of  India.  With  regard  to  public 
works,  if  I  were  speaking  for  the  natives  of  India,  I  would  state  this  fact,  that  in  a 
single  English  county  there  are  more  roads — more  travelable  roads — than  are  to  be 
found  in  the  whole  of  India;  and  I  would  say  also  that  the  single  city  of  Manches- 
ter, in  the  supply  of  its  inhabitants  with  the  single  article  of  water,  has  spent  a 
larger  snm  of  money  than  the  East  India  Company  have  spent  in  fourteen  years, 


I8f8.]  INDIA.  363 

from  1834  to  1848,  in  public  works  of  every  kind  throughout  the  whole  of  its  vast 
dominions.  I  would  say  that  the  real  activity  of  the  Indian  Government  has  been 
an  activity  of  conquest  and  annexation — of  conquest  and  annexation  which  after  a 
time  has  led  to  a  fearful  catastrophe  which  has  enforced  on  the  House  an  attention 
to  the  question  of  India,  which  but  for  that  catastrophe  I  fear  the  House  would  not 
have  given  it.  .  .1  entreat  the  House  to  study  it  not  only  now,  during  the 
passing  of  this  Bill,  but  after  the  session  is  over,  and  till  we  meet  again  next  year, 
when,  in  all  probability,  there  must  be  further  legislation  upon  this  great  subject ; 
for  I  believe  that  upon  this  question  depends  very  much,  for  good  or  for  evil,  the 
future  of  this  country  of  which  we  are  citizens,  and  which  we  all  regard  and  love 
so  much.  You  have  had  enough  of  military  reputation  on  Eastern  fields ;  you  have 
gathered  large  harvests  of  that  commodity,  be  it  valuable  or  be  it  worthless.  I 
invite  you  to  something  better,  and  higher,  and  holier  than  that :  I  invite  you  to  a 
glory  not  '  fanned  by  conquest's  crimson  wing,'  but  based  upon  the  solid  and  lasting 
benefits  which  I  believe  the  Parliament  of  England  can,  if  it  will,  confer  upon  the 
countless  populations  of  India."  (Cheers.) 

In  another  speech,  delivered  in  1868,  Mr.  Bright  said  : — 

"  Now  fifteen  years  ago  the  government  of  India  was  the  most  extraordinary 
government  in  the  world — I  will  say  the  most  remarkable  government  that  had  ever 
been  in  the  world.  It  was  called  a  double  government.  It  consisted  of  a  number  of 
directors  of  an  extinct  trading  company,  a  company  that  was  always  bankrupt. 
The  directors,  who  were  bred  in  corruption,  and  who  practiced  it  during  their  tenure 
of  office,  and  who,  in  point  of  fact,  may  be  said  to  have  lived  upon  it,  neglected 
everything  they  ought  to  have  done  except  the  collection  and  the  expenditure  of  the 
taxes." 

In  another  speech,  in  1877,  he  also  remarked  that  he  had 
taken  great  pains  for  years  to  show  that  the  praises  bestowed 
upon  the  East  India  Company  were  not  deserved,  and  that  he 
urged  for  years  that  the  Company  should  be  abolished.  When 
the  Mutiny  came  in  1859,  there  was  nobody  to  say  anything,  or 
hardly  anything,  for  the  Company,  and  the  famous  old  institution 
tumbled  over  at  once,  and  it  had  scarcely  a  friend  or  a  single 
element  of  power  left  in  it. 

Ultimately  the  government  of  India  was  transferred  to  the 
Crown,  and  a  system  of  competitive  examinations  for  the  various 
civil  offices  was  introduced.  The  Royal  Proclamation  to  the 
people  of  India  contained  many  of  the  sentiments  which  had 
been  expressed  by  Mr.  Bright. 

"Firmly  relying  ourselves  on  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  acknowledging 
with  gratitude  the  solace  of  religion,"  the  proclamation  continued,  "we  disclaim 
alike  the  right  and  the  desire  to  impose  our  convictions  on  any  of  our  subjects.  We 
declare  it  to  be  our  royal  will  and  pleasure  that  none  be  in  anywise  favoured,  none 
molested  or  disquieted,  by  reason  of  their  religious  faith  or  observances,  but  that  all 
shall  enjoy  alike  the  equal  and  impartial  protection  of  the  law;  and  we  do  strictly 
charge  and  enjoin  all  those  who  may  be  iu  authority  under  us  that  they  abstain  from 
all  interference  with  the  religious  belief  or  worship  of  any  of  our  subjects,  on  pain 
of  our  highest  displeasure.  And  it  is  our  further  will  that,  so  far  as  may  be,  our 
subjects,  of  whatever  race  or  creed,  be  freely  and  impartially  admitted  to  offices 
in  our  service,  the  duties  of  which  they  may  be  qualified,  by  their  education,  ability, 
and  integrity,  duly  to  discharge." 

This  clause  in  the  message  of  peace  gave  great  satisfaction 
to  the  natives,  and  assisted  in  extinguishing  the  smouldering1 


354  LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1854 

embers  of  rebellion.  If  some  other  of  Mr.  Bright/s  suggestions 
had  been  carried  out,  India  would  have  been  in  a  far  better  state 
than  it  is  at  present.  Our  policy  before  this  was  force  and 
neglect.  Our  olive  branch  was  attached  to  the  end  of  the 
bayonet,. and  if  it  was  not  graciously  received,  we  enforced  our 
commands  with  the  roar  of  shot  and  shell  from  an  8-inch 
howitzer.  A  new  era  of  nobler  sentiments  has  been  inaugurated, 
and  our  rule  in  India  depends  more  upon  the  personal  character 
of  the  few  Europeans  who  constitute  the  dominant  races  there 
than  on  anything  else  in  the  world. 

A  discussion  took  place  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
European  armaments  on  the  llth  of  June,  for  the  old 
bogie — French  invasion — again  stalked  about  our  coast.  Mr. 
Bright  on  this  occasion  remarked  that  he  knew  an  old  lady 
of  eighty  years  of  age,  whom  some  professor,  he  did  not  know 
who,  had  been  trying  to  alarm  by  appealing  to  her  in  a  circular 
about  the  danger  of  the  French  invasion.  She  said,  "  I  am  not 
alarmed  at  all.  I  have  lived  in  the  world  eighty  years,  and, 
as  long  as  I  recollect  anything,  there  has  always  been  a  story 
of  a  French  invasion.'"  He  had  received  a  letter  from  a  small 
master  cutler  at  Sheffield,  who  stated  that  he  had  seven 
children,  that  trade  was  very  bad  and  he  was  struggling  for  a 
living,  and  that  he  hoped  the  Government  would  introduce 
a  different  foreign  policy,  that  we  might  have  fewer  generals, 
fewer  armaments,  lighter  taxes,  and  a  chance  for  an  honest  and 
industrious  man  to  support  his  family.  People  asked  him  (Mr. 
Bright)  why  he  supported  the  Ministry  then  in  power?  The 
question  was  not  one  of  Conservatism  nor  of  aristocracy,  but  of 
the  obvious  interests  of  the  country  and  of  humanity;  and  he 
said  a  government  with  a  foreign  policy  of  moderation  and 
justice  was  the  government  he  should  select,  rather  than  a 
government  that  pretended  to  give  an  exhibition  of  power  for  all 
parts  of  the  world.  It  was  apparent  that  the  reason  why 
Mr.  Bright  supported  the  Conservative  ministry  at  this  particular 
time  was  because  he  found  it  would  do  his  work  more  readily 
than  the  Palmerstonian  Cabinet. 

On  the  27th  of  October,  1858,  Mr.  Bright,  for  the  first  time 
since  his  election,  met  his  constituents  at  a  public  meeting  in  the 
Birmingham  Town  Hall,  and  the  sight  was  most  imposing.  In 
order  to  give  accommodation  to  the  greatest  number  of  persons, 
the  seats  were  displaced  except  in  the  great  gallery  and  on  the 
platform,  and  it  may  be  easily  imagined  what  immense  numbers 
were  present  when  it  is  stated  that  this  vast  hall  was  crowded. 
Mr.  Bright  on  entering  received  an  overwhelming  ovation, 


1858]  AT   BIRMINGHAM.  355 

equalling  those  brilliant  receptions  he  had  been  accustomed  to  re- 
ceive in  Manchester.  The-upturned  faces  presented  an  expression 
of  curiosity,  as  if  they  were  closely  inspecting  the  personal  appear- 
ance of  their  new  member,  and  had  come  to  a  favourable  decision. 
Sir  John  Radcliffe  presided,  and  briefly  introduced  Mr.  Bright, 
who  was  again  lustily  cheered.  There  was  then  a  silence  almost 
too  solemn  in  so  great  a  multitude  as  the  speaker  thus  began : — 

"If  I  exhibit  embarrassment  in  rising  to  address  you,  I  must  ask  your  for- 
bearance, for  in  truth,  as  I  cast  my  eyes  over  this  great  assembly,  I  feel  myself 
almost  bewildered  and  oppressed  with  a  consciousness  of  my  incapacity  to  fullil 
properly  the  duty  which  devolves  upon  me  to-night.  It  is  now  nearly  three  years 
since  I  was  permitted,  and,  indeed,  since  I  was  able,  to  stand  upon  any  public  plat- 
form to  address  any  public  meeting  of  my  countrymen ;  and  during  that  period 
I  have  passed  through  a  new  and  a  great  experience.  From  apparent  health  I 
have  been  brought  down  to  a  condition  of  weakness  exceeding  the  weakness  of  a 
little  child,  in  which  I  could  neither  read  nor  write,  nor  converse  for  more  than 
a  few  minutes  without  distress  and  Avithout  peril ;  and  from  that  condition  by 
degrees  so  fine  as  to  be  imperceptible  even  to  myself,  I  have  been  restored  to 
the  comparative  health  in  which  you  now  behold  me.  In  remembrance  of  all 
this,  is  it  wrong  in  me  to  acknowledge  here,  in  the  presence  of  you  all,  with 
reverent  and  thankful  heart,  the  signal  favour  which  has  been  extended  to 
me  by  the  great  Supreme  ?  Is  it  wrong  that  I  should  take  this  opportunity 
of  expressing  the  gratitude  which  I  feel  to  all  classes  of  my  countrymen  for 
the  numberless  kindnesses  which  I  have  received  from  them  during  this 
period— from  those  high  in  rank  and  abounding  in  wealth  and  influence,  to  the 
dweller  on  one  of  our  Lancashire  moors,  who  sent  me  a  most  kind  message  to 
say  that  he  believed  where  he  lived  was  the  healthiest  spot  in  England,  and 
that  if  I  would  come  and  take  up  my  abode  with  him  for  a  time,  though 
his  means  were  limited  and  his  dwelling  humble,  he  would  contrive  to  let  me 
have  a  room  to  myself.  I  say,  looking  back  to  all  this,  that  if  I  have  ever 
done  anything  for  my  countrymen,  or  for  their  interests  in  any  shape,  I  am 
amply  compensated  by  the  abundant  kindness  they  have  shown  to  me  during 
the  last  three  years.  And  if  there  be  any  colour  of  shade  to  this  picture, 
if  there  be  men  who  subjected  me  to  a  passionate  and  ungenerous  treatment 
when  I  was  stricken  down  and  was  enduring  a  tedious  exile,  though  the  best 
years  of  my  life  were  engaged  in  the  defence  of  their  interests,  I  have  the 
consolation  of  knowing  that  their  verdict  was  not  approved  by  the  country, 
and  that  when  my  cause  came  up  by  appeal  to  a  superior,  because  an  impartial 
tribunal,  their  verdict  was  condemned  and  set  aside  by  the  unanimous  judgment 
of  the  electors  and  population  of  this  great  central  city  of  the  kingdom. 
(Cheers.)  ....  I  am  afraid  to  say  how  many  persons  I  now  see  before  me 
who  are  by  the  present  constitution  of  this  country  shut  out  from  any  participation 
in  political  power.  (Cheers.)  I  shall  take  this  opportunity  of  discussing,  and, 
as  far  as  I  am  able,  with  brevity  and  distinctness,  what  I  think  we  ought  to  aim 
at  now,  when  the  great  question  of  Parliamentary  Reform  is  before  the  country. 
(Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  I  think  we  may  fairly  say  that  that  question 
occupies  now  something  like  a  triumphant  position,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
position  of  great  peril — triumphant,  inasmuch  as  it  has  now  no  open  enemies — 
perilous,  inasmuch  as,  for  the  moment,  it  is  taken  up  by  those  who,  up  to  this 
hour,  have  been  for  the  most  part  the  uncompromising  opponents  of  Reform. 
We  have  had  four  governments  pledged  to  Parliamentary  Reform  within  the 
last  few  years.  Lord  J.  Russell,  as  Prime  Minister,  introduced  a  Reform  Bill, 
and  afterwards,  in  the  Government  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  Lord  J.  Russell  introduced 
another  Reform  Bill,  and  the  least  said  of  these  two  Bills,  especially  of  the 
latter,  the  better.  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter.)  The  Government  which 
has  recently  been  overthrown  pledged  itself  to  the  country  and  the  House  of 
('ommons  to  bring  in  a  Reform  Bill,  but  at  the  time  when  it  came  to  an 
unexpected,  but  a  not  undeserved  end,  no  Bill  had  been  prepared,  so  that 
we  knew  nothing  of  the  particulars  of  which  it  was  to  be  composed.  We 
have  now  a  government  under  the  cliieftainship  of  Lord  Derby,  who,  during 


366  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF  JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1858 

his  short  term  of  office  in  1852,  stated,  if  I  remember  right,  that  one  of  the 
chief  objects  of  his  Government  would  be  to  stem  the  tide  of  democracy.  (Loud 
laughter.)  Now,  it  may  be  that  Lord  Derby  has  entirely  changed  his  mind, 
that  he  is  as  much  converted  to  Parliamentary  Reform  as  Sir  R.  Peel,  in  1846, 
was  converted  to  corn-law  repeal."  (Cheers.) 

The  speech  was  principally  an  appeal  on  behalf  of  Parlia- 
mentary Reform,  and  the  effect  of  the  sublime  peroration  was 
the  most  extraordinary  and  exciting  ever  witnessed  in  any  public 
meeting.  Rising  with  his  subject,  the  great  orator,  with  all  his 
accustomed  fire  in  his  voice  and  action,  spoke  thus  : — 

"  Why  should  they  not  by  some  arrangement  have  their  own  Reform 
Bill,  and  have  it  introduced  into  Parliament  supported  with  all  the  strength 
of  their  great  national  party  —  (cheers)  —  and  if  it  be  a  Bill  sensibly  better 
than  that  Bill  that  is  being  prepared  for  us  in  Downing  Street,  we  should 
go  with  the  utmost  unanimity  of  which  we  are  capable — by  public  meetings, 
by  petition — and  when  the  time  comes,  at  the  polling  booth,  for  the  purpose 
of  supporting  that  Bill.  (Cheers.)  I  say  we  are  great  in  numbers,  and 
if  united  we  are  great  in  strength;  that  we  are  invincible  in  the  solidity 
of  our  arguments,  and  that  we  are  altogether  unassailable  in  the  justice 
of  our  great  cause.  Shall  we  then,  I  ask  you,  even  for  a  moment,  be  hopeless 
of  that  great  cause?  I  feel  almost  ashamed  to  argue  it  to  such  a  meeting  as 
this,  when  I  call  to  mind  where  I  am  and  who  are  my  hearers.  (Cheers.)  Am 
I  not  in  the  town  of  Birmingham,  England's  central  capital  ?  and  do  not 
these  eyes  look  upon  the  sons  of  those  who,  not  thirty  years  ago,  shook  the 
fabric  of  privilege  to  its  base  ?  (Great  cheering.)  The  strong  men,  not  a  few 
of  the  strong  men  of  that  time,  are  now  white  with  age.  (Hear,  hear.)  They 
approach  the  confines  of  their  mortal  day — its  evening  is  cheered  by  the 
remembrance  of  that  great  contest,  and  they  behold  and  they  rejoice  in  the 
freedom  that  they  have  won.  (Cheers.)  Shall  their  sous  be  less  noble  than 
they  ?  (Voices:  "  No  !  ")  Shall  the  fire  which  they  kindled  be  extinguished  with 
you?  (Voices:  "No.")  I  see  the  answer  in  every  face.  (Cheers.)  You 
resolve  that  the  legacy  which  they  bequeathed  to  you,  you  will  hand  down 
in  accumulated  wealth  of  freedom  to  your  children.  (Prolonged  cheering.) 
As  for  me,  my  voice  is  feeble.  I  feel  now  sensibly,  painfully,  that  I  am 
not  now  what  I  was.  I  speak  with  a  diminished  fire,  I  act  with  a  lessened 
force,  but  as  I  am,  my  countrymen  and  constituents,  I  will,  if  you  will  let  me, 
be  found  in  your  ranks  in  the  impending  struggle."  (Great  cheering.) 

This  speech  was  considered  one  of  his  happiest  efforts ;  but 
his  partial  hoarseness  interfered  in  a  certain  degree  with  the  rich 
tones  of  his  thrilling  voice. 

On  the  29th  October,  1858,  a  grand  banquet  was  held  in  the 
Birmingham  Town  Hall  in  honour  of  Mr.  Bright.  Mr.  P.  H. 
Muntz  presided,  and  there  was  a  very  select  attendance.  Mr. 
Bright,  in  the  course  of  a  lengthy  speech,  said : — 

"Now,  I  take  the  liberty  here,  in  the  presence  of  an  audience  as  intelligent  as 
can  be  collected  within  the  limits  of  this  land,  and  before  those  who  have  the 
strongest  claim  to  know,  what  I  do  hold  with  regard  to  certain  great  questions  of 
public  policy.  I  take  the  liberty  here  to  assert  that  I  hold  no  views  on  these  con- 
troverted questions,  that  I  have  never  promulgated  any  view  with  respect  to  which 
I  cannot  bring  as  witnesses  in  my  favour,  as  fellow -believers  with  myself,  some  of 
the  best  and  most  revered  names  in  the  history  of  English  statesmanship.  One 
hundred  and  twenty  years  ago  the  Government  of  this  country  was  conducted  by 
Sir  Robert  Walpole,  a  great  Minister,  who  for  many  years  preserved  the  country  in 
peace,  and  whose  pride  it  was  during  those  years  that  he  had  done  so.  Unfortu- 
nately, towards  the  close  of  his  career  he  wis  driven  by  faction  into  a  policy  which 


18,58.]  ADVOCATING    REFORM.  357 

was  the  ruin  of  his  political  plans.  Sir  R.  Walpole  declared,  speaking  of  the  ques- 
tion of  war  as  affecting  this  country,  that  nothing  could  be  so  foolish,  nothing  so 
mad,  as  a  policy  of  war  for  a  trading  nation  ;  and  he  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  any 
peace  was  better  than  the  most  successful  war.  Come  down  fifteen  years  nearer  to 
our  own  time,  and  you  find  a  statesman,  not  long  in  office,  but  still  living  in  the 
affections  of  persons  of  Liberal  principles  in  this  country,  and  in  his  time  repre- 
senting fully  the  principles  of  the  Liberal  party — Charles  James  Fox.  (Loud  cheers.) 
Mr.  Fox,  referring  to  the  policy  of  the  Government  of  his  time,  which  was  one  of 
constant  interference  in  the  affairs  of  Europe,  by  which  the  country  was  continually 
involved  in  the  calamities  of  war,  said  that  although  he  would  not  assert  or  maintain 
the  principle  that  under  no  circumstances  should  England  have  any  cause  of  inter- 
ference with  the  affairs  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  yet  that  he  would  prefer  a  policy 
of  non-interference  and  of  perfect  insulation,  rather  than  the  constant  intermeddling 
into  which  our  recent  policy  had  led  us,  and  which  brought  so  many  troubles  and 
sufferings  on  the  country.  Now,  come  down  fifty  years  later,  to  the  time  within  the 
recollection  of  some  of  us,  and  we  find  another  great  statesman,  once  one  of  the 
most  popular  men  in  England,  and  now  remembered  with  respect  and  affection — the 
late  Lord  Grey.  (Cheers.)  When  Lord  Grey  came  into  office  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  the  question  of  Parliamentary  Reform,  he  unfurled  the  banner  of  "  peace, 
retrenchment,  and  reform,"  and  that  sentence  and  that  sentiment  was  received 
throughout  every  part  of  the  United  Kingdom  by  every  man  who  was  or  had  been  in 
favour  of  Liberal  principles,  as  the  pronouncement  of  the  commencement  of  a  new 
era  which  should  save  the  country  from  many  of  the  calamities  of  the  past.  Come 
down  still  nearer,  and  to  a  time  that  seems  but  the  other  day,  and  we  find  another 
Minister,  second  to  none  of  those  I  have  mentioned — the  late  Sir  R.  Peel.  (Loud 
cheers.)  I  was  then  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Seeing  the  conduct  of  Sir  R.  Peel 
from  the  time  when  he  took  office  in  1841,  I  observed  his  conduct  particularly  after 
the  year  1843,  when  I  entered  the  House,  up  to  the  time  of  his  lamented  death. 
During  the  whole  of  that  period  I  venture  to  say  that  his  principles,  if  they  are  to 
be  discovered  from  his  conduct  and  his  speeches,  were  precisely  the  course  which  I 
have  held,  and  which  I  have  always  endeavoured  to  press  upon  the  attention  of  my 
countrymen — (hear,  hear) — and  if  you  have  any  doubt  about  it,  I  would  refer  you 
to  that  best,  that  most  beautiful  and  most  impressive  speech,  which  he  delivered  with 
a  solemnity  and  a  sense  of  responsibility  as  if  he  had  known  he  was  leaving  a  legacy 
to  his  country.  If  you  refer  to  that  speech,  delivered  on  the  morning  of  the  very 
day  on  which  occurred  that  accident  which  terminated  his  life,  you  will  find  that  the 
whole  tenor  of  that  speech  is  in  conformity  with  all  the  doctrines  that  I  have  urged  upon 
my  country  for  years  past  with  respect  to  our  policy  in  foreign  affairs.  (Cheers.)  .... 
Does  it  not  look  irrational  now,  that  there  were  men  thirty  years  ago  who  were  abso- 
lutely frantic  at  the  idea  that  the  people  of  Birmingham,  so  low  down  as  £10  house- 
holders, should  have  votes  ?  Does  it  not  look  like  an  actual  exhibition  of  idiotic 
feeling,  that  a  banker  in  Leeds  should,  when  it  was  proposed  to  transfer  Leeds  from 
one  of  those  rotten  boroughs  which  existed  before  the  Reform  Bill,  and  which  the 
House  of  Commons  was  about  to  disfranchise,  that  a  banker  there  declared — on  his 
authority  it  was  repeated  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  you  will  find  it  in  Hansard — 
that  he  did  not  believe  that  when  the  franchise  was  conferred  upon  the  people  of 
Leeds,  to  the  extent  it  is  now,  that  it  would  be  possible  to  keep  the  bank  doors  open 
with  safety — (laughter) — and  that  he  should  remove  his  business  to  some  quiet  place 
where  it  would  be  out  of  danger  of  the  savages  that  inhabited  that  locality.  (Loud 
cheers  and  laughter.)  ....  Take  another  point,  the  question  of  Protection.  Not 
thirteen  years  ago,  or  twelve  years,  there  was  a  great  party  in  Parliament,  led 
by  a  duke  in  one  House;  and  by  the  brother  and  son  of  a  duke  in  the  other  House, 
and  they  declared  that  it  would  be  utter  ruin,  not  only  upon  agriculture  but  upon 
the  manufacture  and  commerce  of  England,  if  we  depended  upon  our  own  theories 
on  the  subject  of  Protection.  They  told  us  that  the  labourer — and  I  pity  the 
labourer,  such  friends  as  he  has  had,  and  of  whom  it  may  be  said  in  this  country, 
and  might  be  said  then — 

'  Here  landless  labourers,  hopeless,  toil  and  strive, 
To  taste  no  portion  of  the  sweets  they  hive." 

The  labourer  was  to  be  ruined ;  that  was  the  proper  way  to  be  pauperised.  (Hear, 
hear,  and  cheers.)  Well,  but  these  gentlemen  were  overthrown.  The  common  in- 
stincts and  good  sense  of  the  country  swept  away  all  their  crude  theories." 

The  theories  of  such  rulers  as  those  described  by  Mr.  Bright 


368  LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1858. 

bring  forcibly  to  mind  Dr.  Walter  Harte's  famous  lines  on  the 
poor : — 

"  They  thanked  their  Maker  for  a  pittance  sent, 
Supped  on  a  turnip,  slept,  and  were  content." 

Mr.  Bright  concluded  his  speech  with  the  following  sublime 
peroration  : — 

"  May  I  beg  you,  then,  to  believe,  as  I  dp  most  devoutly  believe,  that  the  moral 
law  was  not  written  for  men  alone  in  their  individual  churches,  but  that  it  was 
written  as  well  for  nations,  and  for  nations  great  as  this  of  which  we  are  citizens. 
(Loud  cheers.)  I  believe,  too,  that  if  nations  reject  and  deride  that  moral  law,  there 
is  a  penalty  which  inevitably  follows ;  it  may  not  come  at  once — it  may  not  come  in 
our  lifetime — but,  depend  upon  it,  the  great  Italian  is  not  only  a  poet  but  he  is  a 
prophet  when  he  says  : — 

'  The  sword  of  Heaven  is  not  in  haste  to  smite 
Nor  yet  doth  linger.' 

(Cheers.)  We  have  experience,  we  have  beacons,  we  have  landmarks  enough,  we 
know  what  the  past  has  cost,  we  know  how  much  and  how  far  we  have  erred,  but 
we  are  not  left  without  a  guide  ;  we  have  not,  as  an  ancient  people  had,  the  Urim 
and  Thummim,  the  oracles  of  Aaron's  breast,  from  which  we  can  take  counsel ;  but 
we  have  the  unchangeable  principles  of  the  moral  law  to  guide  us,  and  only  so  far  as 
we  live  by  that  guidance  can  we  be  permanently  a  great  nation,  or  our  people  a 
happy  people."  (Cheers.) 

Both  of  these  Birmingham  speeches  were  very  much 
admired,  for 

"  Breathing  Nature  lives  in  every  line, 
Chaste  and  subdued." 

The  editor  of  the  Saturday  Review  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that 
"no  living  speaker  of  the  pure  well  of  English  undefined  counts 
a  more  powerful  or  accomplished  master,  and  no  man  can  clothe 
noble  and  worthy  thoughts  in  more  nervous  and  striking  lan- 
guage. His  oration  on  the  Russian  war  and  on  Indian  legisla- 
tion enlisted  the  admiration  of  those  whose  sympathies  he  failed 
to  conciliate/'  The  editor,  however,  did  not  agree  with  most  of 
the  sentiments  enunciated  by  Mr.  Bright,  and  his  criticisms 
were  severe. 

About  this  time  a  cry  was  raised  that  Mr.  Bright  was 
endeavouring  to  Amerteanise  our  institutions.  The  editor  of  the 
Manchester  Examiner  and  Times  humorously  commented  on  the 
complaint  by  declaring — "  We  instantly  avow  a  dislike  to  lank 
hair,  lean  cheeks,  and  turn-down  collars.  We  are  in  a  fury  of 
indignation  at  stump  oratory,  hard  shells,  and  locofocos.  We 
catch  a  shadowy  glimpse  of  a  Guelphic  lady  at  a  wash-tub  in 
Saxe-Coburg  turning  a  mangle,  and  a  half-a-dozen  young  princes 
looking  out  for  situations  as  errand  boys.  .  .  .  And  for  our- 
selves, the  very  stupidity  of  the  charge  awakens  suspicion;  and 
we  desire  to  ask  with  all  deference  what  it  distinctly  means. 
Mainly  two  things  he  (Mr.  Bright)  advocates — a  wider  exten- 


1858.  J         REFOKM  MEASUEE  ENTEUSTED  TO  ME.  BEIGHT.  359 

sion  of  the  suffrage,  together  with  such  apportioning  votes  to 
members  of  electoral  and  representative  power  as  shall  make  the 
House  of  Commons  a  fair  index  to  the  opinions  of  the  nation ; 
and  as  a  guarantee  to  the  independence  of  the  voter  he  claims  the 
protection  of  the  ballot.  These  charges,  it  will  be  obsered,  are 
merely  a  sequel  to  much  which  has  gone  before." 

A  conference  of  gentlemen,  who  were  desirous  of  effecting  a 
reform  in  Parliament,  assembled  at  the  Guildhall  Coffee  House, 
London,  on  the  5th  of  November.  Mr.  Clay,  M.P.,  presided,  and 
there  was  a  large  number  of  members  of  Parliament  present. 
The  principal  resolution  was  moved  by  Mr.  Roebuck,  M.P.  : — 

"That  this  conference  believes  that  it  gives  effect  to  the  opinion  of  the  country, 
in  requesting  Mr.  Bright,  after  consultation  with  the  friends  of  the  cause  with  whom 
he  may  see  fit  to  advise,  to  prepare  and  take  charge  of  such  a  measure." 

Mr.  Miall  seconded  this  resolution,  which  was  carried  unani- 
mously. Mr,  Bright,  in  responding,  said  : — 

"  I  confess  I  have  been  tlvinking  of  it  for  the  last  two  or  three  days,  and  not 
only  every  hour  but  almost  eviry  moment  of  the  day,  because  I  know  the  tremen- 
dous responsibility  which  it  imposes  upon  me  if  I  accept  the  charge  you  kindly  wish 
to  commit  to  me.  I  have  no  pretension  whatever  either  to  be  a  leader  to  a  popular 
party  out  of  doors,  or  to  act  as  leader  in  the  House  of  Commons.  I  have  never  made 
any  pretension  whatever  to  such  a  character,  and  I  know  how  much  in  many 
respects  my  indisposition  unfits  me  for  such  a  place.  No  one  can  lead  a  political  party 
who  is  not  somewhat  pliant,  that  he  may  be  able  in.  some  degree  to  follow  that  party. 
(Hear,  hear.)  Now,  I  have  not  been  very  pliant  in  following  any  parties  that  I  have 
hitherto  seen.  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter.)  I  have  endeavoured  all  along  to  do 
what  appeared  to  me  to  be  right  in  every  cause  that  has  come  before  me — {cheers) — 
but  I  hope  I  have  not  been  unwilling,  and  I  am  not  unwilling  now  ;  and  I  shall  not 
be  unwilling  on  this  question,  if  I  am  more  directly  connected  with  it,  to  make  what- 
ever concessions  are  reasonable  and  necessary  to  the  great  object  we  have  in  view — 
(cheers) — but  the  difficulties  are  far  greater  than  probably  many  gentlemen  here 
who  are  not  inside  the  House  of  Parliament  can  conceive."  (Hear,  hear.) 

From  Mr.  Bright's  ability  and  energy  great  were  the 
expectations  raised,  although  arduous  was  the  labour  set  before 
him ;  but  he  had  been  successful  in  working  out  most  of  the 
schemes  he  had  taken  in  hand,  and  his  had  been  a  life  of  labour. 
They  knew  that  he  had  confidence  in  the  middle  and  lower  ranks 
of  society,  who  were  too  numerous  to  be  influenced  by  a  Minister, 
and  almost  out  of  the  reach  of  aristocratic  corruption,  and  that 
both  classes  would  constitute  the  best  bulwarks  of  liberty  and 
progress. 

A  soiree  was  held  in  the  Free-trade  Hall,  Manchester,  on 
the  10th  December,  1858,  in  honour  of  Messrs.  Bright  and 
Gibson,  and  the  scene  which  was  witnessed  superseded  every 
similar  gathering  that  had  assembled  within  the  walls  of  that 
magnificent  hall ;  and  it  recalled  to  the  mind  of  most  present 
the  touching  reminiscences  of  the  hev-day  of  the  League. 


360  LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  £1858- 

Three  thousand  five  hundred  persons  were  present,  and  the 
great  interest  felt  in  the  proceedings  outside  Manchester  may 
he  judged  from  the  fact  that  upwards  of  fifty  representatives  of 
the  daily  press  from  all  parts  of  the  country  reported  the  pro- 
ceedings. Upon  Messrs.  Bright  and  Gibson  appearing  on  the 
platform  they  were  welcomed  with  lusty  rounds  of  cheers  and 
waving  of  handkerchiefs  and  hats.  The  organ  struck  up  "  Auld 
Lang  Syne/'  and  the  audience  warmly  joined  in  singing  this 
favourite  song,  and  the  words,  "  Should  auld  acquaintance  be 
forgot/'  rolled  forth  in  magnificent  and  affecting  chorus.  Mr. 
George  Wilson  once  more  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  G.  Hadfield 
moved  the  first  resolution  : — 

"That  this  meeting  presents  to  Mr.  John  Bright  its  respectful  and  cordial 
congratulation  on  his  restoration  to  health,  and  expresses  its  devout  gratitude  that 
he  is  thereby  enabled  once  more  to  devote  his  great  energy  and  eminent  abilities  to 
the  service  of  the  people."  (Cheers.) 

The  Rev.  Dr.  McKerrow  seconded  this  resolution,  which  was 
'carried   amidst   great   cheering.      Mr.    Bright   responded   in    a 
lengthy  speech : — 

"  I  know  not  whether  there  will  be  persons  who  will  look  upon  this  meeting  in 
the  light  of  a  commemoration  of  a  defeat  which  we  have  sustained.  To  me  it  wears 
far  more  the  aspect  of  the  celebration  of  some  great  victory.  (Loud  cheers.)  And 
may  we  not  say  that  we  are  successful — that  notwithstanding  the  vicissitudes  which 
wait  upon  the  career  of  public  men,  and  upon  the  progress  of  public  questions  in  a 
free  country,  we  find  as  we  look  back  over  a  term  of  years,  that  those  beneficent 
principles  which  we  have  so  often  expounded  and  defended  on  this  ground,  are 
constantly  making  progress  and  obtaining  more  and  more  influence  on  the  minds  of 
all  our  countrymen  ?  (Cheers.)  Forty  years  ago  the  spot  where  we  are  now 
assembled  became  famous.  Thousands  of  the  population  of  Manchester  and  its 
neighbourhood  assembled  here — not  in  this  magnificent  building,  but  under  the  wide 
canopy  of  heaven.  They  met  only  to  plead  with  the  Government  and  the 
Parliament  of  that  day  that  they  might  be  permitted  some  share  in  the  government 
of  their  country,  and  that  they  might  be  permitted  further  to  possess  that  natural 
right  which  one  would  think  no  man  would  ever  deny  to  another — the  right  of 
disposing  of  the  produce  of  their  labour  in  the  open  market  of  the  world  in  purchase 
for  their  daily  bread.  That  meeting  was  dispersed  by  the  rude  arm  of  military 
power.  The  tragedy  of  that  day  proved  at  once  the  tyranny  and  brutality  of  the 
Government,  and  the  helplessness  and  humiliation  of  the  people.  Now,  you  have 
seen  a  Ministry  representing  and  supported  by  the  political  party  that  committed 
that  iniquity — you  have  seen  such  a  Ministry  voting  in  the  House  of  Commons  in 
favour  of  a  resolution  which  declared  that  the  repeal  of  the  corn-laws  had  been  a 
great  blessing  to  the  country ;  and  after  having  twenty-six  years  ago  obtained  one 
instalment  of  Eeform,  you  have  now  the  amazing  spectacle  of  a  Ministry  represent- 
ing and  supported  by  that  same  political  party,  engaged  at  this  very  hour  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  clauses  of  another  Bill  which  shall  still  further  extend  political 
rights  to  the  great  mass  of  the  population  of  this  country.  Seeing  this,  then,  who 
will  despair  ?  Since  I  have  been  able  to  think  maturely  upon  public  questions,  since 
I  have  been  able  and  have  been  permitted  to  open  my  mouth  in  these  the  open 
councils  of  my  countrymen,  I  have  never  for  one  moment  despaired ;  and  when  I 
look  around  me,  and  see  this  magnificent — I  will  say  this  all-powerful — assembly, 
my  hopes,  my  faith,  all  are  confirmed,  and  I  gather  fresh  strength  for  whatevel 
struggle  is  before  us."  (Cheers.) 

The  meeting  passed  off  very  agreeably,  for 

"  Sorrow  remembered  sweetens  present  joy." 


1859.]  AT   EDINBURGH   AND    GLASGOW.  361 

Mr.  Bright  next  visited  Edinburgh,  and  in  the  Music  Hall 
of  that  city,  on  the  15th  of  December,  spoke  for  an  hour  and 
thirty  minutes,  on  "  Reform,"  to  an  immense  gathering.  Mr. 
Duncan  McLaren  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  Bright,  in  con- 
cluding his  speech,  observed  : — 

"  Why  have  we  such  peace  in  the  country  now  ?  Compare  the  period  from  1793 
to  1842,  and  you  will  find  very  few  years  in  which  there  was  anything  like  settled 
peace  in  the  country.  There  were  riots,  insurrections,  and  seditious  meetings : 
great  numbers  were  imprisoned,  not  a  few  were  transported,  and  some  even 
suffered  the  last  penalty  of  the  law.  Why  is  it  that  you  have  had  of  late  years  a 
state  of  things  wholly  different  ?  Because  people  feel  that  their  interests  are  not  so 
wholly  disregarded,  because  the  policy  pursued  \y  the  Legislature  from  1842  to 
1846,  and  especially  in  1846,  has  tended  more  than  all  the  legislation  of  our  own  time,  or 
in  our  fathers'  lifetime,  to  give  comfort  and  plenty  and  ease  throughout  the  homes 
of  the  people  of  this  country.  We  have  done  more  for  the  peace  and  security  of 
this  realm,  and  for  the  glory  of  the  Crown,  than  all  the  peerage  have  done  during 
our  lifetime.  (Renewed  cheers.)  And  now  we  ask — What  for?  For  a  great 
change — a  change  following  up  the  change  of  twenty-six  years  ago.  We  base  our 
propositions  upon  just  principles,  on  the  principles  on  which  that  change  was 
based,  on  the  principles  which  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  people  and  states- 
men of  England  has  already  sanctioned.  We  intend  to  keep  by  the  ancient  land- 
marks as  far  as  possible.  We  are  warranted  by  the  experience  of  the  past.  Our 
measure  shall  be  matured  in  its  strength,  but  it  shall  be  of  irresistible  strength  in  its 
moderation.  It  is  calculated,  or  it  will  be  calculated,  I  believe,  to  knit  together  all 
orders  and  conditions  of  men  within  the  realm,  and  I  believe  from  my  conscience  it 
will  give  additional  freedom  and  greatness  and  happiness  to  the  people  of  this 
country."  (Great  applause.) 

Mr.  Bright  delivered  another  speech  on  Reform  in  the  City 
Hall,  Glasgow,  on  the  21st  of  December,  to  an  immense  number 
of  persons.  Mr.  Walter  Buchanan,  M.P.  for  Glasgow,  officiated 
as  chairman.  Mr.  Bright  remarked,  at  the  close  of  a  long 
speech — 

"I  have  devoted  many  years  of  my  life,  I  have  spent  much  labour,  in  advocating 
a  greater  freedom  of  the  soil.  I  believe  that  it  would  work  better  and  prove  more 
profitable  to  the  landed  proprietors  themselves.  I  think  that  free  land,  greater 
economy  in  the  public  expenditure,  with  the  growing  intelligence  which  we  see  all 
around  us,  and  the  improvement  which  is  taking  place  in  the  more  temperate  habits 
of  the  people — all  these  things  together  filled  me  with  the  hope  that  whatever  we 
have  in  the  annals  of  the  past  of  which  we  can  boast,  there  is  still  a  brighter  future 
in  store  for  this  country.  I  come  amongst  you  ^iot  to  stir  up  animosity  between 
class  and  class ;  that  is  the  charge  brought  against  me  by  men  who  wish  that  one 
class  may  permanently  rule  over  every  other  class.  I  come  amongst  you  that  we 
may  deliberate  on  those  great  questions  on  which  our  success  and  our  prosperity 
depend.  You  know,  at  least  if  you  do  not  know  it,  I  will  tell  you,  that  I  am  no 
frequenter  of  Courts.  I  have  never  sought  for  office  or  the  emoluments  of  place.  I 
have  no  craving  for  popularity.  I  think  I  have  little  of  that  which  may  be  called 
the  lust  for  fame.  I  am  a  citizen  of  a  free  country.  I  love  my  country,  I  love  its 
freedom ;  but  I  believe  that  freedom  can  only  be  extended  and  retained  by  a  fair 
and  honest  representation  of  the  people ;  and  it  is  because  I  believe  this  that  I  am 
here  to-night  to  ask  you,  through  the  power  of  your  intelligence  and  your  numbers, 
to  step  into  the  position  which  now  opens  up  before  you."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright,  in  St.  George's  Hall,  Bradford,  on  the  17th  of 
January,  1859,  in  the  presence  of  about  4,000  persons,  explained 
some  of  the  details  of  his  proposed  Reform  Bill.  Mr.  H,  Brown, 


862  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1850 

the  mayor,  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  Bright's  long  speech  was 
temperate  and  judicious.  The  main  features  of  the  Bill  were : 
"the  Borough  Franchise  was  conferred  upon  all  who  were  rated 
to  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  on  all  lodgers  who  paid  a  rent  of 
£10;  no  more  freemen  were  to  be  created;  and  the  County 
Franchise  was  reduced  to  £10  rental.  The  Bill  put  the  returning 
.officer's  expenses  on  the  county  or  borough  rate ;  prescribed  that 
votes  should  be  taken  by  ballot ;  it  proposed  to  disfranchise  fifty- 
six  English,  twenty-one  Scotch,  and  nine  Irish  boroughs ;  and 
took  away  one  member  from  thirty-four  other  boroughs.  The 
seats  obtained  by  these  disfranchisements  were  to  be  distributed 
according  to  population  among  the  larger  towns,  counties,  and 
divisions  of  counties  in  the  United  Kingdom."  Reform  meetings 
were  held  in  nearly  every  town  and  village,  approving  of  the 
Bill  compiled  by  Mr.  Bright. 

The  inhabitants  of  Rochdale  were  so  delighted  with  the  resto- 
ration to  health  of  Mr.  Bright,  their  fellow-townsman,  that  they 
decided  to  hold  a  soiree,  so  as  to  have  an  opportunity  of  con- 
gratulating him  on  his  recovery  and  re-appearance  amongst  them. 
The  intended  soiree  becoming  known,  the  promoters  were  deluged 
with  applications  for  tickets,  and  although  the  largest  hall  in 
the  town  was  engaged,  hundreds  were  unable  to  obtain  admission, 
on  account  of  the  hall  not  being  sufficiently  large  to  accommo- 
date them.  It  came  off  on  the  28th  of  January,  1859,  in  the 
Public  Hall,  and  about  1,100  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  present. 
The  large  room  under  the  hall  was  adorned  with  banners,  flags, 
and  gay  devices,  and  the  tables  presented  a  most  luxurious  aspect. 
On  the  entrance  of  Mr.  John  Bright  the  applause  of  the  audience 
was  most  enthusiastic,  the  cheers  being  renewed  again  and  again. 
Mr.  Andrew  Stewart,  the  mayor,  presided,  and,  in  opening  the 
meeting,  assured  Mr.  Bright  that  it  was  the  sincere  desire  of 
every  individual  in  that  large  assembly  that  his  health  and  that 
his  life  might  be  long  spared  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the 
deliberations  of  the  Senate  of  this  great  nation. 

Mr.  William  Fenton,  J.P.,  moved : — 

"That  this  meeting  desires  to  place  on  record  the  high  esteem  entertained  for 
John  Bright,  Esq.,  M.P.,  by  his  fellow-townsmen.  Born  and  educated  amongst  us,  a 
member  of  a  family  noted  for  liberality  and  the  care  bestowed  by  them  on  the 
physical  and  intellectual  improvement  of  their  numerous  workpeople,  he  early 
developed  in  the  defence  and  advancement  of  local  interests  those  great  talents 
and  high-minded  integrity  which  have  since,  in  a  more  extended  sphere,  and  on 
questions  of  national  importance,  gained  him  a  world-wide  and  lasting  reputation. 
Recognising  these  services,  his  fellow -townsmen  have  assembled  on  this  occasion  to 
assure  him  of  the  sympathy  they  felt  for  him  in  his  affliction  and  temporary  exile  ; 
how  greatly  they  rejoice  in  his  restoration  to  health  and  a  seat  in  the  British  Parlia- 
ment ;  and  to  express  their  fervent  hope  that  he  may  be  spared,  not  only  to  bring  to 
a  successful  issue  the  great  measure  of  Parliamentary  Reform  confided  to  his  care, 


1859.]  CONGRATULATIONS    AT    EOCHDALE.  363 

but  to  reap  the  only  reward  he  seeks,  in  seeing  it  contribute  in  future  years  to  the 
peace,  happiness,  and  prosperity  of  his  fellow-countrymen." 

Mr.  G.  Ashworth,  J.P.,  seconded  the  resolution,  which  was 
carried  with  every  demonstration  of  enthusiasm. 

Mr.  Bright,  on  rising-,  was  vociferously  applauded,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  lengthy  speech  said : — 

"This  is  to  me  not  an  ordinary  public  or  political  meeting.  (Hear,  hear.)  It 
has  another,  and  I  may  say  deeper,  significance,  f6r  I  find  myself  surrounded  by  my 
friends  and  neighbours  with  whom  I  have  lived  and  amongst  whom  I  have  lived 
from  my  youth — (hear,  hear) — by  those  with  whom  I  have  acted  on  many  questions — 
some  01  local  and  others  of  a  more  general  character,  who  have  known  much  of  my 
private  and  all  of  my  public  life  (hear,  hear) ;  and  I  am  permitted,  I  hope,  to  accept 
this  manifestation  of  your  kindness  as  a  token  at  least  that  you  believe  in  the  main 
that  I  have  endeavoured  to  pursue  a  course — (applause) — in  unison  with  the  best 
interests  and  with  honour  to  my  country.  (Hear,  hear.)  ...  I  have  seen  more 
people  met  together  during  the  last  three  months  than  anybody  else  has.  I  know 
the  sympathy  which  has  been  expressed.  I  have  seen  the  light  and  fire  of  enthusi- 
asm in  their  eyes,  and  I  know  they  do  care  for  this  question — (the  extension  of  the 
franchise).  I  know  they  have  reason  to  care.  Are  they  not  the  most  industrious 
people  on  the  face  of  the  earth?  Have  they  not  more  steam-power,  more  manu- 
factories, more  power  of  locomotion,  and  more,  in  brief,  of  that  which  developes 
wealth,  than  among  other  people  on  the  face  of  the  globe  ?  and  yet,  at  this  moment, 
with  all  our  boasted  civilisation  and  freedom,.!  believe  we  have  a  greater  number  of 
paupers  than  any  other  country.  We  bury  in  twenty-five  years  a  million  of 
paupers  ;  but  there  is  always  a  new  crop,  always  a  substratum  of  society,  deplorable 
and  lamentable  to  contemplate,  always  rising  to  fill  the  place  of  those  that  drop  off. 
But  that  is  a  very  indirect  representation  of  the  suffering  that  does  exist.  When  a 
man  is  once  a  pauper  he  feels  no  longer  independent,  or  that  he  is  in  a  degraded 
position.  He  finds  himself  secure  of  a  living  for  the  rest  of  his  days,  it  may  be  in 
the  workhouse  or  in  some  wretched  hovel,  where  the  guardians  eke  out  to  him  out- 
door relief,  but  he  is  free  from  anxiety  for  his  future  years.  But  in  the  stratum  just 
above  we  have  a  great  number  who  have  not  lost  their  self-respect,  who  have 
families  who  are  expecting  from  them,  day  by  day,  their  daily  bread.  These  have 
often  experienced  the  fluctuation  of  wages,  and  find  themselves  now  a  little  more 
comfortable  and  again  depressed.  Imagine  the  suffering  of  these  men  struggling — 
struggles  which  we  know  nothing  of,— then  having  framed  such  an  inadequate  con- 
ception of  all  this,  let  us  ask  ourselves,  How  is  it  that  all  this  exists  in  this  country, 
with  its  magnificent  power  of  production,  which  should  be  able  to  secure  the 
luxury  and  comfort  of  every  man  in  England  ?  (Applause) .  Has  God  forgotten  to 
be  gracious?  Is  it  the  Creator,  omnipotent  and  gracious,  or  is  it  the  man, 
with  his  crime  and  his  plunder,  that  permits  it?  (Applause.)  Who  have 
been  your  rulers  for  generations  back  ?  Who  have  squandered  your  money  ? 
Who  have  shed  your  blood  ?  For  whom  have  the  people  of  England  toiled,  and 
sweated,  and  bled,  for  generations  back,  and  with  what  result  ?  Why,  to  be 
insulted  now  in  the  year  1<S")9,  and  told,  with  lordly  arrogance,  that  it  is  not  fitting 
that  they  should  be  admitted  to  the  exercise  of  the  Franchise.  (Cheers.)  What 
has  been  the  object  of  my  political  life  during  its  twenty  years'  continuance  ?  You, 
my  townsmen,  know  it  perfectly  well — (applause) — and  I  call  you  as  witness  in 
my  behalf.  (At  this  point  the  whole  audience  rose  and  cheered  most  enthusias- 
tically for  some  time.)  I  laboured  with  an  earnest  and  successful  band — (hear, 
hear,  and  cheers) — Villiers  and  Cobden — (hear,  hear) — and  Gibson— (applause) — 
and  George  Wilson — (loud  applause) — and  many  others  whom  I  cannot  mention, 
but  who  live,  and  will  ever  live,  in  my  remembrance.  I  laboured  with  the_m  to  give 
the  people  their  daily  bread,  and  now  twenty  millions'  worth  of  food  finds  its  way  to 
your  shores,  which  about  fourteen  years  ago  you  were  not  allowed  to  speak  of  without 
being  charged  with  treason  to  your  m.°.ster  class.  (Applause.)  I  laboured  with 
earnest  men  to  strike  the  stamp  from  the  newspaper,  and  to  establish  a  Free  Press — 
(applause) — and  now  three  hundred — I  am  told  so  many — cheap  newspapers  have 
sprung  into  life,  conveying  information  on  every  topic,  every  day,  to  almost  every 
house  in  the  kingdom.  I  nave  striven — but  I  regret  to  say  with  less  success — that 
the  precious  earnings  of  the  people,  and  their  stiU  more  precious  blood,  might  not 


364  LIFE   AND    TIMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1859. 

be  squandered — (applause) — by  guilty  statesmen — (applause) — in  guilty  wars. 
(Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  I  ask  for  my  countrymen  that  which  is  the  promise  of 
their  constitution — that  they  shall  have  a  fair  and  full  representation  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  (Cheers.)  it  is  a  just  demand,  and  I  ask  you,  I  ask  all  of  my 
countrymen,  to  speak  out  for  it,  without  any  faltering,  with  no  uncertain  voice. 
Speak,  and  you  will  be  listened  to;  ask,  in  tones  which  cannot  be  misunderstood,  and 
that  which  you  ask  will  be  certainly  granted.  If  you  come  of  a  great  ancestry,  as 
your  historians  say  you  do,  do  not  disgrace  them  now.  If  you  are  as  you  boast,  a 
race  of  freemen,  rise,  I  beseech  you,  and  take  possession  of  the  heritage  which  is 
yours."  (Enthusiastic  cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright's  opponents  asserted  that  Mr.  Cobden  did  not 
approve  of  the  extension  of  the  Franchise,  for  he  was  a  careful  and 
thoughtful  man.  A  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  who 
thought  he  had  discovered  passages  in  the  Prayer-book  in  favour 
of  the  Reform  Bill,  as  well  as  sanctioning  all  sorts  of  Radical 
measures,  wished  to  obtain  Mr.  Cobden's  opinion  as  to  the 
advisability  of  issuing  a  pamphlet  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Cobden 
replied : — 

"  It  draws  an  argument  from  a  new  source  in  favour  of  Reform.  I  never  before 
heard  the  Prayer-book  brought  forward  as  evidence  in  favour  of  the  Radicals.  We 
have  generally  been  considered  a  very  graceless,  unorthodox  set.  Henceforth,  the 
enemy  must  not  say  that  we  are  without  the  benefit  of  clergy.  But  seriously,  whilst 
I  admire  the  originality  and  love  of  abstract  justice  which  characterises  Mr.  - — — 's 
argument,  as  well  as  the  cleverness  with  which  it  is  stated,  I  do  not  think  at  the 
present  moment  it  would  be  of  practical  utility  to  put  forth  a  plea  so  novel,  and 
indicating  changes  which  are  not  possible  in  our  day.  Mr.  Bright' s  scheme  is  a 
sufficiently  bold  measure,  and  too  good,  I  fear,  to  be  realised  at  present.  What 
chance,  then,  can  there  be  for  a  still  more  sweeping  change  P  .  .  .  I  observe  what 
you  say  about  my  supporting  Mr.  Bright.  I  can  do  but  little,  even  if  I  rush  into  the 
arena,  for  everybody  knows  that  my  sentiments  are  identical  with  his  own.  What 
is  wanting  is  some  multitudinous  demonstrations  by  the  unenfranchised  in  favour 
of  Parliamentary  Reform — something  as  earnest  as  in  the  days  of  Hunt,  but  without 
the  disorder  of  that  time.  But  I  am  afraid  you  are  too  prosperous,  and  the  people  too 
•well fed,  to  warrant  the  hope  that  Lancashire  will  come  to  the  rescue.  Until  the  masses 
do  again  put  in  their  claim  for  the  Franchise,  they  will  not  obtain  it.  It  is  not  in 
human  nature  that  the  middle  class,  who  are  already  within  the  privileged  pale,  should 
be  eager  to  admit  those  outside  to  share  their  power,  unlpss  they  are  gently  pressed 
to  open  the  door." 

A  Reform  Conference  was  held  in  the  assembly  room  of  the 
Free  Trade  Hall,  Manchester,  on  the  1st  of  February.  About 
1,000  persons  from  that  city  and  surrounding  towns  were  present. 
Mr.  George  Wilson  presided.  Mr.  Bright  explained  that  his  Bill, 
as  a  whole,  was  founded  upon  long  and  easily-understood  principles, 
recognising  the  great  rights  of  the  people,  favouring  no  particular 
interest  or  locality.  His  suffrage  did  not  include  all,  but  the 
invitation  to  come  within  the  pale  of  the  constitution  was  broad 
and  general  to  all  classes. 

The  Queen,  in  person,  opened  the  Session  on  the  3rd  of 
February,  and  the  speech  from  the  Throne  recommended  the 
introduction  of  a  Reform  Bill.  On  the  28th  of  February  Mr. 
Disraeli  asked  leave  to  introduce  a  Reform  Bill.  It  was  looked 
f  or  ward  to  with  much  interest,  but  when  it  was  explained,  the 


1859.]  MR.    DISRAELI'S    REFORM    BILL.  365 

disappointment  was  great.  It  was  proposed  in  the  Bill  to  give 
votes  in  boroughs  to  persons  who  possessed  property  to  the 
amount  of  £10  per  annum  in  the  Funds,  Bank  Stock,  or  East 
India  Stock;  to  persons  who  had  £60  in  a  savings  bank;  and  to 
those  who  had  pensions  in  the  naval,  military,  and  civil  services 
amounting  to  £20  per  annum.  It  was  further  proposed  that  the 
inhabitant  of  any  house  whose  rent  amounted  to  £ZO  per  annum, 
graduates,  ministers  of  religion,  members  of  the  legal  and  medical 
professions,  and  schoolmasters,  should  have  votes.  Messrs.  Bright, 
Fox,  and  Roebuck  contended  that  the  Government  Bill  made  no 
new  concessions  to  the  working  classes,  and  that  it  still  left  the 
power  in  existing  hands.  The  inhabitants  of  Birmingham  held 
a  meeting,  convened  by  the  Mayor,  on  the  9th  March,  1859,  in 
the  Town  Hall.  There  were  present  about  7,000  people.  Mr. 
Bright,  upon  entering,  was  enthusiastically  cheered.  Mr.  Bright 
said  that  the  Government  Bill,  which  they  had  met  to  consider, 
but  which  was  so  little  deserving  of  their  consideration,  could  not 
by  any  possibility  pass  into  law.  He  had  treated  the  Govern- 
ment with  forbearance  and  fairness,  and  were  Jie  a  Minister, 
and  they  in  his  place,  he  could  not  expect  greater  leniency ; 
but  the  aspect  of  things  was  now  changed,  as  the  Government 
had  dared  to  meddle  with  the  question  of  Reform  in  a  manner 
which  no  man  with  a  spark  of  respect  for  the  Reform  cause 
could  for  a  moment  tolerate.  The  meeting  passed  resolutions 
condemning  the  Bill,  and  similar  meetings  were  held  in  most 
other  towns.  The  public  spoke  with  no  uncertain  sound  respec- 
ting its  disappointment,  and  there  was  a  great  commotion 
throughout  the  land. 

On  the  31st  March,  1859,  the  Reform  Bill  was  further  dis- 
cussed in  the  House  of  Commons.  Mr.  Bright,  during  his  speech, 
said  : — 

*« 

"Is  not  prosperity  conservative ?  Is  not  peace  conservative?  Any  energies  I 
possess  I  have  devoted  to  their  advance.  I  have  endeavoured  to  stand  on  the  rules 
of  political  economy,  and  to  be  guided  by  the  higher  rules  of  true  morality ;  and 
when  advocating  a  measure  of  Reform,  larger  than  some  are  prepared  to  grant,  I 
appear  in  that  character,  for  I  believe  a  substantial  measure  of  Reform  would  elevate 
and  strengthen  the  character  of  our  population  ;  that  in  the  language  of  the  beautiful 
prayer  read  here  every  day,  it  would  tend  '  to  knit  together  the  hearts  of  all  persons 
and  estates  within  this  realm.'  I  believe  it  would  add  to  the  authority  of  the 
decisions  of  Parliament ;  and  I  feel  satisfied  it  would  confer  a  lustre,  which  time 
could  never  dim,  on  that  benignant  reign  under  which  we  have  the  happiness  to 
live."  (Cheers.) 

The  Bill  was  thrown  out  by  a  majority  of  thirty-nine,  the 
result  of  the  voting  being  received  with  great  cheers.  Ministers 
dissolved  Parliament  on  the  4th  of  April,  and  appealed  to  the 
country.  The  Liberal  politicians  of  Rochdale  met  in  their  Public 


366  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [185ft 

Hall  on  the  13th  of  April,  to  select  a  candidate  to  represent  the 
borough  in  Parliament,  and  Richard  Cobden  was  their  unanimous 
choice. 

"  As  it  happens  unfortunately,"  said  Mr.  Bright  on  behalf  of  his  absent  friend, 
"  that  Mr.  Cobden  is  not  now  in  this  country,  where  he  certainly  would  have  been  if 
he  had  imagined  that  a  general  election  was  so  near,  I  have  been  requested  to  say 
something  as  it  were  on  his  behalf,  and  to  add  something  more  in  the  way  of  support 
to  the  resolution  which  is  now  before  us.  It  is  generally  admitted  by  historians  that 
the  character  of  a  nation  may  be  got  at  by  reviewing  its  history  and  by  ascertaining 
its  career  during  the  past.  I  think  it  is  just  as  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  character 
of  any  man  may  be  fairly  determined  by  reviewing  his  past  career.  Now,  it  is  just 
on  this  basis  that  I  would  venture  to  ask  my  townsmen  to  support  this  resolution,  and 
to  place  Mr.  Cobden,  a  fortnight  hence,  in  the  honourable  position  of  their  parlia- 
mentary representative.  He  is  a  man  sprung  from  a  family,  industrious,  and  per- 
forming the  ordinary  duties  of  citizenship  in  the  same  way  that  we  mostly  find 
ourselves  doing.  He  was  born  on  a  small  farm  in  the  county  of  Sussex — a  very  large 
farm,  doubtless,  in  those  days.  He  found  himself  at  a  very  early  age  sent  up  to  the 
City  of  London — for  everybody  cannot  be  employed  and  cannot  have  a  living  on  a 
farm  ;  he  found  himself  sent  up  to  London  and  employed  as  a  boy  in  a  warehouse  in 
the  City.  By  his  intelligence,  his  attention  to  his  duties,  his  good  conduct,  he  found 
himself  gradually  promoted,  until  on  some  occasion  or  other,  I  believe  rather  by 
accident  than  by  regular  appointment,  he  was  seen  engaged  travelling  through  the 
north  of  England,  undertaking  the  business  of  the  house  in  whose  service  he  was. 
He  visited  this  county  of  Lancaster  among  others,  and  he  discovered,  what  many 
others  have  discovered  before  and  since,  that  this  county  offered  great  opportunities 
for  enterprise  and  success  in  business.  Not  long  afterwards  he  joined  with  two,  I 
think,  of  his  fellow-servants  connected  with  the  London  house  to  which  I  have 
referred,  in  the  business  of  calico  printing,  somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Clitheroe.  He  settled  in  Manchester.  He  became  there  very  prosperous.  He  had  a 
large  business,  and  into  whatsoever  circle  he  found  himself  introduced  he  became 
immediately  a  man  of  some  note  and  of  some  influence.  He  did  not  content  himself, 
happily  for  his  country,  in  the  single  pursuit  of  amassing  money.  He  turned  his 
attention  to  public  wants  and  public  interests.  One  of  the  earliest  questions  to  which 
he  devoted  himself  was  to  overthrow  the  exclusive  lord-of -the-manor  government  of 
the  great  town  of  Manchester,  and  to  procure  the  concession  of  the  charter  by  which 
the  present  municipal  government  of  that  city  was  established.  He  turned  his 
attention  to  education  next.  I  dare  say  there  are  many  now  present  who  recollect 
his  attending  a  meeting  in  this  town,  which  was  held  in  the  school-room  of  the 
Baptist  Chapel,  in  West  Street,  some  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  years  ago— a  meet- 
ing held  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  education  in  connection  with  the  establishment 
or  the  support  of  British  schools.  It  was  in  connection  with  that  question,  about 
that  time,  that  I  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Cobden,  and  he  spent  the  night  at  my 
father's  house  after  that  meeting  was  held ;  and  from  that  time  to  this  there  has  been 
no  cessation,  no  interruption  whatever,  of  the  friendship  which  has  existed  between 
us.  It  was  shortly  after  that  time  that  the  question  of  the  Corn  Law  began  to  take 
a  more  distinct  shape  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  The  Corn  Law,  as  you  know,  was 
protested  against  in  1815.  When  it  was  passed,  London  was  almost  in  a  state  of 
insurrection  against  it.  The  House  of  Commons  was  surrounded  by  horse  and  foot 
and  artillery  ;  the  strangers  were  shut  out  of  the  gallery ;  reporters  were  excluded, 
and  they  who  then  called  themselves  your  representatives  proceeded,  as  it  were  in 
the  very  darkness  of  the  night,  to  stab  the  vital  interests  of  the  people  of  this  great 
country.  From  that  hour,  up  to  1837  and  1838,  there  had  been  always  a  protest 
against  the  Corn  Law.  An  association  was  formed  in  Manchester,  and  Mr.  Cobdeu 
was  one  of  the  earliest  members.  From  1838  or  1839  up  to  1846,  when  the  Corn  Law 
was  abolished,  for  seven  years  the  man  whose  name  is  before  you — for  seven  years, 
when  there  was  a  business  belonging  to  him,  which,  if  he  had  given  his  personal 
attention  to  during  those  years,  would  have  built  him  up  a  large  fortune — he  devoted 
the  whole  of  that  time,  day  and  night,  every  waking  moment,  to  the  deliverance  of 
his  countrymen  from  the  horrible  iniquity  of  the  Corn  Law.  ...  In  1846,  when 
the  Government  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  unhappily  overthrown,  and  when  the  Whigs 
came  into  office,  Lord  John  Russell  wrote  to  Mr.  Cobden  a  letter,  in  which  he  told 
him  that  if  lie  did  not  go  abroad,  as  he  heard  he  was  intending  to  do,  but  stayed  in 
the  country,  he  should  feel  it  his  duty  and  should  be  happy  to  offer  him  a  seat  in  the 


1869.]  MR.    COBDEN   EETURNED    FOR    ROCHDALE.  367 

cabinet  he  was  then  about  to  form.  Well,  Mr.  Cobden  was  never  ambitious  for  place 
and  I  have  no  doubt,  for  I  have  heard  it  more  than,  once  from  his  own  lips,  that  he 
did  not  believe  it  easy,  perhaps  he  did  not  believe  it  possible  for  him,  with  the  strong 
convictions  he  has  on  many  questions,  and  with  the  honest  determination  to  abide  by 
them — he  didn't  think  it  possible,  probably,  that  he  could  hold  office  in  the  [cabinet 
at  the  time,  and  keep  his  conscience  void  of  offence.  He  did  not,  therefore,  accept 
the  office,  but  he  proceeded  to  the  continent,  and,  as  you  know  well,  wherever  he 
went  he  was  found  to  be,  as  he  had  been  in  this  country,  an  apostle  and  missionary 
on  behalf  of  the  great  principles  of  Free  Trade.  But  he  did  not  confine  himself 
abroad  to  that  question.  His  observant  eye  discovered  the  most  rotten,  the  sorest 
part  that  exists  at  this  moment  in  all  the  governments  of  Europe.  He  observed 
that  Europe  was  going  into  a  kind  of  political  perdition  under  that  extraordinary 
madness  which  has  brought  about  armaments  more  extensive,  more  costly,  and  more 
menancing  than  have  ever  existed  in  any  age  of  the  world  before.  He  saw  that  these 
armaments  drained  all  the  people,  and  that,  proceeding  as  they  were  proceeding, 
they  must  necessarily  render  peace  in  Europe  absolutely  impossible.  He  came  back 
to  this  country ;  he  stated  this  to  the  people  of  England ;  he  pointed  out  that  we 
were  running  in  the  same  career ;  that  we  were  gradually  and  rapidly  increasing  our 
expenditure  for  armaments  which  he  believed  to  be  unnecessary,  and  that  we  must  at 
some  time  or  other  retrace  our  steps,  or  else  this  policy  would  lead  to  nothing  but 
evil,  and  even,  perhaps,  to  national  convulsion.  Well,  but  since  1846,  or  since  1847, 
when  Mr.  Cobden  returned  from  abroad,  what  has  been  his  course  as  a  politician, 
for  it  is  in  that  character  we  are  considering  him  ?  After  the  Corn  Laws  were 
repealed  the  monopoly  in  sugar  was  abolished.  That  was  an  enormous  relief  to  the 
families  of  England.  After  that  the  Navigation  Laws  were  abolished.  That  has 
been  a  remarkable  gain  to  all  persons  engaged  in  commerce,  and  if  to  them,  of  course 
to  the  whole  population.  We  have  had  some  other  important  measures  carried.  One 
important  duty,  the  excise  upon  soap,  has  been  abolished.  And  we  have  a  great 
change  in  the  character  and  condition  of  the  public  press.  There  is  no  portion  of  the 
Reform  programme  which  Mr.  Cobden  has  so  uniformly,  and  with  so  much  zeal  and 
force,  defended  and  maintained,  as  the  proposition  that  the  electors  of  this  country 
ought  to  have  the  shelter  of  the  ballot.  We  recognise  in  his  career  a  life  of  service 
to  the  people.  We  behold  in  him  an  unvarying  industry,  a  rare  intelligence,  and  a 
spotless  integrity.  We  have  heard  him  speak  with  an  eloquence  logical  and  simple, 
convincing  and  persuasive.  .  .  .  For  years  past,  certainly  ever  since  he  was  mem- 
ber for  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  in  conversation  with  me,  he  has  always  said 
that  if  there  was  one  borough  more  than  another  he  should  like  to  sit  for  it  was  the 
borough  of  Rochdale.  (Cheers. )  He  said  that  because  he  felt  that  there  was  a  strong 
hearty  Liberal  feeling  which  would  back  up  a  man  against  the  aristocratic  section  oi 
the  legislature."  (Cheers.) 

Sir  Alexander  Ramsay,  the  Conservative  candidate,  who  had 
for  two  years  represented  Rochdale  in  Parliament,  retired  from 
the  contest,  as  it  was  found  that  some  of  the  Conservatives  were 
in  favour  of  Mr.  Cobden,  who  was  ultimately  returned  unopposed, 
and  the  name  of  Rochdale  was  raised  still  higher  in  the  annals 
of  fame,  as  its  distinguished  representative  and  its  townsman 
were  known  all  over  the  globe  for  their  eminent  services. 

Mr.  Bright  visited  Birmingham  on  the  23rd  of  April  and 
addressed  three  meetings,  at  which  the  electors  decided  to  use 
every  legitimate  means  to  return  Messrs.  Bright  and  Schofield 
again  to  the  House  of  Commons.  Mr.  T.  D.  Acland,  a  coalition 
candidate,  was  brought  forward  to  oppose  Mr.  Bright.  On  the 
28th  of  April,  the  nomination  took  place  in  the  Town  Hall,  in 
the  presence  of  9,000  persons.  It  was  evident,  from  the  reception 
given  to  Messrs.  Bright  and  Schofield  as  they  entered  the  hall, 
what  would  be  the  result  of  the  contest.  Mr.  John  Ratcliffe, 


368  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1K». 

the  Mayor,  presided  as  the  returning  officer.  Mr.  Bright,  after 
being  nominated,  addressed  the  gathering,  remarking  : — 

"  I  see  to-day  that  there  is  intelligence  of  a  most  solemn  and  most  awful  import 
to  Europe  and  to  humanity — (hear,  hear) — that  the  war  (in  Italy)  which  for  four 
months  has  been  coming  on  with  stealthy  but  not  unseen  or  unheard  steps,  has  at 
last  appeared  in  all  its  grimy  and  devilish  proportions. 

'  See  where  the  giant  on  the  mountain  stands, 
His  blood-red  tresses  deepening  in  the  sun ! 
With  death-shot  glowing  in  his  flery  hands, 
And  eye  that  scorches  all  it  glares  upon.' 

(Applause.)  That  is  the  monster  which  now  appears  above  the  horizon,  and 
threatens  to  scatter  desolation  and  bloodshed  and  untold  agonies  through  the  homes 
of  countless  millions  of  the  population  of  Europe.  (Hear,  hear.)  What  are  we  to  do 
in  this  case  ?  (Hear,  hear.)  Look  to  the  past.  I  know  what  we  are  to  do.  We  are 
for  a  time  to  mediate — when  mediation  is  no  use ;  we  are  to  give  a  little  encourage- 
ment here ;  we  are  by-and-by  to  entangle  ourselves  with  one  side,  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  other  side  will  accuse  us  of  hostility  and  perfidy.  (Hear,  hear).  Meanwhile 
some  act — it  may  be  of  great  cruelty  or  of  great  atrocity — may  be  committed  by  one 
side,  and  it  may  come  to  us  in  the  form  of  truth  or  in  the  shape  of  gross  exaggeration. 
If  your  Government  is  disposed  for  war  there  will  be  agents  of  the  press  in  London 
ready  to  magnify  and  distort  everything  connected  with  the  matter,  and  to  stimulate 
you  Dy  appeals,  in  some  casesj  to  passions  that  are  noble  and  in  others  to  passions 
that  are  base,  until  at  length  this  country — 'this  precious  gem  set  in  a  silver  sea,' 
whose  people  may  ride  secure  amid  all  the  storm  and  tempest  that  enwrap  and  toss 
the  world,  will  be  stimulated  to  mingle  in  the  strife,  and  English  blood  and  English 
treasure,  as  you  know  from  past  history  they  have  done,  will  again  be  poured  out  as 
if  they  were  water  upon  every  soil  of  Europe  and  wherever  a  battle-field  is  to  be 
found."  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.) 

The  show  of  hands  was  in  favour  of  Messrs.  Bright  and 
Schofield  by  an  immense  majority.  The  result  of  the  poll  was 
that  4,623  votes  were  tendered  for  Mr.  Schofield,  4,492  for  Mr. 
Bright,  and  1,569  for  Mr.  Acland;  so  that  the  two  former 
gentlemen  were  again  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons,  to  the 
joy  of  the  majority  of  the  English  nation. 

The  non-electors  of  Birmingham  celebrated  the  victory  by 
the  usual  English  mode  of  enjoyment — a  feast  in  their  Town 
Hall,  on  the  31st  of  May,  1859.  Douglas  Jerrold  once  declared 
that  if  an  earthquake  were  to  engulph  England  the  English 
would  manage  to  meet  and  dine  somewhere  amongst  the  rubbish, 
just  to  celebrate  the  event.  However,  the  Birmingham  non- 
electors  were  anxious  to  provide  food  for  their  mind  as  well 
as  their  body,  so  they  had  Mr.  Bright  amongst  them,  who 
gave  them  some  wholesome  advice  : — 

"  I  am  not  now  less  than  I  was  five  years  ago  in  favour  of  peace,  as  between  this 
country  and  all  other  nations  of  the  earth.  Let  us  have  unity,  friendship,  commerce, 
communication  with  all.  Let  us  have  entangling  alliances  with  none.  (Hear,  hear, 
and  cheers.)  Let  us  feel  and  give  sympathy  to  sufferers  everywhere ;  let  us  hold  the 
blood  of  Englishmen  sacred,  at  least  for  the  purposes  of  self-defence.  (Cheers.)  I 
feel  that  we  are  met  in  somewhat  evil  times ;  but  let  us  hope,  however,  for  better 
days.  We  may,  and  I  trust  we  shall,  meet  again,  when  the  clouds  of  war  have 
passed  away,  and  when  you,  whom  we  are  now  obliged  to  address  as  '  non-electors,' 
may  have  your  names  enrolled  on  the  Reform  list  of  your  town.  If  we  hope  for 


1859.]  CONSERVATIVE    TACTICS.  369 

better  days,  if  we  believe  in  them,  let  us  honestly,  fervently,  and  disinterestedly 
work  for  them ;  and  may  we  not  trust  that  Heaven  at  least  will  grant  them  ?  " 
(Cheers.) 

It  would  be  well  here  to  explain  that  just  before  the  elections 
commenced  a  war  broke  out  between  France  and  Sardinia  on  the 
one  hand,  and  Austria  on  the  other.  The  Conservatives  took 
advantage  of  this,  and  tried  to  show  that  at  that  particular  time 
it  would  be  unwise  to  change  the  Ministry.  However,  confidence 
was  restored  when  it  was  found  that  the  English  Government 
had  determined  to  abstain  from  all  intervention  in  the  war. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

THE  COMMEBCIAL  TREATY  WITH  FRANCE. 

Resignation  of  the  Ministry — Cobden's  Arrival  from  America — Seat  offered  in  the 
Cabinet  by  Lord  Palmerston  to  Cobden — Bright  Inspires  Chevalier  with  the  Idea 
of  a  Commercial  Treaty  with  France — Cobden's  Interview  with  Gladstone, 
Palmerston,  and  Russell  on  the  Subject — The  New  Member  for  Rochdale  Visits 
his  Constituents — Bright  at  Huddersfleld,  Liverpool,  and  London,  advocating 
Reform — The  Lords  and  the  Paper  Duty — The  Commercial  Treaty  with  France 
Completed  by  Cobden — Russell's  New  Reform  Bill — Bright  at  Wakefield,  Leeds, 
and  Birmingham— The  Abolition  of  Church  Rates. 

ALTHOUGH  the  general  election  resulted  in  a  gain  of  twenty  seats 
in  favour  of  the  Government,  it  was  not  sufficient  to  keep  them 
in  power,  for  the  Liberals  numbered  350  and  the  Conservatives 
only  302.  On  the  31st  of  May  Parliament  was  opened  by  Royal 
Commission.  The  Marquis  of  Hartington  moved  an  addition 
to  the  address  in  answer  to  the  speech  from  the  Throne,  and  this 
procedure  amounted  to  a  vote  of  want  of  confidence  in  the 
Ministry,  which  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  thirteen.  The 
Ministry  resigned,  and  Lord  Palmerston  formed  a  new  ministry. 
Lord  Campbell  was  appointed  Lord  Chancellor;  Earl  Granville, 
Lord  President  of  the  Council ;  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  Lord  Privy 
Seal ;  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer ; 
Sir  G.  C.  Lewis,  Home  Secretary ;  Lord  John  Russell,  Foreign 
Secretary.  The  office  of  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  was 
offered  by  Lord  Palmerston  to  Mr.  Cobden ;  the  Premier  stating 
in  his  letter : — 

"  I  have  been  commissioned  by  the  Queen  to  form  an  administration,  and  I  have 
endeavoured  so  to  frame  it,  that  it  should  contain  representatives  of  all  sections  of 
the  Liberal  party,  convinced  as  I  am  that  no  government  constructed  upon  any 
other  basis  could  have  sufficient  prospect  of  duration,  or  would  be  sufficiently  satis- 
factory to  the  country. 

"Mr.  Milner  Gibson  has  most  handsomely  consented  to  waive  all  former  diffi- 
culties, and  to  become  a  member  of  the  New  Cabinet.  I  am  most  exceedingly 
anxious  that  you  should  consent  to  adopt  the  same  line,  and  I  have  kept  open  for 
you  the  office  of  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  which  appeared  to  me  to  be  the 
one  best  suited  to  your  views,  and  to  the  distinguished  part  which  you  have  taken  in 
public  life.  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  see  you,  and  to  have  personal  communication 
with  you,  as  soon  as  it  may  be  convenient  to  you  on  your  arrival  in  London." 

Lord  John  Russell  also  wrote  to  Mr.  Cobden,  and  urged  him 
to  accept  the  appointment. 

On  the  29th  of  June  Mr.  Cobden  arrived  in  Liverpool  in  the 
steamer  India  ;  and  a  deputation  from  Rochdale,  and  about  300 
friends  assembled  on  the  quay  and  gave  him  a  hearty  greeting 


1859.]  COBDEN  DECLINES  A  SEAT  IN  THE  CABINET.  371 

as  he  landed.  After  the  first  congratulations  were  over  he  pro- 
ceeded with  his  brother,  Mr.  Charles  Cobden,  to  the  Adelphi 
Hotel.  Later  on  in  the  day  he  was  presented  by  the  Reformers 
and  Peace  Society  of  Liverpool  with  congratulatory  addresses. 
The  Liverpool  Reform  Club  and  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce also  presented  addresses,  and  Mr.  Cobden  found  himself 
the  object  of  universal  interest  and  expectation.  In  fact,  his  four 
months'  travel  in  America  had  been  one  continuous  ovation. 

Upon  landing  upon  his  native  shore  the  news  he  learned  sur- 
prised him,  for  he  had  not  seen  the  latest  papers  from  England 
for  twenty-five  days,  nor  had  he  heard  anything  of  the  change 
of  Government.  A  great  many  of  his  friends  tried  to  persuade 
him  to  accept  the  offer  of  Lord  Palmerston.  He  listened  to 
their  arguments,  but  at  that  time  expressed  no  opinion.  A  few 
days  after  he  arrived  in  London,  and  at  once  visited  the  Premier, 
who  gave  him  a  hearty  welcome.  After  some  preliminary  con- 
versation Mr.  Cobden  said  to  Lord  Palmerston  : — 

"  For  the  last  twelve  years  I  have  been  the  systematic  and  constant  assailant  of 
the  principle  on  which  jour  foreign  policy  has  been  carried  on.  I  believed  you  to 
be  warlike,  intermeddling,  and  quarrelsome,  and  that  your  policy  was  calculated  to 
embroil  us  with  foreign  nations.  At  the  same  time  I  have  expressed  a  general  want 
of  confidence  in  your  domestic  politics.  Now  I  may  have  been  altogether  wrong  in 
my  views ;  it  is  possible  I  may  have  been,  but  I  put  it  candidly  to  you  whether  it 
ought  to  be  in  your  Cabinet,  whilst  holding  a  post  of  high  honour  and  emolument 
derived  from  you,  that  I  should  make  the  first  avowal  of  a  change  of  opinion  respect- 
ing your  public  policy?  Should  I  not  expose  myself  to  severe  suspicions,  and 
deservedly  so,  if  I  were,  under  these  circumstances,  to  step  from  an  Atlantic  steamer 
into  your  Cabinet  ?  Understand,  I  beg,  that  I  have  no  personal  feelings  which  pre- 
vent me  from  accepting  your  offer." 

Lord  Palmerston,  in  combating  his  objections,  remarked  : — 

"You  and  your  friends  complain  of  a  secret  diplomacy,  and  that  wars  are  entered 
into  without  consulting  the  people.  Now  it  is  in  the  Cabinet  alone  that  questions 
of  foreign  policy  are  settled.  We  never  consult  Parliament  till  after  they  are 
settled.  If,  therefore,  you  wish  to  have  a  voice  in  those  questions,  you  can  only  do 
so  in  the  Cabinet." 

Mr.  Cobden,  however,  after  a  long  discussion,  told  the  Premier 
that  his  mind  was  irrevocably  made  up  to  refuse  the  offer,  and 
expressed  the  hope  that  their  personal  and  political  relations 
might  be  in  future  the  same  as  if  he  were  in  his  Government, 
and  both  parted  friendly. 

Mr.  Bright  approved  of  Mr.  Cobden's  refusal,  for  he  foresaw 
that  the  policy  of  the  Ministry  would  not  meet  with  his  friend's 
acquiescence,  and  that  he  would  have  resigned  not  many  months 
after ;  and  such  would  have  been  the  case,  for  in  July  of  the 
following  year  Cobden  wrote  letters  to  Lord  Palmerston  and 
Lord  John  Russell,  complaining  of  the  suspicious  and  warlike 
conduct  of  the  Government  towards  France. 
Y  a 


372  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

On  the  motion  for  going  into  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means,  on  the  21st  of  July,  Mr.  Disraeli  commented  on  the 
financial  policy  of  the  late  Conservative  Government,  which  he 
contended  bad  been  successful,  and  further  remarked  that  no 
country  could  continue  to  raise  seventy  millions  a  year,  as 
England  was  then  doing  by  taxation,  in  time  of  peace.  More 
economical  management  was  essential,  and  the  Government 
ought  to  prosecute  a  policy  of  peace  and  neutrality.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone promised  that  every  effort  should  be  made  to  preserve  and 
strengthen  the  friendship  between  England  and  France,  and  said 
that  he  was  anxious  to  reduce  our  naval  and  military  armaments 
when  other  nations  had  given  similar  attestation  to  their  pacific 
promises.  This  good  sign  of  the  times  brought  Mr.  Bright  on 
to  his  feet,  and  he  congratulated  Mr.  Disraeli  on  having  become 
a  convert  to  the  views  long  advocated  by  himself  and  Mr. 
Cobden. 

' '  What  do  we  now  find  in  the  manifesto  of  the  Emperor  of  the  French  just  received 
in  this  country?"  said  Mr.  Bright.  "  He  said  he  discovered — I  am  not  now  using 
his  exact  words — that  he  was  making  war  against  the  mind  of  Europe.  That  is  a 
most  important  and  valuable  admission,  and  I  only  wish  the  Emperor  had  found  this 
out  three  or  six  months  ago.  He  says,  further,  that  the  war  was  assuming  dimen- 
sions with  which  the  interests  which  France  had  in  the  struggle  were  not  commen- 
surate. I  am  surprised  that  a  man  reputed  to  be  so  acute  did  not  perceive  that  he 
would  be  exposed  to  this  great  danger  before  he  entered  upon  the  war.  But  the  two 
admissions  made  in  this  remarkable  and  memorable  address  prove  to  me  that  the 
suspicions  which  have  been  so  studiously  raised  in  this  country  as  to  the  future 
objects  of  the  Emperor  of  the  French  are  altogether  unfounded.  I  do  not  believe  it 
possible  for  either  the  Emperor  of  the  French  or  the  Emperor  of  Austria  to  have 
returned  home  with  all  those  scenes  of  horror,  such  as  we  have  read  of,  flitting 
before  their  eyes,  and  I  hope  before  their  consciences,  and  to  be  now  prepared  to 
enter  into  another  struggle — least  of  all  a  struggle  with  a  nation  like  ours,  containing 
30,000.000  of  united  people,  the  most  powerful,  the  richest,  and,  all  things  con- 
sidered, perhaps  the  best  satisfied  with  their  Government  of  any  nation  in 
Europe. 

"  Besides  this,  have  they  not  learnt  something  from  the  improvements  effected  in 
weapons  of  warfare,  and  the  increased  destructiveness  of  life  of  which  those  weapons 
are  now  capable  ?  They  see  now  how  costly  war  is  in  money,  how  destructive  in 
human  life.  Success  in  war  no  longer  depends  on  those  circumstances  that 
formerly  decided  it.  Soldiers  used  to  look  down  on  trade,  and  machme-making  was, 
with  them,  a  despised  craft.  No  stars  or  garters,  no  ribbons  or  baubles  bedecked 
the  makers  and  workers  of  machinery.  But  what  is  war  becoming  now  ?  It  depends, 
not,  as  heretofore,  on  individual  bravery,  on  the  power  of  a  man's  nerves,  the  keen- 
ness of  his  eye,  the  strength  of  his  body,  or  the  power  of  his  soul,  if  one  may  so 
speak ;  but  it  is  a  mere  mechanical  mode  of  slaughtering  your  fellow-men.  This 
sort  of  thing  cannot  last.  It  wjll  break  down  by  its  own  weight.  Its  costliness,  its 
destructiveness,  its  savagery  will  break  it  down;  and  it  remains  but  for  some 
Government — I  pray  that  it  may  be  ours !— to  set  the  great  example  to  Europe  of 
proposing  a  mutual  reduction  of  armaments.  Our  policy  in  past  times — and  the 
right  hon.  gentleman  did  not  go  so  far  into  this  question  as  I  could  have  wished — 
has  been  one  of  perpetual  meddling,  with  perpetually  no  result  except  that  which  is 
evil.  We  have  maintained  great  armaments,  not,  I  sincerely  believe,  because  we 
wanted  to  conquer  or  to  annex  any  territory  in  Europe,  but  in  order  that  whenever 
anything  happens  in  Europe  we  may  negotiate,  intervene,  advise,  do  something  or 
other  becoming  what  is  called  the  dignity  of  this  great  country.  ...  I  am  not 
accustomed  to  compliment  the  noble  lord  at  the  head  of  the  Government.  I  have 
always  condemned  the  policy  which  I  thought  wrong,  but  which,  I  have  no  doubt, 


1859.]  ME.    COBDEN   VISITS   PAEIS.  373 

the  noble  lord  thought  was  best  calculated  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  country. 
I  believe  he  was  mistaken,  and  that  he  was  importing  into  this  century  the  politics 
of  the  last ;  but  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  possible  to  select  a  Minister  who  could 
better  cariy  out  a  policy  which  would  be  just  to  France,  and  beneficial  to  ourselves, 
than  the  noble  lord.  Blood  shines  more,  and  attracts  the  vision  of  man  more  than 
beneficent  measures.  But  the  glory  of  such  measures  is  far  more  lasting,  and  that 
glory  the  noble  lord  can  achieve.  I  live  among  the  people.  I  know  their  toils  and 
their  sorrows,  and  I  see  their  pauperism — for  little  better  than  pauperism  is  the  lot 
of  vast  numbers  of  our  countrymen  from  their  cradles  to  their  graves.  It  is  for 
them  I  speak ;  for  them  I  give  my  time  in  this  assembly ;  and  in  heartfelt  sorrow  for 
their  sufferings  I  pray  that  some  statesman  may  take  the  steps  which  I  have 
indicated.  He  who  can  establish  such  a  state  of  things  between  Prajice  and  England 
will  do  much  to  promote  the  future  prosperity  of  two  great  nations,  and  will  show 
that  eighteen  hundred  years  of  Christian  professions  are  at  length  to  be  followed  by 
something  like  Christian  practice." 

The  French  Emperor  and  his  Government  were  pleased  with 
Mr.  Bright's  speech,  and  it  inspired  M.  Chevalier  with  the  idea 
of  a  commercial  treaty  between  England  and  France,  and  at  once 
he  conferred  with  Mr.  Cobden  on  the  subject;  ultimately  he 
recommended  the  member  for  Rochdale  to  try  to  induce  the 
Emperor  to  consent  to  a  commercial  treaty  with  England.  A 
few  weeks  after  Mr.  Cobden  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Glad- 
stone at  Hawarden,  and  related  what  had  transpired,  and  said 
that  as  he  was  going  to  spend  a  part  of  the  winter  in  Paris  he 
might  be  of  use  in  trying  to  bring  about  such  a  desirable  treaty. 
A  Cabinet  meeting  was  called,  and  Mr.  Cobden  discussed  M. 
Chevalier's  notions  with  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  John 
Russell ;  but  Mr.  Cobden  had  great  difficulty  in  interesting  these 
two  statesmen  in  political  economy  and  tariffs.  They  did  not, 
however,  object  to  his  proceeding  on  the  mission,  and  accordingly 
Cobden  visited  Paris  on  the  18th  of  October. 

Before  leaving  England,  Mr.  Cobden  was  welcomed  back 
to  public  life  by  a  soiree  at  Rochdale,  on  the  17th  and  18th 
of  August,  1859.  An  immense  pavilion  was  erected  on  a  plot 
of  land  at  Castlemere,  which  at  the  present  time  is  covered 
by  the  United  Methodist  Free  Church,  William  Street.  The  soiree 
on  the  17th  was  an  imposing  sight.  On  a  raised  platform, 
Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Bright  were  hemmed  round  in  a  crescent 
shape  by  Messrs.  T.  Bazley,  M.P.,  Titus  Salt,  M.P.,  Frank 
Crossley,  M.P.,  E.  A.  Leatbam,  M.P.,  W.  Sharman  Crawford, 
William  Fenton,  John  Petrie,  George  Ashworth,  H.  Kelsall, 
R.  T.  Heape,  and  a  host  of  other  gentlemen.  The  Mayor,  Mr. 
Andrew  Stewart,  presided.  This  was  the  first  time  since  the 
Reform  movement  began  that  Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Bright 
appeared  together  to  promote  Reform.  The  occasion  was  one 
which,  whilst  it  recalled  to  mind  past  labours  and  past  successes, 
proved  that  the  old  energy  and  fire  still  existed,  and  that  new 
victories  would  be  won  for  the  popular  cause.  The  question  of 


374  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF  JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1859. 

Reform    was   uppermost  in   the   minds   of   both   speakers   and 

hearers,  and  of  these  eminent  men  it  might  be  said,  you  could — 

"  Bead  their  history  in  a  nation's  eyes." 

Mr.  Cobden,  in  a  speech  of   five  columns   and   three-quarters, 
remarked : — 

"  Shall  we  take  stock  and  ask  ourselves  whether  all  the  old  musty  predictions  and 
traditions  of  our  diplomacy  have  been  proved  to  be  true  on  this  occasion  p  They  told 
us  that  if  we  did  not  mingle  in  European  wars  we  should  lose  our  prestige  with  the 
world,  that  we  should  become  isolated,  and  that  we  should  lose  our  power.  Well, 
uow,I  ask  you,  whilst  the  thing  is  fresh  upon  our  memory  and  observation,  have  we 
lost  prestige  or  power  by  having  abstained  from  the  late  war  in  Italy  ?  (Voices, 
'  No.  )  On  the  contrary,  do  we  not  know  that  now  the  great  powers  on  the  Con- 
tinent, feeling  that  England  is  powerful— more  powerful  than  ever  in  her  neutrality 
— are  anxious,  are  clamorous,  are  more  solicitous,  that  we  should  go  and  take  a  part 
in  the  peaceful  conferences  that  are  to  take  place  with  a  view  of  securing  peace. 
.  .  .  Well,  gentlemen,  I  went  to  London,  and  before  calling  on  anyone,  or 
receiving  anyone,  I  thought  it  best  to  call  upon  Lord  Palmerston,  and  to  express  to 
him  exactly  my  views  in  the  matter ;  and  I  may  tell  you,  just  as  frankly  as  I  have 
told  him,  what  passed  between  us.  I  stated  to  my  Lord  Palmerston  my  case  thus :  I 
have  been  for  ten  or  fifteen  years  the  systematic  assailant  of  what  I  believe  to  be 
your  foreign  policy.  (Hear,  near.)  I  thought  it  warlike — not  calculated  to  promote 
peace  or  harmony  between  this  country  and  other  countries.  I  explained  to  him 
exactly  what  my  feelings  had  been  in  those  words ;  and  I  said  to  him,  it  is  quite 
possible  I  may  have  been  mistaken  in  all  this ;  when  a  man  takes  an  idea  and  pur- 
sues it  for  ten  or  twelve  years  it  is  very  likely  that  he  takes  an  exaggerated  view  of 
his  "first  impressions;  but  I  put  it  to  Lord  Palmerston,  and  now  I  put  it  to  you, 
whether,  having  regard  to  those  opinions,  it  was  fit  and  becoming  in  me  to  step  from 
an  American  steamer  into  his  Cabinet,  and  there  and  then,  for  the  first  time,  after 
having  received  at  his  hands  a  post  of  high  honour  and  great  emolument,  discover 
that  I  had  undergone  a  change  in  my  opinions,  and  whether  I  should  not  be  opeii  to 
great  misconstruction  by  the  public  at  large  if  I  took  such  a  course ;  and  I  candidly 
confess  that  it  was  inconsistent  with  my  own  self-respect."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright,  in  a  speech  of  two  columns  and  a  half,  at  the 
same  meeting,  remarked  : — 

"I  shall  not  indulge  in  any  elaborate  panegyric  with  regard  to  the  character 
and  services  of  our  representative.  I  have  had  the  great  privilege  of  being  his 
political  associate,  his  political  brother — (hear,  hear) — his  personal  friend  for  nearly 
twenty  years.  (Cheers.)  If  there  be  one  man  in  England  whom  I  would  wish  to 
call  my  representative  more  than  another  I  have  the  gratification  to-night  of  being 
represented  by  that  man.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  Now  let  us  turn,  as  we  are  turning, 
I  hope,  from  those  frightful  themes  before  us  of  late,  from  those  pictures  and 
accounts  of  carnage.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  say  not  who  is  guilty,  I  point  not  to  the 
man  or  the  men — but  I  hope  the  time  is  coming  when  the  finger  of  mankind  and 
the  fierce  eyes  of  human  nature  will  be  turned  in  condemnation  against  those 
crowned  criminals  who  thus  destroy  human  life.  (Cheers.)  Let  us  turn,  I  say, 
from  those  terrible  scenes  which  have  filled  the  columns  of  our  newspapers.  Let  us 
look  at  home,  where  we  have  so  much  to  do.  (Hear,  hear.)  For  are  not  the  people 
here  hard  worked  from  morn  till  night,  from  January  to  December,  almost  from 
their  cradles  to  their  graves?  (Cheers.)  Have  we  not  all  this  amongst  ourselves— 
much  to  instruct,  much  to  help,  much  to  offer  justice,  and  a  fair  and  free  field  of 
exertion  and  competition  too?  Let  us  attend  to  all  this  and  our  home  affairs,  for 
here  lies  our  duty  and  here  lies  our  interest.  (Cheers.)  Our  people  have  been 
patient  in  suffering— they  have  been  heroic  in  their  labours  and  in  their  struggles, 
and  I  count  the  ambition  to  be  in  public  life  an  ambition  of  the  highest  kind  if  it 
be  the  ambition  to  devote  every  faculty  we  possess  to  the  true  interests  and  per- 
manent welfare  and  real  elevation  of  the  great  and  noble  people  which  we  go  to 
Parliament  to  represent."  (Loud  and  continued  cheering.) 

On  the  following  evening,  the  18th  of  August,  Mr.  Cobden 


1859.]  CELEBRATION    AT    HUDDERSFIELD.  375 

and  Mr.  Bright  addressed  about  8,000  persons  in  the  same 
pavilion,  principally  on  the  subject  of  the  suffrage  and  the 
ballot.  Mr.  Stewart,  the  mayor,  again  presided. 

On  the  8th  September,  1859,  a  banquet  was  held  by  the 
Liberals  of  Huddersfield,  to  celebrate  the  return  to  Parliament 
of  Mr.  E.  A.  Leatham,  Mr.  Bright's  brother-in-law.  Mr.  M. 
Hall  presided,  and  about  3,000  persons  were  present.  Mr. 
Bright's  speech  filled^  three  columns  of  the  newspapers.  He 
touched  on  various  subjects. 

"After  the  Corn  Bill  was  passed  in  1846,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  "you  had 
immediately  almost  the  abolition  of  the  monopoly  of  sugar,  and  the 
abolition  of  the  laws  which  pretended  to  protect  the  shipping  of  this 
country,  but  which  interfered  most  materially  with  the  commerce  of  the  nation. 
(Hear,  hear.)  Well,  now  we  are  arrived  at  1852,  when  there  was  a  general 
election,  as  you  recollect,  on  the  first  occasion  when  Lord  Derby  came  into 
office.  Well,  what  was  the  majority  when  the  new  Parliament  assembled  ?  Lord 
Derby  was  rejected  from  office  ;  turned  out  by  a  vote  of  the  House  by  a  majority 
of  exactly  19.  That  showed  that  the  returns  to  the  House  of  Commons  had  been 
nearly  balanced,  and  that  ten  members  transferred  from  one  side  to  the  other  would 
have  perpetuated  for  a  time  the  Government  of  IJord  Derby.  Well,  come  to  the 
next  election,  1857,  an  election  which  many  people  in  Huddersfield  do  not  look  back 
upon  with  much  satisfaction.  (Hear,  hear.)  In  1857  there  was  a  great  cry  for  a 
particular  statesman,  and  many  men  were  returned  upon  that  cry,  and,  so  far  as 
numbers  went,  sitting  on  his  side  of  the  House  there  was  a  considerable  majority 
returned  to  Parliament.  That  statesman  was  not  wise  enough  to  know  how 
properly  to  use  the  majority  which  he  had  obtained — (hear,  hear) — and  twelve 
months  after,  when  he  appeared  to  be  seated  on  an  immovable  rock,  he  was  over- 
thrown and  his  ministry  shattered  to  pieces.  (Hear,  hear.)  Well,  then  we  have 
had  another  general  election,  under  the  auspices  again  of  Lord  Derby,  and  what 
has  been  the  result  ? — that  Lord  Derby  only  required  six  men  and  their  votes — seven 
men,  for  six  would  not  have  done  it,  but  seven  would — from  our  side  of  the  House 
to  have  voted  on  his  side  to  have  given  him  a  majority  which  would  have  enabled 
him,  at  least  for  a  time,  to  have  maintained  himself  in  power.  Now,  I  have  gone 
through  this  statement  to  show  you  that  for  many  years  past,  whatever  be  the 
opinion  of  the  nation,  of  the  people,  the  opinion  as  it  is  extracted  from  your 
present  constituencies  gives  no  certain  majority  in  Parliament ;  and  your  Govern- 
ment— be  it  the  Government  of  Lord  Derby  or  the  Government  of  Lord  Pahnerston, 
or  under  any  other  ministry  that  the  Queen  may  select — that  your  Government 
is  opposed  by  as  many  opponents  as  it  can  count  friends,  and  therefore  is  almost 
altogether  unable,  even  if  it  were  willing,  to  do  those  things  which  you,  the 
Liberal  people  of  Huddersfield  and  of  England,  wish  your  Government  to  do. 
(Cheers.)  Now,  the  result  of  this  has  been  that  for  many  years  past  there  have 
been  only  what  we  call  '  wasted  sessions '  of  Parliament.  I  am  so  distressed  and  so 
weary,  and,  I  confess  it,  so  disgusted,  and  at  times  so  hopeless,  that  I  make  up  my 
mind  not  unfrequently — many  times  during  a  session — that  I  am  a  fool  above  all 
other  fools  for  spending  my  time,  my  labour,  my  life,  in  that  House  of  Commons ; 
and  that  it  is  my  duty  to  myself  and  to  my  family  to  ask  for  the  only  office  that 
possibly  I  may  ever  hold,  that  is  the  Steward  of  Her  Majesty's  Chiltern  Hundreds 
— (laughter) — that  I  may  take  myself  from  Parliament  and  refrain  from  laboui 
in  a  field  where  there  is  no  soil  to  grow  anything — (laughter) — upon  which  neither 
the  showers  fall  nor  does  the  sun  ever  shine  with  a  power  to  produce  it.  (Cheers.) 
All  that  we  have  done  of  late  years,  as  you  know,  has  been  to  vote  with  listless 
apathy  millions  of  money  for  which  you  have  toiled.  We  have  voted  the  spending 
of  scores  of  millions  of  money  that  ought  under  just  and  economical  government  to 
have  remained  in  your  pockets.  We  have  put  taxes  on  and  we  have  taken  some 
off ;  we  have  shifted  an  uncomfortable  burden  from  one  shoulder  to  the  other — 
(laughter) — but  the  burden  remains — (hear,  hear) — it  grows  larger — (hear,  hear) — 
and  if  you  bear  it  at  all?  if  you  do  not  stagger  and  fall  beneath  it,  it  is  because  your 
industry,  your  productiveness,  your  resolution,  your  patience  surpass  those  of  any 
other  people  in  any  other  country  in  the  world."  (Cheers.) 


376  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1859. 

So  it  would  appear  that  the  position  of  these  two  Prime 
Ministers  during  their  term  of  office  was  anything  but  profitable 
to  the  nation ;  in  fact  they  are  very  well  described  in  Cowper'a 
famous  lines : — 

"  Extolled  for  standing  still, 
Or  doing  nothing  with  a  deal  of  skill." 

The  members  of  the  Liverpool  Financial  Reform  Association 
held  a  soiree  in  their  Philharmonic  Hall  on  the  1st  December. 
Mr.  Charles  Robertson  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  Cobden,  who 
expected  to  have  been  present,  was  at  the  time  in  France  and 
detained  by  ill-health.  Nevertheless  he  was  actively  engaged 
negociating  a  commercial  treaty  with  France.  "The  bow 
cannot  possibly  stand  always  bent,  nor  human  nature  subsist 
without  recreation."  His  labours  were  arduous  and  persistent. 
At  the  soiree  Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  lengthy  speech,  concluding 
thus : — 

"  Aristocracy  entrenched  within  the  citadel  of  power,  and  resting,  it  may  be,  on 
generations  of  unchallenged  rule;  monarchy  itself,  venerable  with  the  willing 
homage  of  a  thousand  years ;  authority  of  every  kind,  must  be  shaken  and  will 
pass  away,  unless  it  be  based  upon  the  true  interests  and  commends  itself  to  the 
consciences  of  the  people.  (Cheers.)  I  ask  that  the  Parliament  may  be  made  the 
real  representative  of  the  property,  the  industry,  and  the  intelligence  of  the  nation 
— (cheers) — that  we  may  be  delivered,  if  possible,  from  chaotic  legislation — 
from  reckless  expenditure,  and  from  taxation  oppressive,  unequal,  and  unjus_t. 
(Cheers.)  The  monopolists  of  power  reject  this  demand  with  scorn.  The  day  will 
come  when  it  will  be  made  in  a  louder  voice  than  mine — when  this  question  will 
be  grasped  by  a  ruder  hand  than  mine ;  and  when  it  is  so  made,  as  was  the  case  in 
1832,  it  will  be  surrendered  amid  terror  and  humiliation,  for  which  reason  and 
justice  now  plead  in  vain."  (Enthusiastic  cheers.) 

Lord  Teynham,  Mr.  Ewart,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  Urquhart,  M.P., 
subsequently  addressed  the  meeting. 

A  Reform  Conference  was  held  at  the  Guildhall  Coffee- 
House,  London,  on  the  7th  of  December,  to  consider  the  position 
of  the  Reform  question.  A  resolution  was  unanimously  passed 
thanking  Mr.  Bright  for  his  labours  in  connection  with 
Parliamentary  Reform,  and  highly  approving  of  his  bill  upon 
the  subject.  Another  resolution  was  carried,  declaring  that  "  no 
measure  will  be  regarded  as  a  settlement  which  does  not  include 
a  large  extension  of  the  suffrage  both  in  counties  and  boroughs, 
an  equitable  distribution  of  seats  in  proportion  to  the  population 
and  property  of  the  constituencies ;  an  assimilation  of  the 
electoral  laws  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland ;  the  repeal  of 
the  Septennial  Act;  and  the  Ballot."  Mr.  Bright  said: — 

"  I  shall  only  say  if  an  opportunity  comes— and  I  hope  it  may  not  come,  because 
to  suppose  it  would  is  to  suppose  the  failure  of  the  Government— I  shall  be  prepared 
to  introduce  the  bill  of  which  you  have  already  heard  so  much,  and  which  is  now  in 
so  peiiect  a  state  that  it  could  be  brought  hi  any  night,  and  which  Parliament  shall 


I860.]  THE    LORDS    AND    THE    PAPER    DUTY.  377 

have  an  opportunity  of  fairly  discussing,  if  they  are  not  ready  in  the  coming  year  in 
making  the  concession  to  be  offered  by  the  Government  in  that  direction  in  which 
we  are  all  tending."  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.) 

Mr.  Gladstone  in  his  budget  of  1860  proposed  the  repeal  of 
the  paper-duty,  which  was  a  subject  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Milner 
Gibson  had  taken  a  great  interest  in  advocating  for  years.  Sir 
Stafford  Northcote,  on  the  third  reading,  moved  a  hostile  motion, 
and  the  bill  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  only  nine.  The  House 
of  Lords  rejected  it,  and  it  was  contended  that  as  it  involved 
matters  of  taxation,  they  had  no  precedent  for  doing  so.  On 
the  25th  of  May,  Mr.  Gladstone  moved  for  a  Committee  of 
Inquiry  into  the  subject,  which  was  ultimately  carried,  and  it 
was  found  that  the  House  of  Lords  had  infringed  the  usages 
of  the  Commons.  Lord  Palmerston,  however,  advised  the 
Commons  to  be  satisfied  with  a  mere  declaration  of  their 
constitutional  privileges.  Mr.  Bright  spoke  several  times  on  the 
jx)int  in  dispute,  and  in  one  speech  he  said  : — 

"  I  fear  this  Session  may,  as  a  consequence,  become  memorable  as  that  in  which, 
for  the  first  time,  the  Commons  of  England  have  surrendered  a  right  which  for 
five  hundred  years  they  had  maintained  unimpaired.  I  at  least,  and  those  who  act 
with  me,  will  be  clear  from  any  participation  in  this ;  we  shall  be  free  from  the 
shame  which  must  indelibly  attach  to  the  chief  actors  in  these  proceedings.  I 
protested  against  the  order  of  reference  which  the  noble  lord  proposed,  though  I  sat 
and  laboured  on  the  Committee  with  earnest  fidelity  on  behalf  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  I  have  felt  it  an  honour  to  sit  in  this  House  up  to  this  time,  and  I  hope 
that  hereafter  the  character  of  this  House  Will  not  be  impaired  by  the  course  which 
is  about  to  be  taken.  I  have  endeavoured  to  show  to  my  countrymen  what  I 
consider  to  be  almost  the  treason  which  is  about  to  be  committed  against  them.  I 
have  refused  to  dishonour  the  memory  of  such  members  as  Coke  and  Selden,  and 
Glanville  and  Pym ;  and  if  defeated  in  this  struggle,  I  shall  have  this  consolation, 
that  I  have  done  all  I  can  to  maintain  the  honour  of  this  House,  and  that  I  have  not 
sacrificed  the  interests  which  my  constituents  committed  to  my  care." 

The  duty,  however,  this  session  was  not  repealed,  and 
indignation  at  the  conduct  of  the  Lords  was  expressed  through- 
out the  country. 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Lancashire  Reformers'  Union,  held  fii  the  Free-trade  Hall, 
Manchester,  on  the  20th  of  January,  186*0.  Mr.  G.  Wilson 
presided,  and  Mr.  Bazley,  M.P.,  Mr.  E.  N.  Phillips,  Mr.  T.  B. 
Potter,  and  Mr.  Alderman  Rylands  addressed  the  meeting. 
Mr.  Bright,  commenting  on  a  speech  of  Lord  Normanby, 
delivered  in  1793,  to  the  effect  that  great  progressive  internal 
measures  were  thwarted  by  the  propagation  of  a  fear  of  the 
French,  said : — 

"  Now,  let  us  be  careful  that  we  are  not  led  away  by  such  fear  in  this  day. 
Franco  was  made  the  raw-head-and-bloodv-bones  of  that  day,  and  this  was 
successful  in  turning  the  people  from  the  consideration  of  their  own  affairs.  Let  us 
be  careful  that  it  has  110  such  effect  in  our  day.  Everybody  who  has  heard  me  will 


378  LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [i860 

bear  me  out  in  this,  that  I  have  never  stepped  out  of  my  way  to  speak  in  compli- 
mentary or  defamatory  terms  of  the  present  ruler  of  France.  I  have  left  to  him, 
and  the  people  over  whom  he  rules,  all  matters  appertaining  to  France  alone  ;  but 
whan  I  see  the  measures  which  are  being  taken — happily  frustrated  just  now — (loud 
cheers) — when  I  see  the  measures  being  taken,  the  exact  counterpart  policy  of  1793, 
I  wish  for  a  moment  to  dwell  on  this  point.  If  there  be  any  man  who  complains  of 
the  steps  by  which  Louis  Napoleon  became  ruler  of  France,  no  man  has  a  right  now 
to  quarrel  with  him  on  that  point,  for  he  was  congratulated  by  the  then  Foreign 
Minister,  now  Prime  Minister  of  this  country,  almost  immediately  after,  and  when 
he  came  to  England  he  was  received  with  every  demonstration  of  amity  by  the 
sovereign  and  of  enthusiasm  by  the  people.  When  we  entered  into  a  war  with  a 
country  which  was  distracted  by  factions,  having  an  imbecile  Foreign  Office,  he  gave 
you  every  assistance  iu  the  prosecution  of  that  war,  out  of  which  you  could  not  have 
well  come  without  his  assistance.  Afterwards,  what  took  place  ?  The  papers  were 
suggesting  changes  in  the  Government  of  Italy,  and  especially  of  Naples,  and  the 
English  and  French  Governments  withdrew  their  ambassadors.  At  that  time, 
judging  of  the  tone  of  the  press, what  was  the  French  Government  to  conclude? — that 
the  English  people  were  ready  to  assist  them,  or  that  if  they  did  not  require  or  get 
help  from  England,  that  at  any  rate  it  would  not  be  opposed  by  England.  Well,  the 
war  with  Austria  commenced,  and  we  were  first  blaming  the  French  ruler  for 
commencing  it,  afterwards  the  same  people  were  just  as  loud  in  blaming  him  that 
it  was  not  carried  on  much  longer.  What  was  the  result  ?  I  put  aside  the  agony 
and  the  bloodshed — when  men  talk  about  war  they  always  put  that  aside,  especially 
those  in  favour  of  war,  which  I  am  not.  (Applause.)  What  are  the  results  of  that 
war  •*  You  have  Lombardy  delivered  from  Austria ;  and  some  provinces  under 
Dukes  and  Duchesses,  and  one  under  the  dominion  of  the  Papal  power,  forming 
themselves  into  one  State,  anxious  to  be  united  to  Sardinia.  Looking  at  these 
things,  and  all  that  has  taken  place  since,  I  say  that  Louis  Napoleon  has  shown  by 
all  he  has  done,  judging  of  it  by  what  appears  in  the  papers  and  what  one  knows 
besides,  he  has  done  all  he  can  to  accommodate  his  policy  to  that  of  England, 
whether  it  be  in  Italy,  where  you  sympathise  with  freedom,  or  iu  the  distant  Empire 
of  China,  where  you  have  no  right  to  be  as  a  power  carrying  on  war — (hear,  hear) — 
whether  in  the  right  in  Europe  or  in  the  wrong  in  China,  you  find  the  policy  of  the 
French  Government  most  anxious  to  square  itself  with  the  policy  of  England.  .  .  . 
And  now,  after  all  these  alarms,  after  all  these  sulphurous  leading  articles,  after  all 
those  specimens  of  wretched  oratory  poured  out  by  speakers  at  rifle  meetings,  after 
a  succession  of  stimulating  letters  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  hints  that  'you 
don't  know  what  that  man  over  the  water  is  going  to  do — (laughter) — after  all 
these  things  the  man  over  the  water  is  receiving  one  of  your  citizens  (Mr.  Cobden) 
— (loud  cheers,  the  whole  assembly  rising) — discussing  the  great  questions  of  com- 
merce and  peace — not  matters  about  which  your  diplomatists  generally  concern 
themselves — receiving  information,  considering  what  would  be  advantageous  to  the 
great  nation  over  which  he  rules,  what  would  be  advantageous  to  the  world  of 
which  France  and  England  form  so  great  a  part ;  and  you  find  him  propounding,  in  a 
letter  which  deserves  to  be  written  in  letters  of  gold,  a  new  commercial  policy  for 
France.  (Applause.)  I  venture  to  say  that  for  centuries  to  come,  if  the  policy 
marked  out  be  adopted,  a  blessed  renown  will  attach  to  the  name  of  the  Third 
Napoleon  which  will  eclipse  all  that  sanguinary  glory  which  encircles  the  name  of 
the  first  of  the  dynasty."  (Here  the  meeting  rose  and  vociferously  cheered.) 

In  February,  I860,  Mr.  Cobden  completed  the  commercial 
treaty  with  France,  and  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  introducing  his 
budget  on  the  10th  of  the  same  month,  embodying  the  pro- 
visions of  the  treaty,  said  : — 

"It  is  a  great  privilege  for  any  man  who,  having  fifteen  years  ago  rendered  to 
his  country  one  important  and  signal  service,  now  enjoys  the  singular  good  fortune 
of  having  it  in  his  power — undecorated,  bearing  no  mark  of  rank  or  of  title  from  his 
sovereign,  or  from  the  people — to  perform  another  signal  service  in  the  same  cause 
for  the  benefit  of,  I  hope,  a  not  ungrateful  country.'' 

Many  years  after,  Mr.  Bright  remarked  :^- 


I860.]  LOED    EUSSELL'S    EEFOEM   BILL.  37C 

"  Now  this  was  a  great  work  which  Mr.  Cobdeu  performed,  as  it  were,  with  his 
own  hand.  He  went  to  France ;  he  communicated  with  his  friend  M.  Chevalier,  the 
eminent  French  economist ;  he  put  himself  into  communication  with  the  Emperor,  who 
was  most  honest  and  very  intelligent  upon  this  question.  M.  Rouher,  the  French 
minister,  was  enabled  to  commence  negotiations,  and  through  many  months  they 
went  on,  interfered  with  by  many  obstacles,  but  by  no  obstacle  in  France  so  great,  I 
believe,  as  some  of  the  obstacles  which  came  from  this  country.  Finally,  the  treaty 
was  signed  and  the  triumph  was  achieved,  and  I  venture  to  say  there  is  no  act  of 
any  statesman's  life  that  can  be  looked  back  to  with  more  unalloyed  pleasure  by 
him  who  did  it,  or  by  his  friends  who  stood  by  him  and  commended  it,  than  that  great 
act  of  the  commercial  treaty  with  our  neighbouring  country  of  France."  (Cheers.) 

This  splendid  service  rendered  to  his  country  by  Mr.  Cobden 
only  coming  times  will  be  able  properly  to  appreciate,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  it  will  add  to  the  lustre  which  gathers  round 
the  name  of  Richard  Cobden. 

On  the  19th  March,  I860,  Lord  John  Russell  moved  the 
second  reading  of  the  Government  Reform  Bill.  Mr.  Bright 
regarded  the  bill  as  simply  one  for  the  Extension  of  the  Franchise. 
It  touched  only  the  outside  of  the  Disfranchisement  question.  It 
settled  nothing,  it  rather  unsettled,  as  adding  another  precedent 
to  that  of  1832.  Mr.  Bright  noticed  the  small  comparative 
number  of  electors  it  admitted,  and  advised  the  House  to  accept 
the  bill,  not  as  one  he  himself  would  have  liked,  but  as  the  most 
prudent  and  fittest  to  be  brought  forward  at  that  time.  He 
calculated  that  by  this  bill  they  would  not  add  to  the  con- 
stituency more  than  150,000  electors.  Not  more  than  100,000 
of  the  working  classes  would  be  enfranchised  by  the  bill. 
He  thought  that  the  bill  did  not  go  far  enough,  and  that 
the  parsimony  on  the  part  of  the  House  was  a  mistake — 
that  there  was  a  conscious  feeling  amongst  millions  of  their 
countrymen  that  Parliament  did  not  adequately  represent  them, 
and  was  not  just  to  them,  and  silently,  but  surely  and  inevitably, 
this  opinion  was  marching  on  to  its  triumph.  The  bill  after- 
wards was  withdrawn  through  the  pressure  of  public  business. 

Mr.  Bright  spoke  on  Reform  at  a  meeting  of  the  Lancashire 
Reformers'  Union,  held  in  the  Free-trade  Hall,  Manchester,  on 
the  12th  of  April.  The  speech  occupied  an  hour  and  a  half  in 
delivery.  Mr.  George  Wilson  presided,  and  7,000  persons  were 
present. 

"Politically,"  observed  Mr.  Bright,  "I  live  and  move  and  have  my  being  only 
in  the  hope  that  I  may  advance  the  cause  of  truth  and  your  cause,  if  only  by  a 
single  step.  (Cheers.)  If  I  tell  you  that  peace  and  peaceful  industry  is  your  path 
of  wisdom  and  of  greatness,  if  I  say  it  is  your  taxes  that  are  spent,  your  sweat 
which  is  pawned,  your  blood  which  is  shed  in  war,  am  I  the  less  your  countryman  ? 
(Loud  cheers  and  cries  of  "No.")  If  your  Sunday  prayer  for  peace  be  not  a 
mockery  and  offensive  in  the  sight  of  Heaven,  then  I  am  justified  in  denouncing, 
as  I  now  do  heartily  denounce,  them  who  in  the  Parliament  or  in  your  Press  are 
striving  to  involve  the  most  potent  nations  of  the  earth  in  the  crimes  and  in  the 
calamities  of  war."  (Loud  cheers.) 


oSO  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BBIGHT.  [i860. 

Mr.  Bright's  continual  warnings  of  the  evils  of  war  and  the 
loss  resulting  therefrom  have  had,  no  doubt,  a  beneficial  effect, 
and  kept  England  of  late  years  from  further  entangling  herself 
in  warfare ;  for  he  has  a  clear  perception  of  England's  follies  as 
well  as  her  good  qualities. 

While  Mr.  Cobden  was  negotiating  the  treaty  with  France, 
Lord  Palmerston,  on  the  23rd  of  July,  informed  the  House  of 
Commons  that  the  Government,  with  respect  to  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  National  Defence  Commission  for  fortifying 
the  dockyards  and  establishing  a  central  depot  for  arms  and 
stores,  proposed  that  a  vote  be  taken  in  the  meantime  for 
£'2,000,000  to  be  charged  on  the  Consolidated  Fund,  and  raised 
by  annuities  for  a  term  not  exceeding  thirty  years.  The  total 
outlay,  it  was  expected,  would  be  eleven  or  twelve  millions. 
Mr.  Bright  stated  that  during  his  seventeen  years'  experience  in 
that  House  he  had  never  known  an  instance  of  a  question  of 
such  magnitude  and  importance  being  brought  before  it  without 
notice,  and  of  such  a  resolution  being  proposed  for  adoption  on 
the  same  evening.  In  all  probability  the  proposition  would 
involve  an  expenditure  of  twice  £12,000,000;  and  he  protested 
against  being  entrapped  into  such  a  resolution.  The  debate  was 
adjourned  to  the  2nd  of  August,  when  Mr.  Bright  again 
delivered  a  long  and  masterly  speech,  during  which  he  said : — 

"There  maybe  enemies  abroad;  but  I  can  find  nobody  who  can  point  them 
out.  I  can,  however,  point  out  an  enemy  at  home,  and  that  is  this  insane  and 
wicked  policy,  which  requires  that  you  should  abstract  from  the  labour  and  the 
industry  of  the  people  of  England  this  enormous,  incredible,  and  ruinous  sum  from 
year  to  y_ear.  What  is  the  result  in  every  other  country  ?  If  somebody  had  told 
the  Minister  of  Louis  XIV.  that  his  extravagance  would  end  in  disaster  to  France, 
he  would  have  answered  them,  as  I  shall  be  answered,  '  The  country  is  rich  enough, 
— the  glory  of  France  is  worth  more  than  your  sordid  considerations  of  pounds, 
shillings  and  pence.  France  must  keep  a  great  position  in  Europe — there  is  no 
burden  which  France  will  not  easily  by  its  elasticity  raise  itself  under  and  support.' 
But  do  we  not  know  that  in  another  generation  his  family  became  exiles;  the 
aristocracy  of  his  country  was  overthrown  ;  another  branch  of  his  family  has  been 
exiled,  and  the  kingdom  which  he  did  so  much  to  ruin  has  been  subjected  to  sixty 
years  of  anarchy  and  recurring  revolution !  This  is  the  story  history  tells  of  other 
countries  as  well  as  of  France ;  and  if  we  pursue  the  same  course,  I  fear 
the  history  which  will  be  written  in  the  future  of  our  time  will  be  exactly 
like  that  which  has  been  written  of  France  and  of  other  countries.  You 
will  have  an  exiled  royal  family,  you  will  have  an  overthrown  aristocracy, 
and  you  will  have  a  period  of  recurring  revolution ;  and  there  is  no  path 
so  straight,  so  downward,  so  slippery,  so  easily  travelled  to  all  these  misfortunes, 
as  the  path  which  we  are  now  following,  year  after  year,  adding  to  these 
enormous  expenses,  until  the  time  will  come  when  there  will  be  some  change 
throughout  the  country,  when  men  will  open  their  eyes,  will  ask  who  has  deceived 
them,  defrauded  them,  pillaged  them.  And  then  you  will  have  to  pay  the  penalty 
which  all  men  in  the  upper  classes  of  society  in  every  country  have  had  to  pay  when 
they  have  not  maintained  the  rights  of  the  great  body  of  the  people  in  this  particular, 
and  when  they  have  not  performed  the  duties  which  devolved  upon  them  as  the 
governing  classes  of  the  country.  It  is  because  I  hate  this  policy — because  I 
condemn  this  expenditure — because  I  see  that  it  will  lead  to  more  expenditure,  and 
to  the  wider  prevalence  of  this  policy,  that  I  oppose  with  all  my  heart  the  resolution 


I860.]  HONOURS    OFFERED   TO    MR.    OOBDEN.  381 

of  the  noble  lord ;  and  in  doing  that,  I  feel  the  strongest  conviction  in  iny  con- 
science that  I  am  doing  my  duty,  not  less  to  the  people  of  whom  I  am  one,  than  to 
the  monarchy  under  which  I  live." 

The  measure,  however,  was  carried  by  a  large  majority,  so 
alarmed  were  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  by  the 
invasion  fever  and  hobgoblin  arguments. 

Mr.  Bright  wrote  a  letter  to  a  Blackburn  manufacturer  on 
the  3rd  of  November,  in  reply  to  a  complaint  "that  education, 
literary  and  religious,  has  failed  to  teach  the  working  classes 
wisdom  in  relation  to  their  own  interest."  Mr.  BrighVs  reply 
was  very  lengthy,  and  in  one  part  of  it  he  stated  : — 

"  I  have  never  denied  the  legal  or  the  moral  right  of  workmen  or  employers  to 
comhine;  but  I  believe  there  is  not  one  case  in  a  hundred  where  it  is  wise 
to  exercise  this  right.  And  looking  at  the  consequences  of  the  strikes  we  have  seen 
in  this  county,  and  indeed  throughout  the  country,  it  is  amazing  that  so  many  men 
of  sense,  so  many  men  competent  in  works  of  skill  and  ingenuity,  should  take  any 
part  in  them.  I  do  not  expect  in  our  time  that  these  deplorable  transactions  will 
come  to  an  end,  but  I  am  persuaded  that  they  would  occur  much  more  rarely,  and 
be  attended  with  much  less  of  bitterness  and  of  that  obstinate  folly  which  now  so 
often  distinguishes  them,  if  the  wall  of  partition  between  classes  were  broken  down 
by  the  admission  of  the  great '  labour  interest '  into  the  rights  of  citizenship.  Then 
the  same  questions  would  interest  us  all ;  the  same  grievances,  where  grievances 
exist,  would  be  seen  to  affect  us  all ;  and  instead  of  being,  as  we  now  are,  two 
nations  in  one  country,  having  different  ends  and  adverse  sympathies,  we  should 
have  objects  and  purposes  in  common,  to  the  incalculable  and  permanent  gain  of 
the  whole  people." 

In  November  Mr.  Cobden  contemplated  leaving  Paris  to 
spend  the  winter  at  Algiers,  as  he  was  still  suffering  from 
hoarseness,  which  became  worse  as  winter  advanced,  and  made  him 
long  for  the  sunshine  and  warmth  of  the  south.  Mr.  Bright  was 
wishful  to  see  him  before  leaving  Paris,  and  accordingly  paid 
him  a  visit,  and  a  few  days  after  they  had  an  interview  with  the 
Emperor  of  the  French.  On  that  occasion  Napoleon  asked  Mr. 
Cobden  if  he  was  satisfied  with  the  treaty  ?  Mr.  Cobden 
replied,  that  with  the  exception  of  the  iron  he  did  not  complain. 
The  Emperor  complimented  Mr.  Bright  on  the  course  he  had 
taken  in  always  trying  to  promote  an  amicable  feeling  between 
both  nations.  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden  urged  the  Emperor 
to  abolish  the  passport  system  in  his  country  which  caused  so 
much  unnecessary  trouble,  and  Napoleon  granted  their  request. 
On  the  9th  of  December  the  member  for  Rochdale,  accom- 
panied by  his  wife  and  eldest  daughter,  left  for  Algiers,  where 
he  remained  until  the  following  May.  Before  leaving  Algiers 
he  received  a  letter  from  Lord  Palmerston,  offering  on  behalf  of 
Her  Majesty  to  create  him  a  baronet,  or  to  be  made  a  privy 
councillor,  for  the  services  he  had  rendered  in  negotiating  the 
treaty  with  France.  Mr.  Cobden  in  his  letter  replied  that : — 

"Whilst  entertaining  the  same  sentiments  of  gratitude  towards  the  Queen  which 
I  could  have  felt  if  I  had  accepted  the  offer  you  have  been  so  good  as  to  make  me 


382  LIFE    AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [i860. 

iu  her  uame,  I  must  beg  permission  most  respectfully  to  deny  myself  the  honour 
which  Her  Majesty  has  graciously  proposed  to  confer  on  me.  An  indisposition  t.o 
accept  a  title  being  in  my  case  rather  an  affair  of  feeling  than  of  reason,  I  will  not 
dwell  further  on  the  subject. 

"With  respect,  however,  to  the  particular  occasion  for  which  it  is  proposed  to 
confer  on  me  this  distinction,  I  may  say  that  it  would  not  be  agreeable  to  me  to 
accept  a  recompense  in  any  form  f  or"my  recent  labours  in  Paris.  The  only  reward 
I  desire  is  to  live  to  witness  an  improvement  in  the  relations  of  the  two  great 
neighbouring  nations  which  have  been  brought  into  more  intimate  connexion  by  the 
Treaty  of  Commerce." 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the  soiree  of  the  Wakefield 
Mechanics'  Institute,  which  was  held  in  the  Corn  Exchange 
of  that  town  on  the  20th  of  November.  Mr.  E.  A.  Leatham, 
M.P.,  presided. 

"It  seems  to  me,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  "that  there  is  nothing  that  is  so 
entirely  neglected  in  the  education  of  all  classes  in  this  country  as  the  consideration 
of  the  principle  upon  which,  I  believe,  the  permanent  prosperity  and  peace  of 
nations  or  commonwealths  are  based.  (Hear,  hear.)  If  these  were  principles  that 
referred  merely  to  our  days  or  to  this  year  I  should  scarcely  think  it  worth  while 
to  refer  to  them,  but  they  appear  to  me  to  refer  to  all  countries,  to  all  times  and 
people,  whatever  circumstances  they  may  be  living  under ;  and  that  they  are  more 
infinitely  important  than  the  ephemeral  struggles  and  triumphs  which  attend  the 
ambition  of  the  statesman  with  whom  our  time  and  thoughts  are  pometimes  so 
greatly  occupied.  One  of  our  poets  has  said — I  must  apologise  to  him  (though  he 
is  not  "here,  and  perhaps  is  not  living)  if  I  do  not  quote  him  correctly,  but  he  is 
reported  to  have  asked  or  exclaimed — 

'  How  few  of  all  the  ills  which  men  endure 
Are  those  which  kings  and  lords  can  make  or  cure.' 

Now,  if  I  were  disposed  to  be  sharp  and  short,  and  not  disposed  to  argue  the 
question,  I  might  answer  him  by  a  couplet  from  another  of  our  poets,  who  has  said, 
speaking  of  his  own  order — 

'  Poets,  of  all  men,  least  regret 
'    Increasing  taxes  and  the  nation's  debt.' 

(Laughter.)  Now,  I  am  prepared  to  contradict  this  saying  of  the  poet  which  I  first 
quoted.  I  say  that  liberty,  and  wealth,  and  happiness,  in  the  progress  of  every 
people,  meet  with  a  thousand  obstacles  from  laws  which  are  based  sometimes  upon 
selfishness,  but  I  believe  much  more  frequently  upon  ignorance  of  the  true  interests 
of  the  nation.  (Hear,  hear.)  The  science  of  political  economy,  although  it  has 
been  proclaimed  by  various  learned  and  able  men  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  is  a 
science  which  yet  is  absolutely  in  its  infancy,  and  it  is  an  entire  mistake  to  suppose 
that  it  is  only  the  members  of  mechanics'  institutions  who  are  well  informed  upon 
this  science.  .  .  .  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever,  that  as  we  go  on,  every 
improvement  that  is  made  in  machinery  or  in  agriculture  adds  to  our  power  of 
production,  and  ought  to  add  to  our  comfort.  (Cheers.)  In  my  opinion  it  ought 
to  lessen  human  labour  and  increase  human  enjoyment.  (Hear,  hear.)  But  if 
through  bad  principles  of  legislation,  if  through  error  of  Government,  public 
resources  are  wasted,  if  a  vast  quantity  of  pur  industry  is  misdirected ;  if  there  be 
these  great  blunders  made,  you  may  have  rich  men,  and  you  may  have  rich  families, 
but  you  may  rely  upon  it  the  multitude  will  still  be  poor,  and  the  little  comforts 
they  have  will  still  be  precarious.  (Cheers.)  Now,  I  want  us  to  study  these 
subjects  more  than  we  have  done  before,  to  enable  us  to  see  clearly  that  we  may 
govern  ourselves  more  wisely.  I  believe  that  if  we  do  so  we  may  raise  mankind  to 
a  much  higher  level,  we  may  give  greater  glory  to  our  country,  we  may  dispense 
greater  happiness  amongst  the  families  of  which  it  is  composed,  and  we  may  do  that 
which  is  not  a  little  thing — we  may  do  something  to  'justify  the  ways  of  God  to 
man.'  "  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheering.) 

Mr.  Bright,  during  the  session,  spoke  in  the  House  on  the 


i860.]  ADVOCATING    PAKLIAMENTAEY    REFORM.  383 

ever  troublesome  question  of  Turkey,  with  some  good  effect, 
remarking  : — 

"  The  question  of  Constantinople,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  great  political 
question,  is  surely  not  an  insuperable  difficulty.  It  cannot  be  said  that  Heaven  per- 
mitted a  great  city  to  grow  up  in  a  favoured  spot  to  form  continually  a  bone  of  con- 
tention between  the  nations  of  Europe,  or  that  the  statesmen  who  have  settled  so 
many  questions  cannot  suggest  what  can  be  done  with  this.  What  I  am  myself 
most  anxious  for  is  that  England  should  hold  itself  aloof  from  that  policy — should, 
in  point  of  fact,  repudiate  it  altogether  as  a  mistake,  that  the  integrity  of  the  Turkish 
Empire  is  to  be  maintained,  and  that,  not  this  power,  but  the  pretended  power — 
the  feebleness  and  the  dignity  of  the  Sultan — is  to  be  supported ;  and  that  all  this  is 
to  be  done  again  at  the  expense  of  the  taxes  draw_n  from  the  English  people,  and  of 
the  blood  of  Englishmen  squandered  like  water,  in  the  endeavour  to  do  that  which 
nature  says  is  impossible,  and  that  all  experience  tells  us  we  must  fail  in  if  we  ever 
attempt." 

A  careful  study  of  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Bright  will  reveal  the 
fact  that  his  chief  aim  has  been  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
working  class  ;  that  England  should  be  governed  well  and  raised 
in  the  scale  of  nations.  His  idea  of  a  happy  nation  is  very 
aptly  described  by  Confucius  : — 

"  Where  spades  grow  bright,  and  idle  words  grow  dull, 
Where  gaols  are  empty,  and  where  barns  are  full ; 
Where  church-paths  are  with  frequent  feet  outworn ; 
Law  court-yards  weedy,  silent,  and  forlorn ; 
Where  doctors  foot  it,  and  where  fanners  ride ; 
Where  age  abounds,  and  youth  is  multiplied ; 
Where  -these  signs  are,  they  clearly  indicate 
A  happy  people  and  well-govern'd  state." 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Leeds 
Working  Men's  Parliamentary  Association,  which  was  held  in 
the  Town  Hall,  Leeds,  on  the  llth  of  December.  Mr.  Alder- 
man Middleton  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  Edward  Baines,  M.P., 
and  Mr.  E.  A.  Leatham,  M.P.,  also  addressed  the  meeting. 

"  I  ask  myself,  why  this  dread  of  the  people  ?  "  remarked  Mr.  Bright.  "  I  live 
among  them.  A  man  accosted  me  only  on  Saturday  at  the  railway  station,  and 
putting  his  hand  on  my  shoulder  (he  was  a  working  man),  he  said,  '  Ah,  well,  we 
were  lads  together ; '  and  then  he  made  a  remark  which  was  equally  true — '  but  it  is 
a  long  time  since.'  (Laughter.)  I  have  lived  amongst  them  all  my  life — I  never 
had  any  distrust  of  them,  I  never  affected  any  perfection  in  them  any  more  than  1 
found  it  elsewhere  or  conceived  it  to  exist  in  myself,  but  I  say  that  for  those  qualities 
that  go  to  make  a  people,  that  are  requisite  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  citizenship,  the 
working  classes  of  this  country  need  not  bow  the  head  before  the  highest  in  the  land. 
.  .  .  Shall  Englishmen  alone  be  dazzled  with  what  they  see  abroad,  and  forget 
altogether  the  duty  they  owe  to  themselves  ?  Shall  seventy-five  millions  of  pounds 
sterling  in  taxes — seventy-five  millions,  the  produce  of  human  labour — shall  this  be 
annually  raised  and  spent,  and  shall  six  millions  of  Englishmen,  who  have  had  the 
main  power  in  raising  it,  have  no  further  concern  in  the  matter  ?  Shall  every  work- 
ing man  give,  as  I  believe  he  does  give,  at  least  two  hours  extra  per  day  of  toil  and 
of  sweat  to  support  a  Government  whose  policy  he  can  in  no  degree  influence,  and 
which  shuts  him  out  from  the  commonest  rights  of  citizenship,  and  spurns  him  as 
though  he  were  but  a  wild  beast  in  human  form.  (Hear,  hear,  and  loud  cheers.) 
I  tell  you  honestly  I  cannot  believe  it.  I  know  there  is  amongst  the  people  of  this 
couiitry  an  overwhelming  preponderance  in  favour  of  Parliamentary  Reform. 
(Cheers.)  It  will  come.  (Cheers.)  It  may  be  delayed,  but  it  cannot  be  prevented. 
(Hear,  hear.)  It  will  come  by  honest,  enlightened,  and  safe  steps,  such  as  we 


S84  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1861. 

recommend,  or  it  will  come  hastened  by  some  great  accident  which  none  of  us  can 
now  foresee,  and  may  bring  about  changes  and  feelings  which  may  shake  out 
political  and  social  fabric  to  its  base.  (Hear,  hear.)  Now,  honestly,  it  is  because  I 
dread  disorder,  because  I  know  that  resistance  to  just  demands  is  the  fertile  parent 
of  confusion  in  every  state ;  it  is  because  I  wish  England  to  be  great,  and  glorious, 
and  free,  and  moral— (cheers)  —that  I  urge  the  working  classes  amongst  my  country- 
men, the  unenfranchised  millions,  to  insist  upon  their  just  rights,  and  it  is  for  those 
causes  that  I  counsel  the  ruling  classes  to  grant  those  rights,  although  it  maybe  that 
my  counsel  may  be  in  vain." 

Mr.  Bright  met  his  constituents  in  the  Town  Hall,  Birming- 
ham, on  the '29th  of  January,  1861,  and  there  were  not  fewer 
than  6,000  present.  Mr.  Arthur  Ryland,  the  mayor,  presided. 

"The  House  of  Commons,"  observed  Mr.  Bright,  "  of  late  years,  had  presented 
itself  to  them  as  a  body  caring  little  for  the  great  internal  interests  of  the  country, 
reckless  and  profligate  in  its  expenditure  ;  and  if  that  were  so,  and  if  he  could  judge 
of  what  was  passing  in  the  public  mind,  he  was  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
question  of  taxation  and  expenditure  was  that  to  which  men  were  looking  at  the 
present  time  with  great  interest.  The  past  year  had  been  one  of  unusual  prosperity, 
and  heavy  burdens  had  been  borne  without  much  complaint.  But  there  were  clouds, 
particularly  in  the  west,  which  promised  a  great  change  of  circumstances,  and  the 
question  was  passing  from  mouth  to  mouth — how  long  will  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  be  able  to  raise  seventy  millions  in  taxes  on  the  people  of  this  country  ? 
.  .  .  He  had  never  heard  the  feeblest  protest  raised  in  the  House  of  Lords  against 
the  extravagance  of  the  Government.  It  was  worth  their  while  to  know  that,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  the  members  of  the  present  peerage  owed  their  peerages  to 
creation  within  the  last  100  years.  The  origin  of  them  came  from  the  rotten  borough 
system :  any  man  who  could  get  four,  five,  or  six  seats  in  the  Hous6  of  Commons  at 
his  command  to  serve  the  Government  of  his  day,  could,  by  ways  known  to  such  a 
gentleman — (laughter) — procure  to  himself  in  all  probability  to  be  made  a  peer.  He 
told  them  this  to  show  that  when  they  were  asked  to  examine  into  the  conduct  of 
the  House  of  Peers  they  were  not  to  look  at  it  as  a  thing  so  old  as  the  monarchy 
of  England.  They  might  single  out  a  few  families  who  had  come  down  from  remote 
times,  the  majority  of  whom  had  generally  shown  themselves  considerate  and  just 
to  the  people  of  the  country ;  but  all  the  modern  peerage  was  bred  in  the  slime  and 
corruption  of  the  rotten  borough  system,  and  they  need  not  look  to  a  House  so  con- 
stituted for  any  great  anxiety  to  save  the  pockets  of  the  nation."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  had  very  little  faith  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  a 
source  of  justice  to  the  working -class,  as  he  judged  the  peers  by 
past  experience,  which  reminded  him  of 

"  The  dew  of  justice,  which  did  seldom  fall, 
And  when  it  dropt  the  drops  were  small." 

"  I  am  of  opinion,"  continued  Mr.  Bright,  "that  a  tax,  although  the  working  men 
appear  to  pay  none  of  it,  is  borne  mainly  by  them,  because  the  sum  is  withdrawn 
from  the  fund  which  ought  to  employ  them,  and  they  are  sufferers  indirectly  to  the 
amount  of  the  taxation  which  is  wasted.  When  I  look  round  at  the  condition  of 
tilings  in  this  country,  I  wonder  and  I  grieve.  I  see  more  work,  I  believe,  done 
than  by  any  equally  numerous  people  in  any  country  in  the  world.  I  see  at 
the  same  time  a  wonderful  benevolence  and  charity  between  man  and  man.  There 
was  never  a  time  since  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and  there  never  was  a 
country  in  which  so  many  men  and  women  were  employed  in  kind  and  benevolent 
and  charitable  and  Christian  labours  for  the  benefit  of  their  fellow-creatures. 
(Cheers.)  There  is  benevolence  abounding,  but  benevolence  cannot  do  what  we  wish 
to  be  done.  There  is  such  a  thing  as 

'  With  one  hand  put 

A  penny  in  the  urn  of  poverty, 

And  with  the  other  take  a  shilling'  out.' 

(Laughter.)  And  that  may  be  done  without  any  dishonest  or  improper  intention. 
...  I  hold  that  we  who  hold  these  sentiments  are  the  true  Conservatives  in  the 


1861.]  CHURCH    RATES.  386 

country.  Our  past  policy  has  loaded  us  with  debt.  It  has  destroyed  millions  of 
families.  It  has  desolated  millions  of  homes.  It  has  added  immeasurably  to  the 
chaos,  and  infinitely  to  the  sufferings  of  Europe.  I  would  reverse  this  policy.  I 
would  practise  a  religious  abstention  from  all  the  tumults  and  quarrels  which  arise 
upon  the  Continent  of  Europe.  I  would  give,  if  I  could,  to  industrious  people 
the  full  enjoyment  of  the  wealth  they  create.  I  would  ask,  with  one  of  our  old 
poets — 

'  What  means  the  bounty  of  all-gracious  Heaven — 

That,  persevering  still,  with  open  hand 

It  scatters  goo;l,  as  in  a  waste  of  mercy,' 

if  it  be  not  that  the  common  children  of  all-gracious  Heaven  should  enjoy  this  full 
bounty  which  is  offered  to  them  ?  As  you  have  revolutionised  your  commercial 
legislation,  revolutionise  your  foreign  policy — bring  it  to  the  standard  of  common 
sense  and  common  morality.  Permit  the  people  for  whom  my  very  breast  bleeds 
when  I  see  the  sufferings  which  so  many  of  them  endure — permit  them  to  enjoy 
that  which  they  created.  The  crown  will  gain  fresh  lustre ;  institutions  that  are 
good  will  be  more  stable ;  and  this  nation,  to  its  humblest  homestead,  will  be  ever 
the  more  contented  and  the  more  happy."  (Prolonged  cheering.) 

In  the  session  of  1861,  Sir  John  Trelawney  introduced  a 
Bill  for  the  second  time  for  the  abolition  of  Church  Rates.  On 
the  27th  of  April,  in  the  previous  session,  Mr.  Bright  supported 
the  Bill  in  an  able  speech,  in  which  he  said  : — 

• 

' '  I  live  in  a  town  in  which  contests  about  Church-rates  have  been  carried  on  in  past 
years  with  a  vigour  and  determination,  and,  if  you  like  it,  with  an  animosity  which 
has  not  been  surpassed  in  any  other  part  of  the  kingdom.  Hon.  gentlemen  opposite, 
who  profess  to  be  in  favour  of  what  is  called  a  stand-up  fight,  will  be  glad  to  hear 
that  nothing  could  exceed  the  activity  of  their  friends  in  that  parish,  nothing  could 
exceed  the  prof useness  with  which  they  were  willing  to  pay  for  a  contest,  in  order 
that  all  might  have  to  contribute  to  a  Church  which  at  that  time  they  themselves 
were  not  willing  adequately  to  support.  The  very  last  contest  of  this  kind  cost  the 
Church  party  in  the  parish  as  much  money  as,  if  invested  at  the  common  rate  of 
interest,  would  have  supported  the  fabric  of  the  Church  for  ever.  [A  cry  of  '  How 
much  ?  ']  I  can  tell  the  hon.  gentleman  what  was  the  estimate  formed,  which  I 
believe  was  never  disputed,  and  which,  judging  from  the  expenditure  on  the  other 
side,  was  not,  I  should  say,  very  inaccurate.  I  believe  that  the  expenditure  would 
not  be  less  than  from  £3,000  to  £4,000.  It  is  a  large  parish,  probably  ten  miles  square, 
and  contains  nearly  100,000  inhabitants ;  and  I  need  not  tell  hon.  members  that  there 
is  no  class  of  people  in  England  more  determined  and  more  unconquerable,  whichever 
side  they  take,  than  are  the  people  of  the  county  from  which  I  come.  What  was  the 
result  or  that  struggle  ?  The  result  was  that  the  Church-rate  was  for  ever  entirely 
abolished  in  that  parish.  I  have  since  seen  several  lists  of  candidates  for  the  church  - 
wardenship  put  forth  by  Churchmen,  each  of  which  claimed  support  upon  the  ground 
that  they  would  never  consent  to  the  reimposition  of  a  Church-rate ;  and  the  parish 
has  been  for  many  years  upon  this  question  a  model  of  tranquillity.  It  would  not  be 
enough  that  it  should  be  a  model  of  tranquillity  if  the  result  had  followed  which  the 
learned  gentleman  foretold  in  such  dolorous  language :  that  religion  would  be  uncared 
for,  and  that  the  Gospel  would  no  longer  be  preached  to  the  poor ;  but  I  will  under- 
take to  say  that  since  that  contest,  that  venerable  old  parish  church  has  had  laid 
out  upon  it,  in  repairing  and  beautifying  it,  from  money  subscribed,  not  altogether, 
but  mainly  by  Churchmen  ten  times — ay,  twenty  times — as  much  as  was  ever  expended 
upon  it  during  a  far  longer  period  of  years  in  which  Church-rates  were  levied. 
During  that  period  there  were  discussions  about  the  graveyard,  about  the  hearses, 
about  the  washing  of  the  surplices,  about  somebody  who  had  to  sweep  out  the  church. 
There  were  discussions  of  all  sorts,  of  a  most  irritating  and  offensive  character.  The 
clock  which  was  there  for  the  benefit  of  the  public  no  longer  told  the  time,  and,  in 
fact,  there  was  evidence  of  that  sort  of  decay  to  which  the  learned  gentleman 
has  pointed  as  the  inevitable  result  of  the  abolition  of  Church-rates.  Since 
the  rate  ceased  to  be  levied  the  clock  has  kept  time  with  admirable  fidelity,  and 
to  such  an  extent  has  the  liberality  of  Churchmen  gone  that  very  lately  they  have 
put  up  another  clock  in  a  neighbouring  church.  I  believe  that  in  the  parish  of  ttoch- 
L 


388  LIFE    AND    TIMES  OP   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1861 

dale  the  Church  people  have  received  far  more  benefit  from  the  abolition  of  the 
Church-rate  than  the  Dissenters  have.    They  have  found  out,  what  they  never  knew 
before,  that  when  placed  upon  the  same  platform  as  Dissenters,  and  obliged  to  depend 
upon  their  own  resources,  they  are  as  liberal  and  zealous  as  other  sects.    I  wish  that 
the  learned  gentleman  had  told  us,  and  I  hope  that  some  one  who  may  follow  him 
will  do  so,  how  it  happens  that  year  by  year  there  has  been  growing  in  this  House  a 
power  in  opposition  to  Church-  rates,  while  at  thesame  time  there  has  been  less  animosity 
throughout  the  country  upon  this  question.     I  believe  it  has  arisen  from  the  growth 
of  a  better  feeling  on  both  sides,  and  from  the  fact  that  year  by  year  there  have  been 
secessions  from  the  supporters  of  Church-rates  throughout  the  country,  and  that 
more  and  more  without  the  action  of  Parliament  the  principle  embodied  in  the 
clauses  of  the  bill  of  my  lion,  friend  has  come  to  be  acted  upon.     Now,  what  is  the 
real  point  between  us  ? — because  I  believe  that  hon.  gentlemen  opposite  will  agree 
with  me,  that  if  it  could  be  done  it  would  be  better  that  this  question  should  be  for 
ever  disposed  of.     What  is  the  question  at  issue  between  us  ?    Does  any  man  dispute 
the  evils  that  have  arisen  ?    The  right  hon.  and  learned  gentleman  has,  in  a  speech 
of  great  vigour,  endeavoured  to  throw  ridicule  and  contempt  upon  the  great  body  of 
the  Dissenting  population  of  this  country.     ['  No,  no ! ']     Well,  at  any  rate,  he  has 
not  refrained  from  expressions  of  harshness  towards  those  whom  he  charges  with  being 
the  movers  in  this  question.    But  does  he  believe,  or  do  any  of  you  believe,  that  if 
those  persons  did  not  in  the  main  possess  the  confidence  of  the  great  body  of  the 
Dissenters,  they  could  in  a  week,  a  fortnight,  or  a  month,  stir  them  up  from  one  end 
of  the  country  to  the  other,  and  bring  to  your  table  the  signatures  of  500,000  of  your 
countrymen  ?    [Cries  of  '  600,000.']     I  am  reminded  that  the  number  is  600,000,  but 
in  a  matter  of  this  kind  I  am  not  particular  to  100,000  or  less.     I  say,  then,  is  there 
any  one  here  who  disputes  the  evils  which  have  arisen  from  these  discussions  ?    I 
'confess  that  I  have  sometimes  wished  that  I  could  speak  in  this  House,  even  if  it  were 
for  only  one  half  hour,  in  the  character  of  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England.     If 
I  could  have  done  that  I  should  have  appealed  to  the  House  in  language  far  more 
emphatic  and  impressive  than  I  have  ever  been  able  to  use  as  a  Dissenter,  in  favour 
of  the  abolition  of  this  most  mischievous  and  obnoxious  impost.    .    .    .    The  dissen- 
sions to' which  I  have  referred  have  prevailed,  prevail  still,  and  cannot  terminate  as 
long  as  this  impost  exists.    What  is  its  natural  and  inevitable  result  ?    It  must  be  to 
create  and  stimulate  the  pride  of  the  supremacy  in  the  dominant  Church,  and  at  the 
same  time  produce  what  I  shall  call  the  irritation  of  subjugation  and  injustice  on  the 
part  of  that  great  portion  of  the  people  who  support  their  own  ministers  and  places 
of  worship,  and  who  think  that  they  ought  not  to  be  called  upon  to  support  those  of 
any  other  sect  or  church.     Now,  is  it  necessary  that  this  should  continue  ?    I  often 
have  occasion  in  this  House  to  give  hope  to  hon.  gentlemen  opposite.     They  are 
probably  the  most  despairing  political  party  that  any  country  ever  had  within  its 
borders.     They  despair  of  almost  everything.     They  despaired  of  agriculture.    Agri- 
culture triumphs.    They  despair  of  their  Church,  yet  whenever  that  Church  has 
been  left  to  its  own  resources  and  to  the  zeal  of  its  members  its  triumph  has  been 
manifest  to  the  country  and  to  the  world.    Are  you  made  of  different  material  from 
the  five  millions  of  people  who  go  to  the  Dissenting  chapels  of  England  and  Wales  ? 
You  have  your  churches— I  speak  of  the  old  ones,  not  of  those  recently  erected  by 
means  of  voluntary  contributions — you  have  your  churches,  which  you  call  national, 
and  you  have  them  for  nothing.      You  have  your  ministers  paid  out  of  property 
anciently  bequeathed  or  entrusted  to  the  State  for  their  use.    In  that  respect  you 
stand  in  a  far  better  position  for  undertaking  what,  if  Church-rates  are  abolished, 
you  must  undertake,  than  do  the  great  body  of  your  Dissenting  brethren.    Have  you 
less  zeal,  have  you  less  liberality,  than  they  have  ?    Do  not  you  continually  boast  in 
this  House  that  you  are  the  owners  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  landed  property  of  the 
country  ?    Are  you  not  the  depositaries  of  political  power,  and  do  you  not  tell  us 
that  when  a  Dissenter  becomes  rich  he  always  walks  away  from  the  chapel  into  your 
church  ?   If  this  be  so,  am  I  appealing  in  vain  to  you,  or  reasoning  in  vain  with  you, 
when  I  try  to  encourage  you  to  believe  that  if  there  were  no  Church-rates  the  mem- 
bers of  your  church  and  jour  congregations  would  be  greatly  improved,  and  that,  as 
has  taken  place  in  the  parish  in  which  I  live,  your  churches  would  be  better  supported 
by  your  own  voluntary  and  liberal  contributions  than  they  can  ever  be  by  the  penny 
per  pound  issuing  from  the  pockets  of  men  who  do  not  attend  your  church,  and  who 
are  rendered  ten  times  more  hostile  to  it  by  the  very  effort  to  make  them  contribute 
to  its  support.    I  believe  that  Church-rates  must  before  long  be  abolished.    Hence, 
I  wish  to  afford  some  hope  and  consolation,  if  I  can,  to  hon.  gentlemen  opposite. 
Mr.  Osborne  and  Mr.  Bunting,  from  whom  the  right  hon.  and  learned  member  so 


1861.]  CHUECH  EATES.  38? 

largely  quoted,  themselves  belong  to  a  body  that  has  done  marvels  in  this  country  in 
erecting  chapels,  paying  ministers,  establishing  schools,  raising  the  dead,  if  you  like 
— for  men  who  were  dead  to  religion  have  been  made  Christians — and  they  have 
preached  the  Gospel  to  the  poor  in  every  county,  I  might  almost  say  in  every  parish, 
in  the  kingdom.  Yet  they  have  not  come  to  Parliament  for  grants  of  money ;  and, 
although  they  have  often  come  to  me  and  others  for  contributions  to  their  chapels  and 
schools,  they  have  never  had  any  force  of  law  to  enable  them  to  raise  their  funds. 
Throughout  England  and  Wales  what  would  be  the  condition  of  your  population, 
your  religious  establishments,  your  education,  if  it  were  not  for  the  liberality  6f  those 
sects  of  whom  the  right  hon.  and  learned  gentleman  thinks  fit  to  speak  in  disparaging 
terms  '<  .  .  .  I  should  like  to  ask  hon.  gentlemen  opposite  to  look  to  a  point  in 
respect  to  which  their  Church  is  at  a  great  disadvantage  as  compared  with  Dissenting 
congregations.  I  am  in  a  position  to  observe  both  of  them  with  great  impartiality, 
because  I  belong  to  a  sect  which  is  very  small,  which  some  people  say  is  decaying, 
although  I  believe  its  main  principles  are  always  spreading.  I  have  no  particular 
sympathy  with  Wesleyans,  Independents,  or  Baptists,  any  more  than  I  have  with  the 
congregations  which  assemble  in  your  churches.  But  have  you  not  observed  in 
London,  and  more  particularly  in  the  country,  where  you  are  more  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  circumstances — have  you  not  observed,  that  among  the  con- 
gregations of  Dissenting  bodies  there  is  a  greater  activity  in  all  matters  which  belong 
to  their  churches,  and  to  objects  which  they  unite  together  in  promoting  as  a  religious 
community  ?  Do  not  you  find  that  from  the  richest  and  the  most  influential  man 
who  enters  a  chapel  on  a  Sunday  to  the  humblest  of  the  congregation  there  is,  as  it 
were,  a  chain  of  sympathy  running  through  them  all,  which  gives  to  them  a  great 
strength,  which  combines  them  together,  which  influences  the  humblest  and  the 
highest  for  good,  and  which  gives  to  the  congregation  a  power  which  is  found  to  be 
greatly  less  existent  in  a  congregation  of  the  Established  Church  ?  I  have  spoken  of 
this  to  many  persons  who  differ  from  me  on  all  these  questions  of  Church  establish- 
ments, Church-rates,  and  the  like  ;  but  I  never  spoke  to  any  man  in  the  habit  of 
attending  the  Established  Church  who  did  not  admit  to  me  that  it  is  one  of  the  things 
they  most  deplore,  that  among  the  five  hundred  persons,  more  or  less,  who  attend 
any  particular  church,  there  is  infinitely  less  sympathy,  co-operation,  union,  and 
power  of  action  than  is  evinced  among  the  various  Dissenting  communities  in  this 
country  almost  without  exception.  But  if  you  had  none  of  these  rates  to  levy  by 
law  you  would  be  placed — and  it  would  be  a  most  material  advantage — in  the  same 
position  as  are  the  congregations  of  Dissenting  bodies.  "You  would  be  obliged,  of 
course,  in  the  management  of  your  congregational  affairs,  to  consult  the  members  in 
general ;  you  would  have  yoxir  monthly  or  quarterly  meetings ;  and  thus  you  would 
know  who  were  your  neighbours  in  church,  and  yeu  woiild  be  united  together,  as 
Dissenting  congregations  are.  And  I  maintain  that  your  religious  activity  and  life 
for  all  purposes  of  missionary  work  at  home  and  abroad  would  be  greatly  increased 
and  strengthened ;  and  so  far  your  congregations,  your  ministers,  and  your  churches 
would  be  great  gainers.  Some  hon.  gentlemen  will  say  that  I  am  a  violent  partisan 
on  this  question,  and  that  I  have  partaken  of  the  animosity  which  I  stated  to 
have  existed  in  the  parish  in  which  I  live.  I  do  not  deny  that  in  times  past  I  have 
taken  a  warm,  and  it  may  be  occasionally  a  too  heated,  part  in  the  contests  and  dis- 
cussions on  this  question  ;  but,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  the  feelings  engendered  by 
these  strifes  have  been  swept  away :  I  am  older  than  I  was  then ;  I  make  great 
allowance  for  men's  passions,  as  I  ask  that  they  should  make  allowance  for  mine. 
This  question  has  now  come  to  a  crisis ;  and  I  ask  the  House  to  consider  whether  it 
would  not  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  Church,  of  morality,  religion,  and  the  public 
peace,  that  it  should  now  be  set  at  rest  once  and  for  ever.  The  right  hou.  and 
learned  gentleman — it  is  one  of  the  faults  of  a  high  classical  education — following 
t  he  example  of  the  right  hon.  gentleman  who  delighted  us  all  with  a  brilliant  but 
most  illogical  speech  last  night,  affrighted  us  with  an  account  of  what  took  place 
under  the  democracies  of  Greece,  and  asks  us  to  follow  the  example  of  those  who  were 
believers  in  the  paganism  of  ancient  Borne.  He  says,  Did  not  the  Eoman  emperors, 
consuls,  and  people  go  in  procession  after  the  vile  gods  and  goddesses  which  they 
worshipped?  It  is  true  they  did,  and  I  hope  the  right  hon.  and  learned  gentleman 
regrets  by  this  time  that  he  asked  us  to  follow  an  example  of  that  kind.  Home  has 
perished,  and  the  religion  which  it  professed  has  perished  with  it.  The  Christian 
religion  is  wholly  different,  and  if  there  be  one  thing  written  more  legibly  than 
another  in  every  pago  of  that  Book  on  which  you  profess  that  your  Church  is 
founded,  it  is  that  men  should  be  just  one  to  another,  kind  and  brotherly  one  to 
another,  and  should  not  ask  of  each  other  to  do  that  which  they  are  not  willing 

z  a 


388  tIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [18<?1. 

themselves  to  do.  I  say  that  this  law  of  Church-rates  is  a  law  which  violates,  and 
violates  most  obviously  and  outrageously,  every  law  of  justice  and  of  mercy  which  is 
written  in  that  Book,  and  it  is  because  I  believe  it  does  so  that  I  am  certain  that  it 
never  can  be  of  advantage  to  your  Church,  if  your  Church  be  a  true  Church  ;  and, 
believing  that,  and  feeling  how  much  the  interests  and  sympathies  and  wishes  of 
millions  of  our  countrymen  are  iu  favour  of  the  abolition  of  this  impost,  I  ask  you  to 
dp  what  I  am  now  ready  to  do — to  give  a  cordial  support  to  the  third  reading  of  this 
bill  of  my  hon.  friend.'' 

The  division  this  time  was  even,  and  the  Speaker  had  to  give 
a  casting  vote,  which  he  did  against  the  Bill,  remarking  that, 
so  far  as  he  could  collect  the  opinion  of  the  House,  it  was  in 
favour  of  some  settlement  of  this  question  different  from  that 
contained  in  the  present  Bill,  and  he  was  not  willing  to  take 
upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  the  proposed  change.  On  the 
31st  of  July,  1868,  Mr.  Gladstone  succeeded  in  passing  his  Com- 
pulsory Church-rate  Abolition  Bill,  which  annihilated  a  rate  that 
had  caused  grievances  in  many  towns  in  England. 

Mr.  Bright  was  very  much  disappointed  when  he  found  that 
the  Royal  Speech  at  the  opening  of  the  Session  of  1861  had  no 
reference  to  Parliamentary  Reform,  and  he  remarked  to  the 
House  that  when  the  present  Government  came  into  power 
most  explicit  pledges,  public  and  private,  had  been  given  on  the 
subject  of  Reform,  and  he  asked  whether  it  was  right  that  the 
representation  should  be  amended  or  not,  and,  if  right,  whether 
it  was  not  better  that  it  should  be  done  now.  Mr.  White  moved 
that  a  paragraph  should  be  added  to  the  address  on  the  subject, 
but  it  was  negatived  by  124  to  46. 

On  the  15th  of  April,  1861,  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  his  budget, 
proposed  to  apply  the  surplus  to  the  reduction  of  the  income- 
tax  by  one  penny  per  pound,  and  to  abolish  the  duty  on  paper. 
Mr.  Baring,  Sir  S.  Northcote,  Mr.  S.  Fitzgerald,  and  Mr. 
Horsman  spoke  strongly  against  Mr.  Gladstone's  proposition. 
Mr.  Bright,  in  defending  the  budget,  said : — 

"  Sir,  I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  party  contest  in  this  House.  I  have  no  objection 
to  the  greatest  efforts  of  the  greatest  party,  if  those  efforts  are  guided  by  an  honest 
desire  for  the  public  good ;  but  I  observe  that  these  party  contests  are  generally  fought 
in  a  field  which,  as  one  of  our  own  writers  and  poets  has  described  it,  is  '  a  field  of 
ambition  in  which  truly  the  labourers  are  many,  but  the  harvest  is  scarcely  worth 
the  carrying  away.'  I  despise  those  triumphs.  I  scorn  altogether  those  laurels. 
(Cheers.)  If  I  contended  here  for  the  mastery,  if  I  looked  for  fame,  if  I  desired  to 
be  remembered  hereafter  in  connection  with  the  great  struggles  on  the  floor  of  this 
House,  it  should  be  by  associating  my  name  directly  with  measures  which  I  felt  in 
my  conscience  it  was  wise  and  just  in  Parliament  to  give,  and  which  it  would  be  a 
blessing  for  the  people  to  receive.  (Loud  cheers.)  Sir,  I  have  looked  at  this  budget, 
I  hope,  with  an  impartial  and  an  honest  eye.  I  believe  that  it  meets  these  two 
conditions — that  it  is  just  for  Parliament  to  pass,  and  that  it  will  be  beneficent 
towards  the  people  for  whom  it  is  intended  ;  and  on  these  grounds  alone  I  shall 
give  it  my  hearty  support."  (Cheers.) 

The  Government  were  successful  in  carrying  the  propositions, 


1861.1  CONGRATULATIONS   TO   MB.    COBDEN.  389 

and  the  Royal  assent  was  given  on  the  12th  of  July  for  repealing 
the  Paper  Duty. 

Lord  Clarence  Paget,  on  the  llth  of  March,  in  introducing 
the  Navy  Estimates,  proposed  the  construction  of  iron-cased 
vessels  similar  to  the  French  "  La  Gloire "  and  the  English 
"  Warrior." 

' '  Surely,  after  what  was  done  in  consequence  of  the  panic  excited  when  the 
right  hpii.  member  for  Droitwich  (Sir  John  Packington)  was  at  the  Admiralty,"  said 
Mr.  Bright  on  the  subject :  "  and  considering  that  this  is  a  time  of  peculiar  pressure, 
when  a  general  discontent  is  arising  in  different  parts  of  the  country  at  this  enormous 
expenditure,  the  Government  might  easily  have  reduced  the  military  estimates  of  the 
year  by  four  or  five  millions  !  And  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  man  in  the  king- 
dom, with  the  slightest  knowledge  of  politics,  who  could  imagine  that  we  were  not 
quite  as  safe  as  we  shall  be  when  all  this  money  has  been  voted." 

At  this  time  members  of  Parliament  were  excited  with  the 
fabulous  accounts  of  the  increase  of  the  French  navy,  and  the 
money  was  granted. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  R.  Cobden  arrived  in  England,  after  com- 
pleting the  commercial  treaty  with  France,  his  constituents 
wished  to  congratulate  him.  on  the  noble  work  he  had  performed, 
and  accordingly  he  appeared  at  a  public  meeting  on  the  26th 
June,  1861,  in  company  with  Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Thomas  Bazley, 
M.P.,  Sir  Charles  Douglas,  M.P.,  Mr.  Gr.  Wilson  (Manchester), 
Mr.  John  Platt  (Oldham),  and  a  large  number  of  local  gentle- 
men, Conservatives  as  well  as  Liberals.  The  room  in  which  the 
meeting  assembled — the  largest  then  available — was  the  ground 
floor  of  Messrs.  Kelsall  and  Kemp's  warehouse  in  Baillie  Street, 
and  it  was  computed  that  the  audience  numbered  at  least  5,000 
persons,  who  seemed  highly  pleased  with  the  work  which  had 
been  completed  by  their  distinguished  member,  and  their  "hearts 
spoke  content  in  the  smiles  of  their  face/'  Upwards  of  sixty 
reporters  were  present.  The  Mayor  (Joseph  H.  Moore)  presided. 
Mr.  Cobden,  in  a  speech  which  extended  over  live  columns  and  a 
quarter,  stated : — 

"  I  have  been  occupied  for  nearly  the  last  eighteen  mouths  abroad,  partly  in  pur- 
suit of  public  duty,  and  partly  in  quest  of  health.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  have  been,  as 
your  worthy  mayor  has  stated,  engaged  in  arranging  a  commercial  treaty  with  France. 
I  have  been,  as  you  are  aware,  honoured  with  the  confidence  of  our  Sovereign — 
(applause) — and  aided  by  colleagues  whose  services  in  this  matter  I  would  not  for  a 
moment  appropriate  to  myself.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  have  been  endeavouring  to  make 
out  arrangements  that  shall  lead  to  two  countries  peculiarly  designed  by  Providence 
to  confer  mutual  benefits  upon  each  other,  but  which,  owing  to  the  folly  and 
perhaps  wickedness  of  man,  have  been  for  centuries  rather  seeking  to  injure  and 
de_stroy  each  other — I  have  been  seeking  to  form  arrangements  by  which  two  coun- 
tries shall  be  united  together  in  mutual  bonds  of  dependence,  arid,  I  hope,  a 
future  peace.  (Cheers.)  It  has  been  truly  stated  by  the  mayor  that  France  has 
been  hitherto,  as  a  nation,  attached  to  those  principles  of  commercial  restriction 
which  we  in  England  have  but  lately  released  ourselves  from,  and  which  have  cost 
ourselves  thirty  years  of  pretty  continuous  labour  and  the  services  of  three  or  four  most 
eminent  statesmen,  in  order  to  bring  us  to  the  present  state  of  comparative  freedom 


390  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [i86t. 

of  commerce.  (Cheers.)  The  French,  on  the  contrary,  had  hardly  taken  a  single 
p tep  in  this  direction ;  it  was  left  for  the  present  Emperor,  and  he  alone  had  the 
power  to  accomplish  it,  with  the  aid  of  his  Minister  of  Commerce,  who  for  eighteen 
months  has  scarcely  given  himself  twenty-four  hours  of  leisure — (hear,  hear) — it  was 
left  to  them  to  accomplish  in  France,  in  the  course  of  a  couple  <5f  years,  what  it 
has  taken  us  in  England  at  least  thirty  years  to  effect."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  next  delivered  a  lengthy  speech,  and  touched  on 
various  subjects. 

"  What  is  this  money  P"  he  remarked.  "Are  we  not  all  sensible  when  we  are 
without  it  how  much  we  could  do  that  would  be  agreeable  if  we  had  it  ?  (Laughter.) 
Are  we  not  all  sensible  that  what  we  call  money  is  merely  a  thing  by  which  we 
obtain  or  exchange  houses  and  furniture,  and  food  and  clothing,  the  necessaries,  the 
comforts,  the  luxuries  of  life,  by  which  our  children  obtain  education,  and  by  the 
possession  of  which,  more  or  less,  we  have  a  much  greater  chance  of  becoming 
intelligent,  and,  I  believe,  also  moral  and  religious.  (Hear,  hear.)  That  is  what  is 
meant  by  money.  But  what  is  it  that  divides  classes  in  this  country — those  who 
have  nothing  from  those  who  have  much  ?  If  you  see  one  portion  of  the  people 
doomed  to  incessant  labour,  to  a  precarious  position,  often  to  much  misery,  and 
another  portion  having  abundant  leisure,  abundant  enjoyments,  and  security  in  the 
possession  of  those  enjoyments  which  two  millions  are  denied,  where  is  the  difference 
but  that  the  one  class  is  in  the  possession  of  money  and  what  money  can  obtain  for 
them?  (Hear,  hear.)  Now,  taxes  are  money  taken  from  the  people.  I  recollect  seeing 
a  caricature,  some  twenty- five  years  ago,  in  which  two  or  three  rather  over-fed  foot- 
men were  discussing  this  question,  and  one  asked  j^he  other,  '  What's  taxes,  Thomas  ? ' 
(Laughter.)  Well,  probably  Thomas  did  not  know,  because  in  that  particular 
household  the  master  paid  the  taxes,  and  he  did  not  see  the  money  passing  from  the 
master's  hand  to  the  tax-gatherer.  .  .  .  Now  if  we  could  have  in  this  room  the 
oldest  man  in  Rochdale,  I  don't  know  what  age  he  is,  but  if  he  were  eighty-five  years 
of  age,  for  example,  and  we  were  to  go  back  to  his  youngest  days,  when  he  was  a 
little  toddling  fellow  of  two  or  three  years  old,  and  imagine  at  that  time  his  little 
hand  had  been  in  the  grasp  of  the  bony  hand  of  the  man  at  that  time  as  old  as  he  is 
now,  these  two  lives  would  carry  us  back  to  the  time  of  what  is  called  the  '  glorious 
revolution,'  when  the  Stuarts  were  finally  driven  from  England  and  a  new  dynasty 
and  a  new  system  were  established.  At  that  time  the  revenue  of  the  kingdom  was 
2,000,000  a  year,  and  we  had  no  national  debt.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  am  not  going 
into  details  upon  this  matter,  but  when  in  two  lifetimes  we  have  made  the  progress 
in  this  department  that  we  have,  at  least  we  ought  to  be  excused  if  we  make  a  little 
progress  in  some  other  department.  But  in  sixty  years  from  that  time  the  revenue 
of  2,000,000  had  grown  to  20,000,000,  and  the  national  debt  had  become  a  debt  of 
140,000,000.  (Hear,  hear.)  In  sixty  years  further,  and  less  than  sixty  years 
further,  the  20,000,000  of  taxes  had  grown  to  be  70,000,000  of  taxes,  and  the 
140,000,000  of  debt  had  grown  to  be  at  Jeast  840,000,000.  (Shame.)  Now,  I  shall  not 
go  through  all  the  wars  and  the  wonderful  political  blunders  and  crimes  by  which 
this  was  brought  about ;  but  I  will  undertake  to  say  that,  looking  at  the  history 
of  OUT  country,  looking  at  the  great  condition  of  the  body  of  the  people,  whether 
agricultural  labourers,  or  weavers,  or  miners,  or  whatsoever  they  may  be  of  the 
humble  classes  of  society,  the  class  that  has  the  least  money,  I  will  undertake  to  gay 
that  this  class  has  derived  no  real  benefit  from  the  policy  which  has  involved  vis 
in  this  vast  expenditure,  this  enormous  taxation,  and  this  debt,  which  nobody 
believes  it  possible  ever  to  pay  off."  (Loud  applause.) 

The  tongue  of  detraction  was  still  busy  charging  Mr. 
Cobden  with  being  oblivious  to  the  dangers  of  invasion; 
accusing  him  of  want  of  patriotism  ;  and  alleging  that  his  labours 
had  too  wide  a  sweep  and  would  benefit  other  nations  to  the 
detriment  of  his  own.  In  fact,  his  reputation  had  long  been 
considered  as  a  sort  of  open  unbarriered  area,  in  which  every 
sciolist  of  politics  and  every  raw  pretender  to  patriotism  had  a 


1861.]  HARSH   VIEWS   REGARDING   COBDEN.  391 

right  to  exercise  his  studied  commonplaces,  and  these  personages 
had  imitators  downwards,  for  everything  depended  upon  high 
example.  These  detractors  would  have  preferred  a  display  of 
arrogance  or  contempt  towards  the  French  nation,  instead  of 
neighbourly  feeling.  Richard  Cobden  had  a  truer  idea  of 
patriotism  than  this,  and  while  no  Greek  emigrant,  carrying 
with  him  the  sacred  fire  kindled  on  the  hearth  of  home  and  the 
patch  of  soil  carefully  dug  from  the  place  of  his  birth,  could 
love  Greece  more  than  this  son  of  a  Sussex  farmer  loved 
England,  it  was  his  ambition  and  study  to  understand  other 
nations,  to  sympathise  with  them,'  and  to  make  them  partici- 
pants in  the  blessings  of  peace  and  good-will  which  he  strove 
to  secure  for  his  own  native  land.  He  was  "  the  representative 
of  the  sentiments  and  those  cosmopolitan  principles  before 
which  national  frontiers  and  rivalries  disappear — a  man  essen- 
tially of  his  country,  but  still  more  a  man  of  his  time." 
His  sole  aim  was  to  guard  against  the  calamity  of  war;  to 
prevent  needless  and  nonsensical  expenditure  in  armaments ; 
to  plant  deep  in  the  tenacious  ground  of  commercial  sympathy  a 
rock  for  the  foot  of  peace;  to  promote  frugality,  and  induce  his 
countrymen  to  reflect  and  form  their  own  judgments;  for  he 
knew  that  there  are  historical  falsehoods  which  are  continually 
kept  alive  by  evil  feelings  and  intentions  which  originally 
produced  them.  Generation  after  generation  they  are  repeated 
with  a  pertinacity  which  no  disappointment  relaxes,  and  with  an 
effrontery  which  nothing  can  abash,  and  which,  therefore,  is  only 
hardened  and  exasperated  by  the  infamy  of  repeated  exposures ; 
and  thus  the  work  of  delusion  and  mischief,  for  which  they  were 
designed,  is  carried  on  through  successive  centuries  and  ages. 
Such  is  to  take  things  for  granted,  to  assent  to  received  notions 
without  examining  them,  to  follow  credulity  instead  of  reason, 
and  to  be  the  incorrigible  slave  of  usage.  This  stays  the 
ripening  of  many  a  useful  measure,  protracting  its  operation  to  a 
distant  date ;  hinders  the  true  policy  of  a  nation  from  being 
followed  up;  and  prevents  legislation  from  keeping  pace  with 
the  circumstances  of  the  age.  It  is  from  the  injurious 
prevalence  of  this  folly  that  in  our  Senate  we  hear  arguments 
maintained  that  are  open  to  refutation  by  the  humblest  capacity 
that  will  give  itself  the  trouble  to  analyse  them. 

There  is  nothing  of  which  society  is  less  tolerant  than 
merit.  The  aristocracy  of  rank  is  cheerfully  acknowledged, 
because  it  is  an  ancient  and  "time-honoured"  convention;  the 
aristocracy  of  wealth  is  allowed,  because  rich  men,  even  un- 
knowingly, and  unwittingly,  benefit  those  who  come  within  the 


392  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1861 

sphere  of  their  activity;  but  for  personal  endowments  there 
is  no  mercy.  The  supremacy  of  merit  is  extorted  from  the 
crowd ;  and  the  aristocracy,  compelled  to  acknowledge  the 
vast  distance  between  itself  and  the  man  of  geniuses  perpetually 
on  the  search  after  some  humiliating  weakness  or  disparity, 
which  may  compensate  for  this  provoking  excellence  and  drag 
back  the  eminent  to  something  like  equality.  The  most 
ordinary  person  could  twit  Cobden  in  later  years  with  un- 
successful private  speculations,  and  accuse  Bright  with  want  of 
foresight  in  opposing  the  Ten  Hours  Bill ;  while  the  forethought, 
the  industry,  and  the  intellectual  strength  of  these  two  men,  are 
matters  for  the  comprehension  of  their  equals  alone.  Both 
of  them  were  remarkable  for  their  reverence  for  common  sense ; 
and  to  this  all  their  maxims  of  government  appealed.  Their 
wisdom  was  the  wisdom  of  Socrates,  practical  rather  than 
speculative,  homely  rather  than  sublime ;  they  acted  upon  the 
principle  that  experience  was  the  best  guide,  and  exposed  the 
folly  of  acting  upon  mere  conjecture. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

THE  CIVIL  WAR  IN  AMERICA. 

The  Attitude  of  the  English  Government — Mr.  Bright's  Advice  to  his  Countrymen— 
Check  to  the  Exportation  of  Cotton — Distress  in  Lancashire — Review  of  the 
Past  History  of  America — The  Cotton  Supply — Mr.  Cobden  with  his  Con- 
stituents— The  Revolt  in  America  Explained — Sympathy  for  America  in 
Lancashire — Working  Men's  Homes — Meeting  of  the  Union  and  Emancipation 
Society — The  Southern  Confederacy. 

IN  the  early  part  of  1861  civil  war  broke  out  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  at  first  it  seemed  likely  to  terminate  in 
the  formation  of  two  separate  Republics  :  one  comprised  of  the 
free  states  of  the  North  and  the  other  of  the  slave  states  of  the 
South.  The  quarrel  arose  through  there  being  a  disposition  in 
the  North  to  abolish  slavery  throughout  the  Union ;  and  the 
election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  was  the  first  anti-slavery 
President,  brought  matters  to  a  climax,  and  South  Cai-olina  took 
the  first  step  towards  secession.  This  movement  was  the  ground 
of  a  long  and  cruel  war.  A  million  of  men,  who  twelve  months 
before  were  peaceful  citizens  of  the  same  country,  were  now 
encamped  under  arms,  and  scheming  to  accomplish  each  other's 
destruction ;  but  of  the  North  it  may  be  said  that  their  cause 
was  just,  for  they  were  determined  to  erase  from  their  national 
annals  the  stain  of  maintaining  slavery. 

There  was  no  puzzle  as  to  which  side  Mr.  Bright  would  ally 
himself  with.  He  was  not  the  man  to  countenance  slavery  in  any 
form,  for  he,  like  the  Sect  to  which  he  belongs,  has  always  been 
the  indefatigable  friend  of  humanity,  and  stood  forth  firmly  in 
favour  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  even  when  they  stood  alone 
to  break  the  strong  rivets  of  the  chain  custom  had  wrought  and 
fashioned  on  a  people  whose  only  fault  was  that  they  were 
"  guilty  of  a  skin  not  coloured  like  their  own/'  It  was  certain 
that  Bright  would  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Clarkson,  Wilber- 
force,  Joseph  Sturge,  William  Allen,  William  Foster,  Joseph 
John  Gurney,  and  Joseph  Gurney  Bevan,  who  merited  the  praise 
of  consistency  in  one  of  the  noblest  causes  of  humanity,  and 
whose  names  will  descend  to  posterity  with  honour. 

The  Quaker  poet,  Whittier,  for  years  animated  a  small  band 
of  abolitionists  with  his  vigorous  poems  against  slavery.  The 
originator  of  the  underground  railway  across  the  State  of  Ohio 
to  the  British  possessions,  by  which  many  thousands  of  slaves 


894  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1861. 

gained  their  freedom,  was  named  Levi  Coffin,  and  he  too  was  a 
Quaker.  In  fact,  the  Society  of  Friends,  for  nearly  a  century 
before  Parliament  abolished  slavery  in  the  English  colonies, 
entered  its  condemnation  upon  their  minutes. 

Lord  John  Russell  announced  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
the  8th  of  May,  that,  after  consulting  the  law  officers  of  the 
Crown,  the  Government  were  of  opinion  that  the  South 
Confederacy  of  America,  according  to  the  principles  which 
appeared  to  be  just,  must  be  recognised  as  a  belligerent  power. 
On  the  13th  appeared  a  proclamation  of  neutrality.  Mr. 
Bright  first  spoke  publicly  on  the  subject  at  a  meeting  of 
his  townsmen  at  Rochdale,  on  the  1st  of  August : — 

"I  advise  you,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "  and  I  advise  the  people  of  England,  to  abstain 
from  applying  to  the  United  States  doctrines  and  principles  which  we  never  apply  to 
our  own  case.  At  any  rate,  they  (the  Americans)  have  never  fought  '  for  the  balance 
of  power '  in  Europe.  They  have  never  fought  to  keep  up  a  decaying  Empire.  They 
have  never  squandered  the  money  of  their  people  in  such  a  phantom  expedition  as 
we  have  been  engaged  in.  And  now,  at  this  moment,  when  you  are  told  that  they 
are  going  to  be  ruined  by  their  vast  expenditure — why,  the  sum  that  they  are  going 
to  raise  in  the  great  emergency  of  this  grievous  war  is  not  greater  than  what  we 
raise  every  year  during  a  time  of  peace.  (Loud  cheers.)  They  say  they  are  not 
going  to  liberate  slaves.  No ;  the  object  of  the  Washington  Government  is  to 
maintain  their  own  constitution  and  to  act  legally,  as  it  permits  and  requires.  No 
man  is  more  in  favour  of  peace  than  I  am ;  no  man  has  denounced  war  more  than  I 
have,  probably,  in  this  country ;  few  men  in  their  public  life  have  suffered  more 
obloquy— I  had  almost  said,  more  indignity — in  consequence  of  it.  But  I  cannot  for 
the  life  of  me  see  upon  any  of  those  principles  upon  which  States  are  governed  now— 
I  say  nothing  of  the  literal  word  of  the  New  Testament— I  cannot  see  how  the  state 
of  affairs  in  America,  with  regard  to  the  United  States  Government,  could  have 
been  different  from  what  it  is  at  this  moment.  We  had  a  heptarchy  in  this  country, 
and  it  was  thought  to  be  a  good  thing  to  get  rid  of  it,  and  have  a  united  nation.  If 
the  thirty- three  or  thirty-four  States  of  the  American  Union  can  break  off  whenever 
they  like,  I  can  see  nothing  but  disaster  and  confusion  throughout  the  whole  of  that 
continent.  I  say  that  the  war,  be  it  successful  or  not,  be  it  Christian  or  not,  be  it 
wise  or  not,  is  a  war  to  sustain  the  Government  and  to  sustain  the  authority  of  a 
great  nation ;  and  that  the  people  of  England,  if  they  are  true  to  their  own 
sympathies,  to  their  own  history,  and  to  their  own  great  act  of  1834,  to  which 
reference  has  already  been  made,  will  have  no  sympathy  with  those  who  wish  to 
build  up  a  great  Empire  on  the  perpetual  bondage  of  millions  of  their  fellow  men." 
(Loud  cheers.) 

One  of  the  serious  results  of  this  unfortunate  war  was  the 
check  it  gave  to  the  export  of  cotton  to  this  country,  and  trade 
in  Lancashire  assumed  a  gloomy  aspect.  Mill  after  mill  was 
compelled  to  adopt  short  time,  which  eventually  resulted  in  an 
entire  cessation  of  production.  The  winter  approached  earlier 
than  usual,  and  the  prospect  was  most  discouraging.  The 
workpeople  of  Rochdale,  although  extensively  employed  in  the 
woollen  manufacture,  suffered  more  than  the  inhabitants  of 
Bolton,  who  were  almost  entirely  engaged  in  cotton,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  Rochdale  was  more  dependent  upon  American 
cotton  than  the  manufacturers  of  Bolton,  who  spin  fine  yarn. 


1861.]  DISTEESS   IN   THE   COTTON   DISTBICTS.  395 

Soup  kitchens  were  early  established  in  the  town,  and  a  com- 
mittee to  take  the  superintendence  and  to  make  a  house-to-house 
visitation  of  the  poor;  and  by  this  means  sufferers  of  a  retiring 
or  independent  disposition  were  sought  out  and  relieved. 

"  True  charity  makes  others'  wants  her  own." 

Now  that  the  workpeople  had  much  leisure  time  on  their 
hands  Messrs.  Bright  Brothers  opened  a  large  room  in  their 
mills  as  a  schoolroom  for  adults,  who  made  satisfactory  progress 
in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  in  other  branches  of  educa- 
tion. Newspapers,  periodicals,  and  books  were  supplied,  and  thus 
the  workpeople  were  enabled  to  spend  the  time  to  advantage. 

As  it  was  found  by  the  Boards  of  Guardians  of  Lancashire, 
Derbyshire,  and  Cheshire  that  the  Minor  Relief  Aid  Act  did 
not  afford  them  sufficient  facilities  for  borrowing  monies  with 
which  to  employ  distressed  persons  on  public  works,  and  as  they 
were  of  opinion  that  the  Government  ought  to  lend  the  requisite 
funds,  under  proper  regulations,  and  security  of  the  rates,  at 
three  and  a-half  per  cent,  interest,  repayable  within  a  period  not 
exceeding  twenty  years,  a  deputation  of  members  of  Boards  of 
Guardians  waited  upon  the  Right  Hon.  C.  P.  Villiers,  the 
President  of  the  Poor  Law  Board.  Mr.  Bright  spoke  on  behalf 
of  the  deputation.  Mr.  Villiers  said  the  cause  had  been  very 
favourably  presented,  and  he  would  give  the  matter  his  serious 
consideration,  and  would  present  it  to  the  other  members  of  the 
Cabinet.  Ultimately  the  Government  agreed  to  find  a  sum  of 
£200,000  to  meet  the  emergency.  This  proved  of  great  service, 
and  the  distressed  were  employed  in  improving  and  repairing  roads 
and  other  public  works. 

A  rupture  between  the  United  States  and  England  was 
nearly  brought  about  in  consequence  of  the  seizure  of  the 
envoys,  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell,on  board  the  Trent,  a  British 
steam-packet ;  but  the  concessions  demanded  by  England  were 
conceded  by  the  Washington  Government. 

A  banquet  was  given  to  Mr.  Bright  by  his  fellow-townsmen 
on  the  4th  of  December,  1861,  in  recognition  of  his  labours  and 
valuable  services  on  all  occasions.  It  was  wished  once  more 
to  receive  from  him  counsel  and  guidance,  and  especially  on  this 
occasion,  concerning  the  critical  position  of  affairs  pi'evailing 
with  respect  to  the  American  civil  war.  The  banquet  was  held 
in  the  Public  Hall.  Mr.  J.  T.  Pagan,  the  Mayor,  presided. 

"  I  am,  as  you  all  know,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "surrounded  at  this  moment  by  my 
neighbours  and  friends,  and  I  may  say,  with  the  utmost  tnith,  that  I  value  the  good 
opinions  of  those  who  now  hear  my  voice  far  beyond  the  opinions  of  any  equal 


,<%  LIFE    AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1861 

number  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  selected  from  any  other  portion  of  it. 
You  have,  by  this  act  of  kindness  that  you  have  shown  me,  given  proof  that,  in  the 
main,  you  do  not  disapprove  of  my  course  and  labours,  that  at  least  you  are  willing 
to  express  an  opinion  that  the  motives  by  which  I  have  been  actuated  have  been 
honest  and  honourable  to  myself,  and  that  that  course  has  not  been  entirely  without 
service  to  my  country.-  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  Seven  years  ago  our  eyes  were  turned 
with  anxious  expectation  to  a  remote  corner  of  Europe,  where  five  nations  were 
contending  in  bloody  strife  for  an  object  which  possibly  hardly  one  of  them  com- 
prehended, and,  if  they  did  comprehend  it,  which  all  sensible  men  amongst  them 
must  have  known  to  be  absolutely  impracticable.  Four  years  ago  we  were  looking 
still  further  to  the  East,  where  there  was  a  gigantic  revolt  in  a  great  dependency  of 
the  British  Crown,  arising  mainly  from  gross  neglect,  and  from  the  incapacity 
of  England,  up  to  that  moment,  to  govern  the  country  which  it  had  known  how  to 
conquer.  Two  years  ago  we  looked  Sputh/to  the  plains  of  Lombardy,  and  saw  a 
great  strife  there,  in  which  every  man  in  England  took  a  strong  interest ;  and  we 
have  welcomed,  as  the  result  of  that  strife,  the  addition  of  a  great  kingdom  to  the 
list  of  European  States.  Now,  our  eyes  are  turned  in  a  contrary  direction,  and  we 
look  to  the  West.  There  we  see  a  struggle  in  progress  of  the  very  highest  interest 
to  England  and  to  humanity  at  large.  We  see  there  a  nation  which  I  shall  call  the 
Transatlantic  English  nation — the  inheritor  and  partaker  of  all  the  historic  glories 
of  this  country.  We  see  it  torn  with  intestine  broils,  and  suffering  from  calamities 
from  which,  for  more  than  a  century  past — in  fact,  for  more  than  two  centuries 
past — this  country  has  been  exempt.  That  struggle  is  of  especial  interest  to  us. 
We  remember  the  description  which  one  of  our  great  poets  gives  of  Rome, — 

'  Lone  mother  of  dead  empires.' 

But  England  is  the  living  mother  of  great  nations  on  the  American  and  on  the 
Australian  continents,  which  promise  to  endow  the  world  with  all  her  knowledge 
and  all  her  civilisation,  and  with  even  something  more  than  the  freedom  she  herself 
enjoys.  (Cheers.)  Eighty-five  years  ago,  at  the  time  when  some  of  our  oldest 
townsmen  were  verv  little  children,  there  were,  on  the  North  American  continent, 
colonies,  mainly  of  Englishmen,  containing  about  three  millions  of  souls.  These 
colonies  we  have  seen  a  year  ago  constituting  the  United  States  of  North  America, 
and  comprising  a  population  of  no  less  than  thirty  millions  of  souls.  (Cheers.) 
.  .  .  If  I  were  to  speak  of  that  country  in  a  religious  aspect,  I  should  say  that, 
considering  the  short  space  of  time  to  which  their  history  goes  back,  there  is  nothing 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  besides,  and  never  has  been,  to  equal  the  magnificent 
arrangement  of  churches  and  ministers,  and  of  all  the  appliances  which  are  thought 
necessary  for  a  nation  to  teach  Christianity  and  morality  to  its  people.  (Cheers.) 
Besides  all  this,  when  I  state  that  for  many  years  past  the  annual  public  expenditure 
of  the  Government  of  that  country  has  been  somewhere  between  £10,000,000  and 
£15,000,000, 1  need  not  perhaps  say  further,  that  there  has  always  existed  amongst 
all  the  population  an  amount  of  comfort  and  prosperity  and  abounding  plenty  such 
as  I  believe  no  other  country  in  the  world,  in  any  age,  has  enjoyed.  (Cheers.) 
This  is  a  very  fine,  but  a  very  true,  picture  ;  yet  it  has  another  side  to  which  I  must 
advert.  There  has  been  one  great  feature  in  that  country,  one  great  contrast,  which 
has  been  pointed  to  by  all  who  have  commented  upon  the  United  States  as  a  feature 
of  danger,  as  a  contrast  calculated  to  give  pain.  There  has  been  in  that  country 
the  utmost  liberty  to  the  white  man,  and  bondage  and  degradation  to  the  black 
man.  Now  rely  upon  it,  that  wherever  Christianity  lives  and  flourishes,  there 
must  grow  up  from  it,  necessarily,  a  conscience  hostile  to  any  oppression  and  to  any 
wrong ;  and  therefore,  from  the  hour  when  the  United  States'  Constitution  was 
formed,  so  long  as  it  left  there  this  great  evil — then  comparatively  small,  but  now 
so  great — it  left  there  seeds  of  that  which  an  American  statesman  has  so  happily 
described,  of  that  'irrepressible  conflict'  of  which  now  the  whole  world  is  the 
witness.  It  has  been  a  common  thing  for  men  disposed  to  carp  at  the  United 
States  to  point  to  this  blot  upon  their  fair  fame,  and  to  compare  it  with  the 
boasted  declaration  of  freedom  in  their  Deed  and  Declaration  of  Independence. 
But  we  must  recollect  who  sowed  this  seed  of  trouble,  and  how  and  by  whom  it 
has  been  cherished.  (Cheers.)  At  this  very  moment,  then,  there  are  millions  in 
the  United  States  who  personally,  or  whose  immediate  parents,  have  at  one  time 
been  citizens  of  this  country.  They  have  found  a  home  in  the  Far  West ;  they 
subdued  the  wilderness ;  they  met  with  plenty  there  which  was  not  afforded  them 
in  their  native  country;  and  they  have  become  a  great  people.  There  may  be 
jK'nonn  in  England  who  are  jealous  of  those  States.  There  may  be  men  who 


1862.]  THE   COTTON   SUPPLY.  39? 

dislike  democracy,  and  who  hate  a  republic ;  there  may  be  even  those  whose 
sympathies  warm  towards  the  slaye  oligarchy  of  the  South.  But  of  this  I  am 
certain,  that  only  misrepresentation  the  most  gross,  or  calumny  the  most  wicked, 
can  sever  the  tie  which  unites  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  this  country  with  their 
friends  and  brethren  beyond  the  Atlantic.  (Cheers.)  Now,  whether  the  Union 
will  be  restored  or  not,  or  the  South  achieve  an  unhonoured  independence  or  not, 
I  know  not,  and  I  predict  not.  But  this  I  think  I  know — that  in  a  few  years,  a 
very  few  years,  the  twenty  millions  of  freemen  in  the  North  will  be  thirty  millions, 
or  even  fifty  millions — a  population  equal  to  or  exceeding  that  of  this  kingdom. 
When  that  time  comes,  I  pray  that  it  may  not  be  said  amongst  them,  that,  in  the 
darkest  hour  of  their  country's  trials,  England,  the  land  of  their  fathers,  looked  on 
with  icy  coldness  and  saw  unmoved  the  perils  and  calamities  of  their  children.  As 
for  me,  I  have  but  this  to  say :  I  am  but  one  in  this  audience,  and  but  one  in  the 
citizenship  of  this  country ;  Uut  if  all  other  tongues  are  silent,  mine  shall  speak  for 
that  policy  which  gives  hope  to  the  bondsmen  of  the  South,  and  which  tends  to 
generous  thoughts,  and  generous  words,  and  generous  deeds,  between  the  two 
great  nations  who  speak  the  English  language  and  from  their  origin  are  alike 
entitled  to  the  English  name."  (Loud  cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  again  spoke  on  the  subject  at  a  banquet  of  the 
Birmingham  Chamber  of  Commerce  on  the  4th  February,  1862, 
presided  over  by  Mr.  George  Dixon,  the  vice-president : — 

"  At  this  moment  the  peril  which  has  been  so  often  foreshadowed  has  come  upon 
us,  and  we  are  falling  upon  the  evil  days  which  some  men  foretold.  Nobody  knew 
when  they  would  come,  or  in  what  shape,  and  unfortunately  very  few  took  any 
steps  whatever  to  prepare  for  those  difficulties  when  they  should  come.  I  speak  on 
this  subject  with  more  knowledge  than  many,  because,  ever  since  I  was  in  the 
House  of  Commons  almost,  I  have  paid  more  than  common  attention  to  this 
question,  and  particularly  with  regard  to  the  probability  of  our  obtaining  supplies 
of  cotton  from  India.  (Hear,  hear.)  In  the  year  1847  I  moved  for  a  select  com- 
mittee to  inquire  into  the  obstacles  to  the  growth  of  cotton  in  India.  That  com- 
mittee was  appointed  in  the  session  of  1848,  and  sat  during  that  session  examining  a 
great  number  of  witnesses,  procured  a  great  amount  of  what  I  believe  to  be  conclu- 
sive and  valuable  evidence,  and  they  agreed  to  a  report  which,  though  not  up  to 
that  time  what  the  evidence  justified,  was  still  a  valuable  report.  In  1850,  as 
nothing  had  been  done  in  consequence  of  that  evidence  and  that  report — for  nothing 
is  done  in  this  country  as  long  as  no  great  catastrophe  happens  (laughter  and 
cheers) — I  moved,  not  for  another  committee  to  take  evidence,  but  for  the 
appointment  of  a  royal  commission,  to  go  to  India,  to  report  upon  the  obstacles 
which  interfered  with  the  growth  of  cotton,  particularly  in  the  Presidencies  of 
Bombay  and  Madras.  But  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Control  opposed  that 
motion  of  mine.  He  repudiated  it.  My  fears,  he  said,  were  not  justified.  He  gave 
me  a  lot  of  statistics  respecting  cotton,  about  which  he  knew  nothing  in  the  world. 
(Laughter.)  The  royal  commission  was  not  issued.  Therefore  it  did  not  proceed  to 
India,  and  therefore  many  of  the  facts  which  I  have  stated  repeatedly,  both  in  and 
out  of  Parliament,  remained  without  that  confirmation  which  they  would  have 
received  had  that  commission  made  its  investigation  in  India.  On  these  occasions  I 
did  not  leave  it  to  be  doubted  what  I  apprehended  would  come  to  Lancashire  some 
day  from  this  cause.  I  pointed  it  out  clearly  on  the  6th  of  May,  1847,  and  on  the 
18th  of  June,  1850.  It  was  no  longsightedness  to  say  or  to  see  what  would  result, 
for  I  took  it  for  granted  every  man  must  have  known,  that  in  a  country,  the  con- 
stitution of  which  declared  as  its  cardinal  point  that  all  men  are  equal,  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery  by  some  means  or  other  must  at  some  period  come  to  an  end,  and 
that  the  organisation  of  labour  in  the  Southern  States  of  America  must  at  least  for  a 
time  be  interfered  with,  if  not  wholly  broken  up.  ...  If  there  had  been  in 
every  district  of  India  a  really  effective  government,  that  could  have  given  a  fair 
chance  to  the  industry  of  the  most  docile  people  in  the  world,  and  to  the  climate, 
and  the  soil  (the  most  favourable  to  everything  we  need),  I  have  not  the  smallest 
doubt  that  at  this  moment  we  might  have  had  whatever  supply  of  cotton  was  neces- 
sary for  the  manufacturers  of  this  country,  even  were  the  cessation  of  the  supply 
from  the  United  States  more  total  and  continued  than  we  hope  it  will  be. 
(Cheers.) 


398  ttPE  AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN  BRIGHT. 

On  the  9th  May,  1862,  in  common  with  other  members  who 
addressed  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr.  Bright  highly  eulogised 
the  patience,  dignity,  and  virtue  which  had  been  exhibited  by 
the  operatives  during  the  distress,  and  expressed  a  hope  that 
these  circumstances  would  not  be  forgotten  when  the  same  class 
should  again  become  candidates  for  political  power.  He  in- 
formed the  House  that  in  the  town  where  he  lived — 

"There  has  been  a  committee  which  has  been  working  with  considerable  success 
— a  committee  for  canvassing  every  street,  and  every  house  where  there  may 
be  anybody  likely  to  require  relief,  and  for  obtaining  the  most  accurate  information 
with  respect  to  their  resources;  and  they  have  made  a  rule  that  wherever  the 
income  of  every  family  has  fallen  short  of  a  certain  sum  per  head  they  will  afford 
the  relief  that  may  be  required.  .  .  .  Depend  upon  it  that,  in  the  '  short  and 
simple  annals  of  the  poor,'  there  is  to  be  found  heroism  not  less  than  that  for  which 
votes  of  this  House  are  given.  (Hear,  hear. )  And  I  trust  that  hereafter  when  we 
eome  to  look  back  on  the  abundant  compliments  which  hon.  members  now  pay  to 
this  population,  there  may  be  some  who  will  change  their  opinion  of  them  and  think 
they  are  not  improper  subjects  of  admission  to  political  power."  (Cheers.) 

If  there  was  then  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  those  hon. 
members  whom  Mr.  Bright  addressed  to  grant  the  boon  of  the 
franchise,  it  reminds  one  that 

"The  road  was  long  from  the  intention  to  the  completion." 

Mr.  Cobden  addressed  his  constituents  on  the  22nd  of 
October  in  the  large  machine  works  of  Alderman  Tatham, 
Milnrow  Road.  Mr.  Bright  was  not  able  to  be  present  through 
business  in  London. 

"The  question  we  have  to  ask  ourselves  is  this,"  said  Mr.  Cobden,  referring  to 
the  civil  war  in  America,  "What  is  the  position  which,  as  a  nation,  we  ought  to 
take  with  reference  to  the  Americans  in  this  dispute  ?  That  is  the  question  which 
concerns  us.  It  is  no  use  our  arauing  as  to  what  is  the  origin  of  the  war,  or 
any  use  whatever  to  advise  these  disputants.  From  the  moment  the  first  shot  is 
fired  or  the  first  blow  is  struck  in  a  dispute,  then  farewell  to  all  reason  and 
argument ;  you  might  as  well  attempt  to  reason  with  mad  dogs  as  with  men  when 
they  have  begun  to  spill  each  others'  blood  in  mortal  combat.  I  was  so  convinced  of 
that  fact  during  the  Crimean  war,  which  you  know  I  opposed — I  was  so  convinced  of 
the  utter  uselessness  of  raising  one's  voice  in  opposition  to  war  when  it  has  once 
begun — that  I  made  up  my  mind  that  as  long  as  I  was  in  political  life,  should  a  war 
again  break  out  between  England  and  a  great  Power,  I  would  never  open  my  mouth 
upon  the  subject  from  the  time  the  first  gun  was  fired  until  the  peace  was  made, 
because,  when  a  war  has  once  commenced,  it  will  only  be  by  the  exhaustion  of  one 
party  that  a  termination  will  be  arrived  at.  If  you  look  back  at  our  history,  what 
did  eloquence,  in  the  persons  of  Chatham  and  Burke,  do  to  prevent  a  war  with  our 
first  American  colonies  ?  What  did  eloquence,  in  the  persons  of  Fox  and  his  friends, 
do  to  prevent  the  French  revolution,  or  bring  it  to  a  close  ?  And  there  was  a.  man 
who,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Crimean  war,  in  terms  of  eloquence,  in  power 
and  pathos  and  argument  equal — I  believe  fitting  to  compare  with  anything  that  fell 
from  the  lips  of  Chatham  or  Burke — I  mean  your  distinguished  townsman,  my 
friend,  Mr.  Bright — (loud  cheers) — and  what  was  his  success?  Why,  they  burnt 
him  in  effigy  for  his  pains.  (Hear,  hear.)  Well,  if  we  are  here  powerless  as 
politicians  to  check  a  war  at  home,  how  useless  and  unavailing  must  it  be  for  me  to 
presume  to  affect  in  the  slightest  degree  the  results  of  the  contest  in  America." 

For  some  time  before  this  date  Mr.  Cobden's  health  was  in  a 
delicate  state,  and  he  had  taken  a  tour  in  Scotland  for  the  pur- 


1862.]  ADVOCATING   THE    CAUSE   OP    THE    NORTH.  39S 

pose  of  recruiting  himself.  Finding  that  he  was  a  little  better, 
he  consented  to  address  his  constituents,  but  it  was  evident  that 
he  had  not  thoroughly  recovered. 

Mr.  Bright,    in   a  speech   at   Birmingham  on   the  18th   of 
December,  1862,  again  spoke  on  the  civil  war  in  America. 

"  I  said — and  my  hon.  friend  has  admitted  this — that  when  the  revolt  or  secession 
was  first  announced,  people  here  were  generally  against  the  South,"  said  Mr.  Bright. 
"  Nobody  thought  then  that  the  South  had  any  cause  for  breaking  up  the  integrity  of 
that  good  nation.  Their  opinion  was,  and  what  people  said,  according  to  their  dif- 
ferent politics  in  this  country  was,  '  They  have  a  Government  which  is  mild,  and 
not  in  any  degree  oppressive  ;  they  have  not  what  some  people  love  very  much,  and 
what  some  people  dislike — they  have  not  a  costly  monarchy,  and  an  aristocracy,  creating 
and  living  on  patronage.  They  have  not  an  expensive  foreign  policy ;  a  great  army ; 
a  great  navy ;  and  they  have  no  suffering  millions  discontented  and  endeavouring  to 
overthrow  their  Government — all  which  things  have  been  said  against  Governments 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe  a  hundred  times  within  our  own  hearing — and  therefore, 
they  said,  '  Why  should  these  men  revolt  ? ' 

"  But  for  a  moment  the  Washington  Government  appeared  paralysed.  It  had  no 
army  and  no  navy ;  everybody  was  traitor  to  it.  It  was  paralysed  and  apparently 
helpless ;  and  in  the  hour  when  the  government  was  transferred  from  President 
Buchanan  to  President  Lincoln,  many  people — such  was  the  unprepared  state  of  the 
North,  such  was  the  apparent  paralysis  of  everything  there — thought  there  would  be 
no  war ;  and  men  shook  hands  with  each  other  pleasantly,  and  congratulated  them- 
selves that  the  disaster  of  a  great  strife,  and  the  mischief  to  our  own  trade,  might  be 
avoided.  That  was  the  opinion  at  that  moment,  so  far  as  I  can  recollect  and  could 
gather  at  the  time,  with  my  opportunities  of  gathering  such  opinion.  They  thought 
the  North  would  acquiesce  in  the  rending  of  the  Republic,  and  that  there  would  be 
no  war. 

"  Well,  but  there  was  another  reason.  They  were  told  by  certain  public  writers 
in  this  country  that  the  contest  was  entirely  hopeless,  as  they  have  been  told 
lately  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  I  am  very  happy  that,  though  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  is  able  to  decide  to  a  penny  what  shall  be  the 
amount  of  taxes  to  meet  public  expenditure  in  England,  he  cannot  decide  what  shall 
be  the  fate  of  a  whole  continent.  It  was  said  that  the  contest  was  hopeless,  and  why 
should  the  North  continue  a  contest  at  so  much  loss  of  blood  and  treasure,  and  at  so 
great  a  loss  to  the  commerce  of  the  whole  world  ?  If  a  man  thought — if  a  man 
believed  in  his  heart  that  the  contest  was  absolutely  hopeless — no  man  in  this  country 
had  probably  any  right  to  form  a  positive  opinion  one  way  or  the  other — but  if  he 
had  formed  that  opinion,  he  might  think, '  Well,  the  North  can  never  be  success- 
ful ;  it  would  be  much  better  that  they  should  not  carry  on  the  war  at  all ;  and 
therefore  I  am  rather  glad  that  the  South  should  have  success,  for  by  that  the  war 
will  be  the  sooner  put  an  end  to.'  I  think  this  was  the  feeling  that  was  abroad.  .  . 
But,  Sir,  the  Free  States  are  the  home  of  the  working  man.  Now,  I  speak  to 
working  men  particularly  at  this  moment.  Do  you  know  that  in  fifteen  years  two 
million  five  hundred  thousand  persons,  men,  women  and  children,  have  left  the 
United  Kingdom  to  find  a  home  in  the  Free  States  of  America  ?  That  is  a  population 
equal  to  eight  great  cities  of  the  size  of  Birmingham.  What  would  you  think  of  eight 
Birminghams  being  transplanted  from  this  country  and  set  down  in  the  United 
States?  Speaking  generally,  every  man  of  these  two  and  a-half  millions  is  in  a 
position  of  much  higher  comfort  and  prosperity  than  he  would  have  been  if  he  had 
remained  in  this  country.  I  say,  it  is  the  home  of  the  working  man ;  as  one  of  her 
poets  has  recently  said — 

'  For  her  free  latch-string  never  was  drawn  in 
Against  the  poorest  child  of  Adam's  kin.' 

And  in  that  hind  there  are  no  six  millions  of  grown  men — I  speak  of  the  Free  States 
—excluded  from  the  constitution  of  their  country  and  its  electoral  franchise ;  there 
you  will  find  a  free  church,  a  free  school,  free  land,  a  free  vote,  and  a  free  career  for 
the  child  of  the  humblest  born  in  the  land.  My  countrymen,  who  work  for  your 
living,  remember  this :  there  will  be  one  wild  shriek  of  freedom  to  startle  all  man- 
kind if  that  American  Republic  should  be  overthrown. 


400  LIFE  AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [is«a 

"  Now  for  one  moment  let  us  lift  ourselves,  if  we  can,  above  the  narrow  circle  in 
which  we  are  all  too  apt  to  live  and  think ;  let  us  put  ourselves  on  an  historical 
eminence,  and  judge  this  matter  fairly.  Slavery  has  been,  as  we  all  know,  the  huge 
foul  blot  upon  the  fame  of  the  American  Republic ;  it  is  a  hideous  outrage  against 
human  right  and  against  Divine  law ;  but  the  pride,  the  passion  of  man,  will  not 
permit  its  peaceable  extinction.  The  slave-owners  of  our  colonies,  if  they  had  been 
strong  enough,  would  have  revolted  too.  I  believe  there  was  no  mode  short  of  a 
miracle  more  stupendous  than  any  recorded  iii  Holy  Writ  that  could  in  our  time,  or 
in  a  century,  or  in  any  time,  have  brought  about  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  America, 
but  the  suicide  which  the  South  has  committed  and  the  war  which  it  has  begun. 

"  I  blame  men  who  are  eager  to  admit  into  the  family  of  nations  a  State  which 
offers  itself  to  us,  based  upon  a  principle,  I  will  undertake  to  say,  more  odious  and 
more  blasphemous  than  was  ever  heretofore  dreamed  of  in  Christian  or  Pagan,  in 
civilised,  or  in  savage  times.  The  leader  of  this  revolt  proposes  this  monstrous  thing 
— that  over  a  territory  forty  times  as  large  as  England  the  blight  and  curse  of 
slavery  shall  be  for  ever  perpetuated.  I  cannot  believe,  for  my  part,  that  such  a  fate 
will  befall  that  fair  land,  stricken  though  it  now  is  with  the  ravages  of  war.  I  can- 
not believe  that  civilisation,  in  its  journey  with  the  sun,  will  sink  into  endless  night 
in  order  to  gratify  the  ambition  of  the  leaders  of  this  revolt,  who  seek  to 

'  Wade  through  slaughter  to  a  throne. 
And  shut  the  gates  of  mercy  on  mankind.' 

I  have  another  and  a  far  brighter  vision  before  my  gaze.  It  may  be  but  a  vision,  but 
I  will  cherish  it.  I  see  one  vast  confederation  stretching  from  the  frozen  North  in 
unbroken  line  to  the  glowing  South,  and  from  the  wild  billows  of  the  Atlantic  west- 
ward to  the  calmer  waters  of  the  Pacific  main — and  I  see  one  people,  and  one  language, 
and  one  law,  and  one  faith,  and,  over  all  that  wide  continent,  the  home  of  freedom, 
and  a  refuge  for  the  oppressed  of  every  race  and  of  every  clime." 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the  second  anniversary  dinner  of 
the  Birmingham  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  was  held  on  the 
15th  of  January,  1863. 

' '  I  see  from  the  East  unto  the  West, ' '  said  Mr.  Bright,  ' '  from  the  rising  of  the  sun 
to  the  going  down  thereof,  in  spite  of  what  misled,  prejudiced,  unjust,  and  wicked 
men  may  do,  the  cause  of  freedom  still  moving  onward ;  and  it  is  not  in  human  power 
to  arrest  its  progress.  There  is  much  to  be  done  in  our  own  country,  but  if  men 
examine  questions  fairly,  and  decide  upon  them  truthfully,  shunning  party  spirit, 
we  may  nave  hope  that  we  shall  do  much  to  elevate  our  people,  to  improve  our 
institutions,  to  make  broader  and  safer  the  foundations  of  our  freedom,  and  to  build 
up  and  preserve  a  commonwealth  which  should  do  much  to  help  forward  the  advance- 
ment of  the  world." 

A  town's  meeting  was  held  in  Rochdale,  on  the  3rd  of  Feb- 
ruary, which  had  been  called  by  the  Mayor,  Mr.  G.  L.  Ashworth, 
in  compliance  with  a  numerously-signed  requisition,  for  the 
purpose  of  passing  resolutions  of  thanks  to  the  merchants  and 
citizens  of  New  York  for  their  sympathy  with  the  sufferings  of 
the  unemployed  workpeople  of  Lancashire,  and  for  their  muni- 
ficent contributions  to  the  funds  for  its  relief.  The  Public  Hall, 
in  which  the  meeting  was  held,  was  crowded.  Mr.  Bright,  in 
the  course  of  his  speech,  remarked  : — 

"  I  regard  this  transmission  of  assistance  from  the  United  States  as  a  proof  that 
the  world  moves  onward  in  the  direction  of  a  better  time.  (Hear,  hear.)  It  is  an 
evidence  that,  whatever  may  be  the  faults  of  ambitious  men,  and  sometimes,  may  I  not 
say,  the  crimes  of  Governments,  the  peoples  are  drawing  together  and  beginning  to 
learn  that  it  never  was  intended  that  they  should  be  hostile  to  each  other,  but  that 
every  nation  should  take  a  brotherly  interest  in  every  other  nation  in  the  world. 


1863.]  MEETING    AT   ST.    JAMES'S   HALL.  40 1 

(Cheers.)  There  has  been,  as  we  all  know,  not  a  little  jealousy  between  some  por- 
tions of  the  people  in  this  country  and  some  portions  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
Perhaps  the  j  ealousy  has  existed  more  on  this  side.  I  think  it  has  found  more  expres- 
sion here,  probably  through  the  means  of  the  public  press,  than  has  been  the  case  with 
them.  I  am  not  alluding  now  to  the  last  two  years,  but  as  long  as  most  of  us  have 
been  readers  of  newspapers  and  observers  of  what  has  passed  around  us.  .  .  .If 
we  are  the  friends  of  freedom,  personal  and  political — and  we  all  profess  to  be  so, 
and  most  of  us,  more  or  less,  are  striving  after  it  more  completely  for  our  country- 
how  can  we  withhold  our  sympathy  from  a  Government  and  a  people  amongst 
whom  white  men  have  always  been  free,  and  who  are  now  offering  an  equal  free- 
dom to  the  black  ?  I  advise  you  not  to  believe  in  the  '  destruction  "of  the  American 
nation.  If  facts  should  happen,  by  any  chance,  to  force  you  to  believe  it,  do  not 
commit  the  crime  of  wishing  it.  (Cheers.)  I  do  not  blame  men  who  draw  different 
conclusions  from  mine  from  the  facts,  and  who  believe  that  the  restoration  of  the 
Union  is  impossible.  As  the  facts  lie  before  our  senses,  so  must  we  form  a  judgment 
on  them.  But  I  blame  those  men  that  wish  for  such  a  catastrophe.  For  myself  I 
have  never  despaired  and  will  not  despair.  In  the  language  of  one  of  our  old  poets, 
who  wrote,  I  think,  more  than  300  years  ago,  I  will  not  despair — 

'  For  I  have  seen  a  ship  in  haven  fall, 
After  the  storm  had  broke  both  mast  and  shroud." 

From  the  very  outburst  of  this  great  convulsion,  I  have  had  but  one  hope  and  one 
faith,  and  it  is  this — that  the  result  of  this  stupendous  strife  may  be  to  make  free- 
dom the  heritage  for  ever  of  a  whole  continent,  and  that  the  grandeur  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  American  Union  may  never  be  impaired."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  speech  at  a  meeting  in  St.  James's 
Hall,  London,  on  the  26th  of  March,  which  had  been  called  by 
the  Trades'  Unions,  to  express  their  sentiments  on  the  Ameri- 
can war  : — 

"Privilege  thinks  it  has  a  great  interest  in  it,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "and  every 
morning,  with  blatant  voice,  it  comes  into  your  streets  and  curses  the  American 
Republic.  Privilege  has  beheld  an  afflicting  spectacle  for  many  years  past.  It 
has  beheld  thirty  millions  of  men,  happy  and  prosperous,  without  emperor,  without 
king,  without  the  surroundings  of  a  court,  without  nobles,  except  such  as  are  made 
by  eminence  in  intellect  and  virtue,  without  State  bishops  and  State  priests — 

'  Sole  vendors  of  the  lore  which  works  salvation,' 

without  great  armies  and  great  navies,  without  great  debts  and  without  great  taxes. 
(Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  Privilege  has  shuddered  at  what  might  happen  to  old  Europe 
if  this  grand  experiment  should  succeed.  But  you,  the  workers — you,  striving  after 
a  better  time — you,  struggling  upwards  towards  the  light,  with  slow  and  painful 
steps— you  have  no  cause  to  look  with  jealousy  upon  a  country  which,  amongst  all 
the  great  nations  of  the  globe,  is  that  where  labour  has  met  with  the  highest  honour, 
and  where  it  has  reaped  its  greatest  reward.  Are  you  aware  of  the  fact  that  in 
fifteen  years,  which  is  but  as  yesterday  when  it  is  past,  two  and  a-half  millions  of 
your  countrymen  have  found  a  home  in  the  United  States — that  a  population  equal 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  to  the  population  of  this  great  city — itself  equal  to  no  mean 
kingdom — has  emigrated  from  these  shores  ?  In  the  United  States  there  has  been, 
as  you  know,  an  open  door  for  every  man — and  millions  have  entered  into  it  and 
have  found  rest.  _?Cheers.)  You  wish  the  freedom  of  your  country.  You  wish  it 
for  yourselves.  You  strive  for  it  in  many  ways.  Do  not  then  give  the  hand  of 
fellowship  to  the  worst  foes  of  freedom  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  and  do  not,  I 
beseech  you,  bring  down  a  curse  upon  your  cause  which  no  after-penitence  can  ever 
lift  from  it.  You  will  not  do  this.  I  have  faith  in  you.  Impartial  history  will  tell 
that,  when  your  statesmen  were  hostile  or  coldly  neutral,  when  many  of  your  rich 
men  were  corrupt,  when  your  press — which  ought  to  have  instructed  and  defended 
— was  mainly  written  to  betray,  the  fate  of  a  continent  and  of  its  vast  population 
being  in  peril,  you  clung  to  freedom  with  an  unfaltering  trust  that  God  in  His  infi- 
nite mercy  will  yet  make  it  the  heritage  of  all  His  children."  (Cheers.) 

A  public  meeting  was  convened  by  the  Union  and  Emanci- 


402  LIFE  AND  TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  ([1863. 

pation  Society  in  the  London  Tavern  on  the  16th  of  June, 
which  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Bright,  and  he  spoke  on  the 
war  in  America  and  the  supply  of  cotton. 

"Now  I  am  going  to  transport  you,  in  mind,  to  Lancashire,"  said  Mr.  Bright, 
• '  and  the  interests  of  Lancashire,  which,  after  all,  are  the  interests  of  the  whole 
United  Kingdom,  and  clearly  of  not  a  few  in  the  metropolis.  What  was  the  con- 
dition of  our  greatest  manufacturing  industry  before  the  war,  and  before  secession 
had  been  practically  attempted  ?  It  was  this :  that  almost  ninety  per  cent,  of  all 
our  cotton  came  from  the  Southern  States  of  the  American  Union,  and  was,  at  least 
nine-tenths  of  it,  the  produce  of  the  uncompensated  labour  of  the  negro. 

"Everybody  knew  that  we  were  carrying  on  a  prodigious  industry  upon  a  most 
insecure  foundation ;  and  it  was  the  commonest  thing  in  the  world  for  men  w_ho 
were  discussing  the  present  and  the  future  of  the  cotton  trade,  whether  in  Parlia- 
ment or  out  of  it,  to  point  to  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  United  States  of  America 
as  the  one  dangerous  thing  in  connection  with  that  great  trade ;  and  it  was  one  of 
the  reasons  which  stimulated  me  on  several  occasions  to  urge  upon  the  Government 
of  this  country  to  improve  the  Government  of  India,  and  to  give  us  a  chance  of 
receiving  a  considerable  portion  of  our  supply  from  India,  so  that  we  might  not  be 
left  in  absolute  want  when  the  calamity  occurred,  which  all  thoughtful  men  knew 
must  some  day  come,  in  the  United  States. 

"Now,  I  maintain  that  with  a  supply  of  cotton  mainly  derived  from  the 
Southern  States,  and  raised  by  slave  labour,  two  things  are  indisputable :  first,  that 
the  supply  must  always  be  insufficient ;  and  second,  that  it  must  always  be  insecure. 
Perhaps  many  of  you  are  not  aware  that  in  the  United  States — I  am  speaking  of  the 
Slave  States,  and  the  cotton-growing  States— the  quantity  of  land  which  is  culti- 
vated for  cotton  is  a  mere  garden,  a  mere  plot,  in  comparison  with  the  whole  of  the 
cotton  region.  I  speak  from  the  authority  of  a  report  lately  presented  to  the  Boston 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  containing  much  important  information  on  this  question :  and 
I  believe  that  the  whole  acreage,  or  the  whole  breadth  of  the  land  on  which  cotton  is 
grown  in  America,  does  not  exceed  ten  thousand  square  miles — that  is,  a  space  one 
hundred  miles  long  and  one  hundred  miles  broad,. or  the  size  of  two  of  our  largest 
counties  in  England ;  but  the  land  of  the  ten  chief  cotton-producing  States  is  sixty 
times  as  much  as  that,  being,  I  believe,  about  twelve  times  the  size  of  England  and 
Wales.  .  .  .  You  do  not  suppose  that  those  beautiful  States,  those  regions  than 
which  earth  offers  nothing  to  man  more  fertile  and  more  lovely,  are  shunned  by  the 
enterprising  population  of  the  North  because  they  like  the  rigours  of  a  Northern 
winter  and  the  greater  changeableness  of  the  Northern  seasons?  Once  abolish 
slavery  in  the  South,  and  the  whole  of  the  country  will  be  open  to  the  enterprise  and 
to  the  industry  of  all.  And,  more  than  that,  when  you  find  that  only  the  other  day 
not  fewer  than  four  thousand  emigrants,  most  of  them  from  the  United  Kingdom, 
landed  in  one  day  in  the  city  of  New  York,  do  you  suppose  that  all  those  men  would 
go  north  and  west  at  once  ?  Would  not  some  of  them  turn  their  faces  southwards, 
and  seek  the  clime  of  the  sun,  which  is  so  grateful  to  all  men ;  where  they  would 
find  a  soil  more  fertile,  rivers  more  abundant,  and  everything  that  Nature  offers 
more  profusely  given,  but  from  which  they  are  now  shut  out  by  the  accursed  power 
which  slavery  exerts  ?  With  freedom  you  would  have  a  gradual  filling  up  of  the 
wildernesses  of  the  Southern  States ;  you  would  have  there,  not  population  only, 
but  capital,  and  industry,  and  roads,  and  schools,  and  everything  which  tends  to 
produce  growth,  wealth,  and  prosperity. 

"  I  maintain — and  I  believe  my  opinion  will  be  supported  by  all  those  men  who 
are  most  conversant  with  American  affairs — that,  with  slavery  abolished,  with  free- 
dom firmly  established  in  the  South,  you  would  find  in  ten  years  to  come  a  rapid 
increase  in  the  growth  of  cotton ;  and  not  only  would  its  growth  be  rapid,  but  its 
permanent  increase  would  be  secured. 

"  I  said  I  was  interested  in  this  great  question  of  cotton.  I  come  from  the  midst 
of  the  great  cotton  industry  of  Lancashire ;  much  the  largest  portion  of  anything  I  have 
in  the  world  depends  upon  it ;  not  a  little  of  it  is  now  utterly  valueless  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  war.  My  neighbours,  by  thousands  and  scores  of  thousands,  are 
suffering,  more  or  less,  as  I  am  suffering ;  and  many  of  them,  as  you  know — more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  them — have  been  driven  from  a  subsistence  gained  by 
their  honourable  labour  to  the  extremest  poverty,  and  to  a  dependence  upon  the 
charity  of  their  fellow-countrymen.  My  interest  is  the  interest  of  all  the  popu- 
lation. 


186S.]  ME.    ROEBUCK'S   MOTION.  403 

"My  interest  is  against  a  mere  enthusiasm,  a  mere  sentiment,  a  mere  visionary 
fancy  of  freedom  as  against  slavery.  I  am  speaking  now  as  a  matter  of  business. 
I  am  glad  when  matters  of  business  go  straight  with  matters  of  high  sentiment  and 
morality,  and  from  this  platform  I  declare  my  solemn  conviction  that  there  is  no 
greater  enemy  to  Lancashire,  to  its  capital  and  to  its  labour,  than  the  man  who 
wishes  the  cotton  agriculture  of  the  Southern  States  to  be  continued  under  the 
conditions  of  slave  labour." 

Mr.  Roebuck  introduced  a  motion  into  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, on  the  30th  of  June,  in  recognition  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  and  Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  most  eloquent  speech. 
He  said : — 

"I  want  to  know  whether  you  feel  as  I  feel  upon  this  question.  When  I  can 
get  down  to  my  home  from  this  House,  I  find  half  a  dozen  little  children  playing 
upon  my  hearth.  (Cheers.)  How  many  members  are  there  who  can  say  with  me, 
that  the  most  innocent,  the  most  pure,  the  most  holy  joy,  which  in  their  past  years 
they  have  felt,  or  in  their  future  years  they  hope  for,  has  not  arisen  from  contact 
and"  association  with  our  precious  children?  (Loud  cheers.)  "Well,  then,  if  that  be 
so — if,  when  the  hand  of  death  takes  one  of  those  flowers  from  our  dwelling,  our 
heart  is  overwhelmed  with  sorrow  and  our  household  is  covered  with  gloom,  what 
would  it  be  if  our  children  were  brought  up  to  this  infernal  system — one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  of  them  every  year  brought  into  the  world  in  these  Slave  States, 
amongst  these  'gentlemen,'  amongst  this  '  chivalry,'  amongst  these  men  that  we  can 
make  our  friends  ?  Do  you  forget  the  thousandfold  griefs  and  the  countless  agonies 
which  belonged  to  the  silent  conflict  of  slavery  before  the  war  began  ?  (Hear,  hear. ) 
It  is  all  very  well  for  the  honourable  and  learned  gentleman  to  tell  me,  to  tell  this 
House— he  will  not  tell  the  country  with  any  satisfaction  to  it — that  slavery,  after 
all,  is  not  so  bad  a  thing.  The  brother  of  my  honourable  friend  the  member  for 
South  Durham  told  me  that  in  North  Carolina  he  himself  saw  a  woman  whose  every 
child,  ten  in  number,  had  been  sold  when  they  grew  up  to  the  age  at  which  they 
would  fetch  a  price  to  their  master.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  We  know  the  cause  of  this 
revolt,  its  purposes  and  its  aims.  (Hear,  hear.)  Those  who  made  it  have  not  left  us 
in  darkness  respecting  their  intentions,  but  what  they  are  to  accomplish  is  still  hid- 
den from  our  sight ;  and  I  will  abstain  now,  as  I  have  always  abstained  with  regard 
to  it,  from  predicting  what  is  to  come.  I  know  what  I  hope  for,  and  what  I  shall 
rejoice  in,  but  I  know  nothing  of  future  facts  that  will  enable  me  to  express  a  con- 
fident opinion.  (Hear,  hear.)  Whether  it  will  give  freedom  to  the  race  which 
white  men  have  trampled  in  the  dust,  and  whether  the  issue  will  purify  a  nation 
steeped  in  crimes  committed  against  that  race,  is  known  only  to  the  Supreme. 
(Hear,  hear.)  In  His  hands  are  alike  the  breath  of  man  and  the  life  of  States.  I 
am  willing  to  commit  to  Him  the  issue  of  this  dreadful  contest ;  but  I  implore  of  Him, 
and  I  beseech  this  House,  that  my  country  may  lift  not  hand  or  voice  in  aid  of  the 
most  stupendous  act  of  guilt  that  history  has  recorded  in  the  annals  of  mankind." 
(Loud  cheers.) 

Mr.  Roebuck's  speech  received  well-merited  rebuke  from  all 
parts  of  the  House,  and  particularly  from  Mr.  Bright,  whose 
scathing  satire  doubtless  contributed  to  make  him  withdraw  his 
motion. 

The  members  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce 
forwarded  to  Mr.  Bright,  throi.  ii  the  American  Minister  in 
London,  a  resolution  which  had  been  unanimously  passed  at 
one  of  their  meetings,  and  was  to  the  effect — 

"  That  this  Chamber  desires  to  place  on  its  records  an  expression  of  grateful 
sense  entertained  by  its  members  of  the  intelligent,  eloquent,  just,  and  fearless 
manner  in  which  Mr.  John  Bright  has  defended,  before  the  people  of  England  in 
the  British  Parliament,  the  pnnciples  of  constitutional  liberty  and  international 

A   A    2 


404  LITE   AND   TIMES  OF  JOHN   BRIGHT. 

justice  for  the  maintenance  of  which  the  American  people  are   contending,  and 
that  the  proceedings  be  communicated  to  Mr.  Bright." 

Mr.  Bright  acknowledged  the  compliment. 

Mr.  Page,  a  wealthy  merchant  from  New  York,  and  an 
enthusiastic  friend  of  Sunday  Schools,  while  addressing  the 
scholars  of  Gravel  Lane  Ragged  School,  Salford,  made  the  fol- 
lowing interesting  statement.  He  said  : — 

"  If  you  were  to  ask  in  the  schools  of  America,  '  Who  are  the  three  men,  whom 
as  a  country,  we  love  the  most  ? '  they  would  reply  :  First,  Washington,  because  he 
was  the  father  of  his  country ;  second,  Abraham  Lincoln,  because  he  was  the  saviour 
of  his  country ;  third — and  this  with  cheers — John  Bright,  because  he  is  the  friend 
of  the  working  men." 

President  Lincoln's  gold-headed  staff,  which  his  family 
bequeathed  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Smith,  U.S.  Consul  at  Dundee, 
was  presented  to  Mr.  Bright  in  the  following  terms  : — 
"  Bequeathed  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smith,  U.S.  Consul,  Dundee, 
to  the  Rt.  Hon.  John  Bright,  M.P.,  in  recognition  of  his  tried 
friendship  to  the  United  States." 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

ME.    COBDEN'S   CLOSING   DAYS. 

» 

Messrs.  Bright  and  Cobden  at  a  Public  Meeting  in  Rochdale— Bright' s  Address 
to  his  Constituents  in  January,  1864 — Capital  Punishment  —  The  Atlantic 
Telegraph — The  Permissive  Bill— Mr.  Cobden's  last  Address  at  Rochdale- 
Opening  of  the  Birmingham  New  Exchange — Mr.  Bright  Addresses  his  Con- 
stituents— Mr.  Cobden  again  refuses  to  take  Office — Defence  of  Canada — Mr. 
Cobden's  Journey  to  London — His  Illness  and  Death — Scene  in  the  House- 
Reminiscences  of  the  departed  Statesman — The  Funeral. 

MR.  BRIGHT  accompanied  Mr.  Cobden,  on  the  24th  of 
November,  1863,  to  a  meeting-  of  his  constituents  in  the 
spacious  machine  works  of  Mr.  John  Robinson,  in  Fishwick 
Street,  which  accommodated  about  4,000  persons.  The  Mayor, 
Mr.  S.  Stott,  presided.  The  member  for  Rochdale  delivered  a 
splendid  speech,  in  which  he  touched  on  most  of  the  important 
topics  of  the  day.  He  seemed  to  have  a  foreboding-  that  his  life 
was  drawing  near  to  a  close,  for  in  referring  to  the  question 
of  Reform  he  said  sorrowfully,  "  But  I  am  not  sure  that  I  shall 
live  to  be  able  to  afford  you  much  help  in  the  matter."  This 
remark  threw  a  transient  gloom  over  the  sea  of  human  faces 
assembled  before  him,  and  the  expressions  that  played  over  them 
seemed  as  if  to  say, 

"  O  grant  that  day  may  claim  our  sorrows  late." 

Mr.  Bright,  in   his  speech,  confined  himself  exclusively  to 
domestic  reforms. 

"Now,  since  1830,"  observed  Mr.  Bright,  "the  wheel  has  been  entirely  turned 
round,  and  the  Whigs  have  been  for  the  most  part  at  the  bottom.  Now,  the  Whigs 
when  they  are  in  office  are  not  precisely  the  same  kind  of  people  that  they  are  when 
they  are  put  of  .office.  (Laughter.)  Their  contentment  is  something  wonderful. 
They  believe  that  the  constitution  has  then  attained  its  highest  excellence.  I 
recollect  one  of  their  own  writers  describes  them,  and  uses  some  lines  which  I  once 
quoted  a  good  many  years  ago,  but  did  not  quote  against  the  Whigs  then,  but  was 
obliged  to  make  a  little  change  to  make  them  applyto  somebody  else.  (Laughter.) 
But  he  was  speaking  of  this  contentment  of  the  Whigs  when  they  got  into  office, 
and  he  said — 

'  As  bees  on  flowers  alighting  cease  their  hum, 
So,  settling  into  places,  Whigs  are  dumb.' 

(Laughter.)  ....  Look  at  the  power  which  the  United  States  have  developed. 
They  have  maintained  now  for  nearly  three  years  the  most  gigantic  struggle  ever 
undertaken  by  any  nation  ;  they  have  brought  more  men  into  the  field,  built  more 
ships  for  their  navy,  they  have  shown  greater  resources  than,  I  will  undertake  to 
Kiiy.  any  nation  in  Europe  is  at  this  moment  capable  of.  Look  at  the  order  which 
has  prevailed.  Their  elections,  at  which  as  you  see  by  the  papers  50,000  or  100,000 


40fi  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN  BRIGHT. 

or  »  quarter  of  a  million  persons  vote  in  a  given  State,  are  conducted  with  less 
disorder  than  you  have  seen  lately  in  three  of  the  smallest  boroughs  in  England  — 
Bainstaple,  Windsor,  and  Andover.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  Look  at  their 
industry.  Notwithstanding  this  terrific  struggle,  their  agriculture,  their  manu- 
factures, and  commerce  proceed  with  an  uninterrupted  sweep,  and  they  are  ruled  by 
a  President,  not  chosen  it  is  true  from  some  worn-out  royal  or  noble  blood,  but  from 
the  people,  and  whose  truthfulness  and  spotless  honour  have  gained  him  universal 
praise.  (Enthusiastic  cheers.)  And  now,  Sir,  this  country,  that  has  been  thus 
vilified  through  half  the  organs  of  the  press  in  England  during  the  last  three 
years,  and  has  been  pointed  at,  too,  as  an  example  to  be  shunned  by  many  of  your 
statesmen— this  country,  now  in  mortal  strife,  affords  a  haven  and  a  home  for  mul- 
titudes flying  from  the  burdens  and  neglect  of  the  old  Governments  of  Europe. 
(Cheers.)  Auji  when  this  mortal  strife  is  over,  when  peace  is  restored,  when  slavery 
is  destroyed,  when  the  Union  is  cemented  afresh — for  I  would  say  in  the  language 
of  one  of  her  own  poets,  addressing  his  country — 

'  The  grave's  not  dug  where  traitor  hands  shall  lay 
In  fearful  haste  thy  murdered  corpse  away.' 

— (enthusiastic  cheers) — then  Europe  and  England  may  learn  that  an  instructed 
democracy  is  the  surest  foundation  of  government,  and  that  education  and  freedom 
are  the  only  sources  of  true  greatness  and  true  happiness  among  any  people. 
(Enthusiastic,  general,  and  prolonged  cheering.) 

This  speech  of  Mr.  Brighfs  extended  over  three  columns 
and  a-half  of  the  newspapers,  and  it  was  considered  one  of  the 
finest  and  most  perfect  as  a  work  of  art.  It  sparkled  with  sar- 
casms, was  clear  and  fiery,  its  sentences  were  terse  and  energetic, 
and  its  picturesque  phrases  and  poetic  imagery  brilliant. 

In  their  speeches  both  Bright,  and  Cobden  referred  to  the 
land  question.  The  Times,  in  commenting  on  their  utterances  in 
a  leading  article,  accused  them  of  inciting  discontent  amongst 
the  poor,  and  proposing  a  spoliation  of  the  owners  of  land.  Mr. 
Cobden,  without  consulting  Mr.  Bright,  at  once  in  a  letter 
charged  the  editor  of  the  Times  with  committing  a  gross  literary 
outrage,  and  it  led  to  a  lengthy  controversy  between  Mr.  Cobden 
and  Mr.  John  T.  Delane,  who  had  put  a  wrong  construction  on 
the  passages,  and  who  afterwards  disavowed  the  imputation. 

Mr.  Bright  addressed  his  constituents  in  the  Birmingham 
Town  Hall,  on  the  26th  of  January  1864,  under  the  presidency 
of  the  Mayor.  He  spoke  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  in  one 
part  of  his  speech  he  said  : — 

' '  What  I  propose  is  this— it  is  nothing  that  I  have  not  stated  before — it  is  the  most 
moderate  thing  that  can  be  proposed.  If  you  want  to  see  an  admirable  description 
of  what  I  think  it  w_ould  be  wise  to  do,  you  will  find  it  in  a  paper  which  certainly  is 
not  very  Radical — is  rather,  in  my  opinion,  though  conducted  with  considerable 
ability,  conceited  in  some  of  its  criticisms  upon  us — I  mean  the  Spectator.  There 
was  an  article  on  Saturday  last  in  this  paper  on  the  subject  of  laud  laws  in  New 
York,  and  although  there  are  only  three  or  four  lines  about  New  York  in  the  article, 
that  does  not  matter,  for  it  is  admirably  written.  In  one  place  it  reads  as  follows : 
— '  No  doubt  Mr.  Bright  would  consider  this  not  sufficient  change  for  the  purposes 
he  wishes.'  He  is  quite  mistaken.  The  changes  which  he  proposes  are  more  exten- 
sive than  any  changes  I  have  ever  proposed,  either  in  public  or  in  private.  What 
are  these  changes  ?  First  of  all,  that  the  law  shall  declare  that  when  any  person 
owning  property  dies  without  making  a  distribution  of  it  by  will,  the  law  shall  dis- 
tribute it  upon  the  same  principle  that  it  now  adopts  when  it  divides — I  am  now 


1864.]  THE    LAND    TAWS.  407 

speaking  of  landed  property — any  other  kind  of  property.  For  example  :  Suppose 
a  man  has  got  money  in  the  bank — I  wish  everybody  had — suppose  he  has  machinery 
iii  his  mill,  merchandise  iu  his  warehouse,  ships  upon  the  ocean,  or  that  he  has 
shares,  or  the  parchments  for  them,  in  his  safe — if  he  dies,  the  Government  by  the 
law,  or  rather  the  law  itself,  makes  a  distribution  of  all  that  property  amongst  all 
his  children,  in  accordance  with  the  great  universal  law  of  natural  parental  affection 
and  justice.  Then,  I  say,  let  that  principle  be  extented  to  all  the  property  which  a 
man  may  die  possessed  of ;  and,  so  far  as  that  goes,  I  want  no  further  change. 
Then,  with  regard  to  the  question  of  entails,  I  would  say  this  :  the  Spectator  pro- 
poses that  a  man,  by  entailing  his  property — so  far,  as  I  can  understand — shall  only 
prevent  himself  and  his  next  heir  fro_in  disposing  of  it — that  there  shall  be,  in  point 
of  fact,  only  two  persons  in  the  entail.  Now,  what  I  propose  is,  that  a  man  may 
leave  his  property  to  as  many  persons  as  he  likes,  to  A,  B,  C,  D,  and  E  and  F,  and 
so  on  all  through  the  alphabet,  if  they  are  all  alive  at  the  time  he  makes  his  will, 
and  he  can  put  all  their  names  into  it.  But  at  present  he  can  leave  it  to  theso 
people,  and  to  a  child  then  unborn,  and  who  shall  not  be  bom,  it  may  be,  till 
twenty  years  after  he  has  made  his  will.  I  would  cut  that  off.  I  contend  that  it 
should  be  left  to  persons  who  are 'in  existence,  and  whose  names  are  in  the  will,  and 
you  will  find  that  as  A,  B,  and  C  died  it  would  finally  come  into  the  hands  of  a 
man  who  would  have  the  absolute  disposal  of,  and  who  could  keep,  or  sell,  or  give, 
or  waste  as  he  pleased. 

"And  I  believe  it  will  be  much  better  for  the  public  when  that  freedom  of 
transfer  is  given  to  the  possessors  of  land  which  is  given  to  the  possessors  of 
every  kind  of  property.  If  I  were  to  sit  down  for  ten  minutes  and  a  lawyer 
were  to  take  my  place,  he  could  tell  you  what  a  trouble  our  law  is:  and— 
although  I  am  sorry  that  some  of  them  think  that  they  make  a  good  thing  out, 
of  it— what  a  curse  it  is  to  a  man  who  buys  landed  property  or  who  sells  it.  Every- 
thing which  I  am  proposing  is  carried  out,  I  believe,  through  most  of  the  States  in 
the  American  Union,  and  to  a  greater  extent  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and  is  being 
adopted  in  the  Australian  colonies.  It  is  the  most  curious  thing  in  the  world,  that 
whenever  an  Englishman  leaves  these  shores— whether  it  is  the  effect  of  the  salt  air, 
or  of  sea-sickness,  or  the  result  of  that  prolonged  meditation  which  a  voyage  of  some 
weeks'  duration  invites,  I  do  not  know — but  whenever  an  Englishman  leaves  these 
shores,  the  effect  is  to  peel  off,  not  the  rags  of  his  body,  but  the  verminous  rags  from 
his  intellect  and  soul.  He  leaves  behind  him  in  England  all  the  stupidity  which  some 
of  us  cherish,  and  he  lands  in  Australia  with  his  vision  so  clear,  that  h'e  can  see 
things  in  a  common-sense  manner.  .  .  .  When  a  man  looks  upon  those  children 
that  make  even  in  the  poorest  house  sometimes  a  gleam  of  joy,  when  he  thinks  what 
those  boys  and  girls  must  be  in  this  country — never  to  rise  one  step  higher  than  that 
which  he  occupies  now  as  an  agricultural  labourer  and  when  he  looks  abroad  and 
he  sees  them  not  labourers  in  the  sense  we  use  the  word  here — not  tenants  even,  but 
freeholders,  and  landowners,  and  farmers  of  their  own  property,  then,  I  say,  the 
temptation  held  out  to  men  here  to  emigrate— if  men  knew  all  the  facts — would  be 
irresistible  to  hundreds  of  thousands  who  have  now  no  thought  of  moving  to  another 
country.  .  .  .  There  is,  you  know,  a  great  tendency  to  large  farms  through- 
out this  country,  which  makes  it  still  more  difficult  for  a  labourer  even  to  become 
a  tenant,  or  ever  to  rise  from  the  condition  he  is  in.  I  think  travellers  tell  us  there 
is  a  tribe  in  Africa  so  given  to  superstition  that  they  fill  their  huts  and  hovels  with 
so  many  idols  that  they  do  not  even  leave  room  for  their  families.  It  may  be  so  in 
this  country,  that  we  build  up  a  system  which  is  detrimental  to  our  political  freedom 
and  is  destructive  of  the  best  interests  of  the  great  mass  of  our  producing  and 
working-classes.  (Cheers.)  Now,  am  I  the  enemy  of  any  class  because  I  come 
forward  to  state  facts  like  these  and  to  explain  principles  such  as  these  ?  (Cheers.) 
Shall  we  go  on  groping  continually  in  the  dark  and  making  no  effort  to  show 
them  our  position?  Do  not  suppose  because  I  stand  here  oftener  to  find  fault  with 
the  laws  of  our  country  than  to  praise  them,  that  I  am  less  English  or  less  patriotic, 
or  that  I  have  less  sympathy  with  my  countrymen  than  other  men  have.  (Cheers.) 
I  want  our  country  to  be  populous,  to  be  powerful,  and  to  be  happy ;  but  this  end 
can  be  attained,  and  it  never  has  been  attained  in  any  country,  only  by  just 
laws,  justly  administered.  I  plead  only  for  what  I  think  to  be  just.  I  wish  to  do 
wrong  to  no  man.  For  25  years  I  have  stood  before  audiences — great  meetings  of 
my  countrymen — pleading  only  for  justice.  (Great  cheering.)  During  that  time, 
as  you  know,  I  have  endured  numberless  insults,  have  passed  through  hurricanes  of 
abuse.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  my  clients  have  not  generally  been  the  rich  and  the 
great,  but  the  poor  and  the  lowly.  They  cannot  give  me  place,  and  dignities, 


408  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1864. 

and  wealth,  but  their  honourable  service  is  of  far  higher  and  more  lasting  value  — 
the  consciousness  that  I  have  been  expounding  and  upholding  laws,  which,  though 
they  were  not  given  amid  the  thunders  of  Sinai,  are  not  the  less  the  commandments 
of  God,  and  not  the  less  intended  to  promote  and  secure  the  happiness  of  men.'' 
(Prolonged  and  enthusiastic  cheers.) 

On  January  29th,  1864,  Mr.  Bright  was  entertained  at  a 
soiree  at  the  Royal  Hotel,  Birmingham,  and  in  responding  to  a 
toast,  "  Success  to  the  patriotic  labours  of  the  members  of  this 
borough,"  he  said  : — 

"  It  is  the  very  existence  of  grievances  which  calls  me  from  the  quiet  of  my 
home  and  from  the  pursuits  of  my  own  family ;  and  whenever  I  find  that  there  is 
nothing  for  me  to  do  but  to  say  what  a  happy  people  we  are,  and  how  delightful  it  is 
to  be  under  the  government  of  Lord  Palmerston  and  bis  Whig  colleagues,  then  I  can 
assure  you  that  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  saying  that.  I  shall  leave  you  to  find  it 
out  and  shall  stay  at  home.  (Cheers.)  But  still  there  is  a  bright  side  in  the  prospects 
of  England,  and  you  may  see  some  of  it  probably,  L-oking  forward,  and  you  may  see  a 
good  deal  of  it  looking  backward.  The  bright  side  of  the  history  of  the  country,  so 
long  as  I  have  been  able  to  take  any  part  in  it,  is  that  side  on  which  are  delineated 
the  changes  that  have  taken  place — changes  which  I,  at  any  rate,  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  knowing  that  I  have  supported,  and  changes  which  no  doubt  many  of  those. 
who  wish  me  to  speak  in  a  different  tone  have  to  the  utmost  of  their  power  opposed. 
(Hear,  hear.).  .  .  A  very  eminent  writer,  not  long  ago,  said  that  England,  to  a 
very  large  extent,  was  still,  as  it  were,  fettered  in  the  grave-clothes  of  the  middle  ages. 
We  have  a  competition  to  run  with  other  nations,  and  most  closely  of  all  with  that 
nation  now  distracted  and  in  the  throes  of  a  great  revolution.  But  we  have  within 
our  shores,  and  within  the  limits  of  these  islands,  a  great  and  noble  people.  (Cheers.) 
We  have  within  us  the  elements  of  a  nation  far  greater  in  the  future  than  anything 
we  have  been  in  the  past,  even  in  the  most  renowned  and  most  glorious  pages  of 
history.  We  can  set  ourselves  free  from  prejudices,  and  as  it  were  from  the  darkness 
of  the  past.  We  can  give  to  our  people  education.  We  can  open  up  to  them  new 
sources  of  industry.  We  can  reduce  the  expenditure  of  our  government.  We  can 
invite  another  million  or  two  within  the  pale  of  the  constitution,  and  taking  them  by 
the  hand  ask  counsel  of  them  that  we  may  assist  each  other  in  the  wise  government 
of  this  great  nation.  (Cheers.)  All  this  we  can  do,  and  all  that  it  wants  is  that  in 
working  out  our  political  problems  we  should  take  for  our  foundation  that  which 
recommends  itself  to  our  consciences  as  just  and  moral.  I  have  not  the  slightest 
regard  for  your  statesmanship  that  is  divorced  from  the  morality  which  we  said  ought 
to  guide  us  in  our  private  life,  and  which  we  should  gather,  for  a  nation  as  for  indi- 
viduals, from  the  religion  which  we  profess.  Time,  persistent  labour,  and  fidelity  to 
the  great  principles  which  we  hold  and  believe  in — (cheers) — this  will  certainly  give 
us  the  victory  over  existing  evils,  as  similar  qualities  and  similar  conduct  have 
given  the  victories  I  have  described  to  you  in  the  sketch  which  I  have  made." 
(Cheers). 

A  young  man  of  position,  named  Townley,  this  year  was  sen- 
tenced to  death  for  the  murder  of  his  sweetheart  named  Goodwin, 
who  had  broken  off  the  engagement.  A  report  made  under  the 
Lunacy  Act,  to  the  effect  that  Townley  was  insane,  was  submitted 
to  the  Home  Secretary,  Sir  George  Grey,  who  commuted  the 
sentence  to  penal  servitude  for  life,  although  another  medical 
report  declared  that  he  was  perfectly  sane.  About  the  same  time 
a  man  named  Wright  murdered  his  wife  in  London,  and  he 
pleaded  guilty  of  the  crime,  and  urged  in  his  defence  that  the 
unfortunate  womanhad  threatened  to  take  his  life.  The  public  con- 
trasted these  two  murders,  and  got  impressed  with  the  idea  that 


1864.]  CAPITAL    PUNISHMENT.  409 

the  one  criminal  was  reprieved  because  of  his  high  position,  while 
the  other — the  poor  man — was  executed.  This  general  impression 
was  unjust,  for  Townley  was  really  insane,  as  his  subsequent 
suicide  evidenced.  Accordingly,  Sir  George  Grey  introduced  a 
Bill  for  the  amendment  of  the  Insane  Prisoners'  Act,  for  the 
purpose  of  preventing  a  recurrence  of  such  difficulties  as  had  pre- 
sented themselves  in  the  cases  of  Townley  and  Wright.  Mr. 
Bright  took  part  in  the  discussion  on  this  Bill,  and  contended 
that  the  punishment  of  death  was  antagonistic  to  the -best  and 
noblest  sentiments  of  the  noblest  portion  of  the  people.  On  the 
3rd  of  May  Mr.  Ewart  again  brought  forward  his  motion  for  the 
abolition  of  the  punishment  of  death. 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  if  capital  punishment  be  retained,"  said 
Mr.  Bright  in  the  discussion,  "  and  if  it  be  absolutely  necessary  that  there  should  be 
a  crime  called  murder  to  which  capital  punishment  attaches,  it  is  no  less  necessary 
that  there  should  be,  as  there  are  in  some  other  countries,  three  or  four  degrees  of 
manslaughter,  and  that  for  the  highest  degree  of  manslaughter  there  should  be  the 
highest  kind  of  secondary  punishment,  and  that  the  power  should  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  jury  of  determining  what  should  be  the  particular  class  in  which  the 
criminal  should  be  placed.  There  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  necessary  to  be  done.  I 
think  Voltaire  —  who  said  a  good  many  things  that  are  worth  remembering  — 
remarked  that  the  English  were  the  only  people  who  murdered  by  law.  And  Mira- 
beau,  when  in  this  country,  hearing  of  a  number  of  persons  who  had  been  hanged  on 
a  certain  morning,  said,  'The  English  nation  is  the  most  merciless  of  any  that  I  have 
heard  or  read  of.  And  at  this  very  moment,  when  we  have  struck  off  within  the  last 
fifty  years  at  least  a  hundred  offences  which  were  then  capital,  we  remain  still  in 
this  matter  the  most  merciless  of  Christian  countries." 

After  a  long  debate,  the  following  resolution  was  agreed  to  : — 

"  That  an  humble  address  be  presented  to  Her  Majesty,  playing  that  she  will  be 
graciously  pleased  to  issue  a  Royal  Commission  to  inquire  into  the  provisions  and 
operation  of  the  laws  under  which  the  punishment  of  death  is  now  inflicted  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  inflicted  ;  and  to  report  whether  it  is 
desirable  to  make  any  alteration  therein." 

Mr.  Bright  entertains  the  opinion  that  severe  punishments 
and  halters  are  not  the  most  efficacious  means  for  raising  the 
morality  of  a  nation  or  for  preventing  outrages  against  person 
and  property,  but  that  in  proportion  as  a  people  become  well 
instructed  and  comfortable,  so  will  they  become  free  from  crime, 
and  be  happy. 

The  promoters  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company  dined 
together  at  the  Palace  Hotel,  London,  on  the  22nd  >f  April, 
1864,  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Cyrus  Field,  who,  in  proposing 
the  health  of  Mr.  Bright,  expressed  a  wish  that  the  lion,  gentle- 
man would  visit  the  tlnited  States,  where,  he  promised  him,  he 
would  be  received  with  an  ovation  such  as  no  living  man  ever 
received.  The  only  danger  was  that  all  the  male  children  born 
in  the  course  of  the  year  in  which  he  might  so  honour  them  would 


410  LIFE  AND  TIMES   OF   JOHN   HEIGHT.  [IBM. 

be  named  after  him,  and  instead  of  being  Browns  and  Joneses, 
they  would  be  all  John  Brights.     Mr.  Bright  replied  :• — 

"I  might  very  easily  rob  Mr.  Field  of  the  originality  of  the  statement  he  has 
made  of  what  might  happen  were  I  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  United  States.  I  have  in 
the  course  of  time  received  many  letters  from  gentlemen  in  his  country,  and  one  of 
them  did  say  there  were  several  penalties  I  should  have  to  endure  as  the  consequences 
of  my  visit  to  America,  and  one  of  them  was,  he  thought,  that  nearly  all  the  children 
there  would  have  to  be  called  after  me.  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter).  If  this  and 
a  great  many  other  dreadful  things  which  he  thought  would  follow  my  visit  be  true, 
I  am,  I  think,  very  prudent  in  staying  in  this  country.  I  have  never  been  in  America, 
but  for  thirty  years,  which  is  a  long  time  to  look  back  to,  I  have  had  a  strong  wish 
to  go  there,  but  most  of  us  Englishmen  find  so  much  to  do  in  the  conduct  and 
management  of  our  own  regular  business,  that  a  six  months'  absence  is  not  a  thing 
easy  to  accomplish.  .  .  When  the  news  reached  us  that  the  last  cable  was  laid, 
did  it  not  make  a  revolution  and  a  shock  ?  Did  not  every  man  feel  that  a  new  world 
and  a  new  time  were  opened  to  him  ?  It  was,  I  recollect,  just  at  the  time  when  some 
great  work  was  being  inaugurated  at  Cherbourg,  under  the  auspices  of  the  French 
Emperor,  and  which  sank  into  insignificance  compared  with  such  glorious  news,  and 
everybody  felt,  as  everybody  must  have  felt  400  years  ago,  when  the  simple  adven- 
turous sailor  of  Genoa  had  opened  a  new  world  to  the  knowledge  of  mankind.  But 
he  only  discovered  to  Europe  what  I  may  be  permitted  to  call  an  unoccupied  wilder- 
ness, but  this  project  is  one  to  unite  30  millions  of  people  to  the  250  millions  who 
inhabit  this  continent  of  Europe  ;  and  passing  from  the  days  of  Columbus,  I  know  of 
no  event  in  history  comparable  in  grandeur  and  sublimity  (if  we  look  at  its  results) 
with  that  magnificent  enterprise  to  which  Mr.  Field  has  devoted  his  talents  and  his 
life."  (Cheers). 

Mr.  Lawson  moved  the  second  reading  of  the  "  Permissive 
Bill"  on  the  8th  of  June,  and  Captain  Jervis  its  rejection. 
Mr.  Bright  gave  his  opinion  on  the  subject. 

"  I  believe,"  he  remarked,  "  there  are  two  modes  of  remedy :  the  first  of  which 
is  the  improvement  and  instruction  of  the  people — (cheers) — and  the  second,  the 
special  legislation  of  the  House.  Now,  I  am  one  of  those  who  look  rather  to  the 
improvement  and  education  of  the  people — (cheers) — for  a  permanent  remedy,  and 
I  think  it  is  quite  conclusive  that  that  must  be  the  sheet  anchor,  as  it  were,  of  this 
question.  (Hear,  hear.)  There  are  hon.  members  of  this  House  older  than  I  am, 
but  I  am  old  enough  to  remember  when  drunkenness  was  ten  or  twenty  times  more 
common  among  a  particular  class  of  society  than  it  is  at  present.  I  have  been  in 
this  House  twenty  years,  and  during  that  time  I  have  often  partaken  of  the 
hospitality  of  various  members  of  the  House  who  are  in  the  habit  of  inviting  their 
friends  to  dinner,  and  I  must  confess  that,  during  the  whole  of  the  twenty  years,  I 
have  no  recollection  of  having  seen  one  single  person  at  any  gentleman's  table  who 
has  been  in  the  condition  which  would  be  at  all  fairly  described  by  saying  he  was 
drunk.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  And  I  may  say  more — that  I  do  not  recollect 
more  than  two  or  three  occasions  during  that  time  in  which  I  have  observed,  by 
the  utterance,  rapidity  of  talking,  or  perhaps  a  somewhat  recklessness  of  con- 
versation, that  any  gentleman  had  taken  so  much  as  to  impair  his  judgment.  (Hear, 
hear.)  That  is  not  the  state  of  things  which  prevailed  in  this  country  fifty  or  sixty 
years  ago.  (Hear,  hear.)  We  know,  therefore,  as  respects  this  class  of  people, 
who  can  always  have  as  much  of  these  pernicious  articles  as  they  desire  to  have, 
because  the  price  of  them  is  no  object,  that  temperance  has  made  great  way,  and 
if  it  were  possible  to  make  all  classes  in  this  country  as  temperate  as  those  of  whom 
I  have  just  spoken,  we  should  be  amongst  the  very  soberest  nations  of  the  earth." 
(Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  concluded  a  lengthy  speech  by  saying  that  he 
could  not  give  his  vote  in  favour  of  the  Bill.  In  another  speech 
in  1874,  at  the  annual  convocation  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
Mr.  Bright  stated  that  he  would  not  say  he  had  abstained  for 


1864.1  THE    TEMPERANCE    QUESTION.  411 

BO  long  as  35  years,  but  for  34  years — from  the  time  he  became 
a  householder — he  had  not  bought  any  wine  or  spirituous 
liquors  whatever.  He  had  in  his  house  no  decanters,  and  he 
thought  he  had  no  wine-glasses,  and  had  not  had  them  since 
1839,  when  he  took  to  housekeeping.  It  had  cost  him  some 
inconvenience  and  trouble,  but  altogether  he  had  had  no  oc- 
casion to  regret  the  step  he  then  took.  He  did  not  on  this 
account  "profess  to  be  better  than  other  people. 

The  Bill  was  thrown  out  by  a  majority  of  257. 

At  a  meeting  in  Birmingham,  on  the  llth  of  January,  1870, 
Mr.  Bright  again  referred  to  the  subject  of  temperance  by 
saying  :— 

"  It  is  a  fact  that  no  Government,  that  no  administration,  that  no  laws,  and 
that  no  amount  of  industry  or  of  commerce,  that  no  extent  of  freedom,  can  give 
prosperity  and  solid  comfort  in  the  homes  of  the  people,  unless  there  be  in  those 
homes,  economy,  temperance,  and  the  practice  of  virtue.  (Great  cheering.)  This 
is  needful  for  all,  hut  it  is  especially  needful — most  needful  in  some  respects — for 
those  whose  possessions  are  the  least  abundant  and  the  least  secured.  (Hear,  hear.) 
If  we  could  subtract  from  the  ignorance,  the  poverty,  the  suffering,  the  sickness, 
and  the  crime  which  are  now  witnessed  amongst  us,  the  ignorance,  the  poverty, 
the  suffering,  the  sickness,  and  the  crime  which  are  caused  by  one  single— but  the 
most  prevalent — habit  or  vice  of  drinking  needlessly,  which  destroys  the  body,  and 
mind,  and  home,  and  family,  do  we  not  all  feel  that  this  country  would  be  so 
changed,  and  so  changed  for  the  better,  that  it  would  be  almost  impossible  for  us 
to  know  it  again  ?  (Loud  cheers.)  Let  me  then,  in  conclusion,  say  what  is  upon 
my  heart  to  say ;  what  I  know  to  be  true ;  what  I  have  felt  every  hour  of  my 
life  when  I  have  been  discussing  great  questions  affecting  the  condition  of  the 
working  classes.  Let  me  say  this  to  all  the  people  :  that  it  is  by  a  combination  of 
a  wise  Government  and  a  virtuous  people,  and  not  otherwise — mark  that,  and  not 
otherwise — that  we  may  hope  to  make  some  steps  towards  that  blessed  time  when 
there  shall  be  no  longer  complaining  in  our  streets,  and  when  our  garners  shall  be 
full,  affording  all  manner  of  store."  (Enthusiastic  cheers.) 

In  August,  1864,  two  noble  trees,  three  hundred  feet  high 
and  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  and  sixty  feet  circumference,  grow- 
ing in  "  Big  Grove/'  San  Francisco,  were  christened  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  district  by  the  names  of  "  John  Bright"  and 
"Richard  Cobden,"  out  of  respect  for  the  champions  of  the 
Union  cause  in  England.  Two  oblong  tablets  of  white  California 
marble,  bearing  the  respective  names,  were  fastened  to  the.  trees. 

Mr.  Cobden  addressed  his  constituents  in  Messrs.  Robinsons7 
machine  works,  Fishwick  Street,  Rochdale,  on  the  23rd  of 
November,  1864,  and  about  5,OOU  persons  were  accommodated 
within  that  extensive  building.  Mr.  Alderman  Tatham  occupied 
the  chair.  Mr.  Bright,  on  account  of  the  death  of  his  sou, 
Leonard,  at  Llandudno,  on  the  7th  of  the  same  month,  was 
prevented  from  being  present,  and  at  the  time  of  the  meeting 
was  staying  at  Leamington.  Mr.  Cobden  expressed  the  hope 
that  Mr.  Bright  "  may  take  consolation  by  the  consciousness 
of  the  deep  feeling  of  sympathy  and  sorrow  with  which  his 


412  LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN   HEIGHT.  fi865. 

bereavement  had  been  learned. "  The  absence  of  Mr.  Bright 
threw  a  depressing  influence  over  the  meeting,  and  it  was  quite 
apparent  that  the  sympathetic  feeling  was  general.  Mr. 
Cobden's  speech  ranged  over  the  whole  field  of  political  contro- 
versy, sifted  every  question  of  foreign  and  home  policy,  and 
illuminated  with  the  electric-light  of  genius  even  the  darkest 
recesses  of  the  Schleswig-Holstein  quarrel.  It  was  considered 
a  very  able  speech ;  and  Mr.  Bright,  when  he  read  it,  remarked 
that  he  wondered  how  Cobden  could  make  such  a  speech  when 
times  were  so  dull. 

The  next  evening  Mr.  Cobden  met  about  two  hundred  of  the 
leading  Liberals  of  Rochdale  at  Beechwood,  the  residence  of 
the  late  Mr.  George  Tawke  Kemp,  J.P.,  and,  in  relating  the 
occurrence  to  a  friend,  stated  that  he  spent  the  whole  of  the 
evening  in  shaking  hands  and  incessantly  talking  to  relays  of 
friends,  and  that  he  would  have  been  well  enough  if  he  could 
have  gone  to  bed  for  four-aud-twenty  hours  after  the  speech. 
The  fatigue,  the  exposure,  and  the  worry  of  the  long  homeward 
journey  brought  on  "  nervous  asthma/'  which  so  obstructed  his 
breathing  that  he  could  hardly  move  a  limb,  and  an  attack  of 
bronchitis  threatened  to  extend  to  his  lungs.  For  several  months 
he  did  not  venture  out  of  his  residence,  on  account  of  the  weather 
being  so  severe,  and  he  longed  for  summer  weather. 

The  Birmingham  new  Exchange  was  opened  by  the  Mayor 
of  that  town  on  the  2nd  of  January,  1865.  At  the  luncheon, 
Mr.  Bright  said  :— 

"  I  think  that  manufacturers  and  merchants,  as  a  rule,  have  generally  been 
either  too  modest,  or  they  have  not  been  sufficiently  acquainted  with  their  true 
position.  My  opinion  is — looking  at  the  course  of  history — that  merchants  and 
manufacturers,  in  the  aggregate,  are  gradually  becoming  much  more  important  in 
the  world  than  warriors  and  statesmen — (applause) — and  even  than  mouarchs 
themselves,  for  it  is  obvious  to  me  that  the  power  of  these  heretofore  great 
authorities  is  wailing,  and  that  in  every  part  of  the  world  the  power  of  the  great 
industrial  interest  is  sensibly  waxing.  (Applause.)  But  if  we  were  to  take  down 
the  volume  of  history,  which  may  be  called  the  chart  of  the  past  ages,  we  should 
see,  I  think  clearly,  that  a  stream  of  commerce  runs  close  alongside  the  stream  of 
freedom  and  civilisation.  (Cheers.)  It  is  a  long  time  to  look  back  to  those  old 
merchants  and  mariners  who  are  said  to  have  come  from  the  coast  of  Asia  to  this 
country  in  pursuit  of  one  of  the  produces  of  our  mines.  But  the  Phoenicians  were  a 
great  people  because  they  were  merchants  and  given  to  maritime  pursuits,  and  it 
needs  but  the  most  superficial  knowledge  of  history  to  enable  us  to  remember  that 
from  them  came  the  arts,  the  civilisation,  and  the  greatness  of  the  Greek  states  in 
Europe,  and  at  the  same  time  the  greatness  and  commercial  splendour  of  the  city  of 
Carthage  on  the  African  continent.  From  them  and  from  Greece  came  the  popu- 
lous commercial  colonies  of  Italy  and  Sicily ;  and  Carthage,  though  comparatively 
early  destroyed,  yet  left  its  traces  upon  France  and  upon  Spain.  Then,  coming 
down  to  the  period  where  history  is  more  complete  and  more  accurate,  we  find  that 
in  the  cities  of  the  north  of  Italy,  commerce  is  attended  by  arts  and  letters,  and 
freedom  and  civilisation,  to  an  extent  which,  considering  the  conditions  of  other  parts 
of  the  world,  is  at  least  beautiful  to  contemplate  and  most  remarkable.  And  the 
great  commercial  republics  of  Genoa  and  Venice  have  left  their  mark  in  history,  which 
rime  itself  can  never  efface.  (Cheers.)  Coming  down  to  a  period  somewhat  later, 


1865.]  PATRONAGE.  413 

we  find  the  commercial  cities  of  the  Netherlands  taking  a  part  in  the  history  of 
Europe  equally  important,  and  being  themselves  equally  devoted  to  arts  ami 
civilisation  and  freedom.  Passing  the  narrow  Straits  and  the  narrow  Channel,  aiirl 
coming  to  our  own  loved  land,  we  find  here  that  precisely  as  commerce  has  extended 
and  industry  has  been  respected  towns  and  cities  have  grown  and  populations  have 
congregated  together;  and  from  that  source,  and  not  from  monarchs  or  from 
great  lords  of  the  soil,  but  from  that  source  mainly  has  come  whatever  there  is  of 
social,  or  civil,  or  religious,  or  industrial  freedom  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  island." 
(Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  next  addressed  his  constituents  in  the  Birm- 
ingham Town  Hall,  principally  on  Parliamentary  Reform,  011 
the  18th  of  January.  He  spoke  for  an  hour  and  thirty-five 
minutes,  remarking : — 

"But  this,  I  suspect,  is  what  they  fear.  I  have  sought  a  good  deal  into  this 
question,  and  it  seems  to  me  as  if  they  had  a  notion  that  in  this  country  we  have 
some  institutions  which  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  middle  ages — f rom  what 
some  people  call  the  dark  ages — and  that  these  institutions  may  not  permanently 
harmonise  with  the  intelligence  and  the  necessities  of  the  nineteenth  century  in 
which  we  live.  The  '  institutions '  are  truly  safe  enough  if  the  Government  be  in 
the  hands  of  the  institution ;  and  if  the  Peerage  and  the  Established  Church  are  to 
rnle  in  England,  then  I  presume  that  the  Peerage  and  the  Established  Church,  in 
their  present  condition,  will  be  permanently  safe ;  and  if  the  great  patronage  of  our 
vast  expenditure  is  to  be  dispensed  perpetually  amongst  the  ruling  class,  the  ruling 
class  as  a  matter  of  course  will  take  extreme  care  of  the  patronage.  There  is  some- 
thing very  sacred  in  that  patronage.  There  are  many  families  in  this  country  with 
long  lines  of  ancestry,  who,  if  patronage  were  curtailed,  would  feel  very  much  as 
some  of  us  feel  in  Lancashire  when  the  American  war  has  stopped  our  supplies  of 
cotton.  They  look  upon  patronage  as  a  holy  thing,  not  to  be  touched  by  profane 
hands.  I  have  no  doubt  they  have  in  their  minds  the  saying  of  a  great  friend 
of  mine,  though  he  is  an  imaginary  character — I  mean  Hosea  Biglow,  the  author 
of  the  Biglow  Papers.  He  says — 

'  It  is  something  like  a  fulfilling  the  prophecies, 
When  all  the  first  families  have  all  the  best  offices." 

.  .  .  .  England  has  long  been  famous  for  the  enjoyment  of  personal  freedom  by 
her  people.  They  are  free  to  think,  they  are  free  to  speak,  they  are  free  to  write ; 
and  England  has  been  famed  of  late  years,  and  is  famed  now  the  world  over,  for 
the  freedom  of  her  industry  and  the  greatness  and  freedom  of  her  commerce.  I 
want  to  know,  then,  why  it  is  that  her  people  should  not  be  free  to  vote  ?  (Cheers.) 
Who  is  there  that  will  meet  me  on  this  platform,  or  will  stand  upon  any  platform, 
and  will  dare  to  say,  in  the  hearing  of  an  open  meeting  of  his  countrjrmen,  that  thes"e 
millions  for  whom  I  am  now  pleading  are  too  degraded,  too  vicious,  and  too 
destructive  to  be  entrusted  with  the  elective  franchise  ?  I,  at  least,  will  never  thus 
slander  my  countrymen.  I  claim  for  them  the  right  of  admission,  through  their 
representatives,  into  the  most  ancient  and  the  most  venerable  Parliament;  which  at 
this  hour  exists  among  men ;  and  when  they  are  thus  admitted,  and  not  till  then,  it 
may  be  truly  said  that  England,  the  august  mother  of  free  nations,  herself  is  free." 
(Great  cheering.) 

On  the  10th  of  February  Mr.  Cobden  received  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Gladstone  on  behalf  of  the  Government,  offering  him  the 
lucrative  office  of  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Audit,  which  was 
worth  £2,000  a  year.  Mr.  Cobden,  after  giving  the  subject  two 
days'  consideration,  declined  it,  stating  that : — 

"  Owing  to  the  state  of  my  health,  I  am  precluded  from  taking  any  office  which 
involves  the  performance  of  stated  duties  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  or  leaves  a  sense 
of  responsibility  for  the  fulfilment  of  those  duties  by  others." 


414  LIFE  AND   TIMES    OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1866. 

He  stated  further — 

"But  were  my  case  different,  still,  while  sensible  of  the  kind  intentions  which 
prompted  the  offer,  it  would  assuredly  not  be  consulting  my  welfare  to  place  me  in 
the  post  in  question,  with  my  known  views  respecting  the  nature  of  our  finance. 
Believing,  as  I  do,  that  while  the  income  of  the  Government  is  derived  in  a  greater 
proportion  than  in  any  other  country  from  the  taxation  of  the  humblest  classes,  its 
expenditure  is  to  the  last  degree  wasteful  and  indefensible,  it  would  be  almost  a 
penal  appointment  to  consign  me  for  the  remainder  of  my  life  to  the  task  of  passively 
auditing  our  finance  accounts.  I  fear  my  health  would  sicken  and  my  days  be 
shortened  by  the  nauseous  ordeal.  It  will  be  better  that  I  retain  my  seat  in  Parlia- 
ment, as  long  as  I  am  able  in  any  tolerable  degree  to  perform  its  duties,  where  I  have 
at  least  the  opportunity  of  protesting,  however  unavailingly,  against  the  Govern- 
ment expenditure." 

Mr.  Seymour  Fitzgerald  on  the  3rd  of  March  introduced  into 
the  House  of  Commons  the  subject  of  the  defences  of  Canada, 
which  led  to  a  lively  debate.  Mr.  Bright's  speech  on  this 
occasion  was  eloquent  and  impressive  throughout.  Although  his 
sentiments  were  not  palatable  to  the  great  body  of  his  hearers,  he 
absorbed  the  attention  of  a  full  House,  and  sat  down  amidst  the 
general  cheering  of  all  parties. 

"  Going  back  nearly  four  years,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "  we  recollect  what  occurred 
when  the  news  arrived  of  the  first  shot  having  been  fired  at  Fort  Sumter.  That,  I 
think,  was  about  the  12th  of  April.  Immediately  after  that  time  it  was  announced 
that  a  new  Minister  was  coming  to  this  country.  Mr.  Dallas  had  intimated  to  the 
Government  that  as  he  did  not  represent  the  new  President  he  would  rather  not 
undertake  anything  of  importance ;  but  that  his  successor  was  on  his  way  and 
would  arrive  on  such  a  day.  When  a  man  leaves  New  York  on  a  given  day,  you  can 
calculate  to  about  twelve  hours  when  he  will  be  in  London.  Mr.  Adams,  I  think, 
arrived  in  London  about  the  13th  of  May,  and  when  he  opened  his  newspaper 
next  morning  he  found  the  Proclamation  of  Neutrality,  acknowledging  the  belligerent 
lights  of  the  South.  I  say  that  the  proper  course  to  have  taken  would  have  been  to 
have  waited  till  Mr.  Adams  arrived  here,  and  to  have  discussed  the  matter  with  him 
in  a  friendly  manner,  explaining  the  ground  upon  which  the  English  Government 
had  felt  themselves  bound  to  issue  that  proclamation,  and  representing  that  it  was 
not  done  in  any  manner  as  an  unfriendly  act  towards  the  United  States  Government. 
But  no  precaution  whatever  was  taken :  it  was  done  with  unfriendly  haste ;  and  it 
had  this  effect :  that  it  gave  comfort  and  courage  to  the  conspiracy  at  Montgomery 
and  at  Richmond,  and  caused  great  grief  and  irritation  amongst  that  portion  of  the 
people  of  America  who  were  most  strongly  desirous  of  maintaining  friendly  relations 
between  their  country  and  England.  .  .  I  believe,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
American  people,  when  this  excitement  is  over,  will  be  willing;  so  far  as  regards  any 
aggressive  acts  against  us,  to  bury  in  oblivion  transactions  which  have  given  them 
much  pain,  and  they  will  probably  make  an  allowance,  which  they  may  fairly  make 
— that  the  people  of  this  country,  even  those  high  in  rank  and  distinguished  in  culture, 
have  had  a  very  inadequate  knowledge  of  the  transactions  which  have  really  taken 
place  in  that  country  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Now,  it  is  on  record  that 
when  the  author  of  "The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire"  was  about 
beginning  his  great  work,  David  Hume,  wrote  a  letter  to  him,  urging  him  not  to 
employ  the  French  but  the  English  tongue,  because,  he  said,  '  our  establishments  in 
America  promise  a  superior  stability  and  duration  to  the  English  language.'  How 
far  the  promise  has  been  in  part  fulfilled  we  who  are  living  now  can  tell.  But  how 
far  it  will  be  more  largely  and  more  completely  fulfilled  in  after- times  we  must  leave 
for  after  times  to  tell.  I  believe,  however,  that  in  the  centuries  which  are  to  come, 
it  will  be  the  greatest  pride,  and  the  highest  renown,  of  England,  that  from  her  loins 
have  sprung  a  hundred — it  may  be  two  hundred — millions  of  men  to  dwell  and  to 
prosper  on  the  continent  which  the  old  Genoas  gave  to  Europe.  Now,  Sir,  if  the 
sentiment  which  I  have  heard  to-night  shall  become  the  sentiment  of  the  Parliament 
and  the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom,  and  if  the  moderation  which  I  have  described 


1866.]  DEATH   OF    COBDEN.  411 

shall  mark  the  course  of  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States,  then,  not- 
withstanding some  present  irritation  and  some  fresh  distrust — and  I  have  faith,  mind, 
both  in  us  and  in  them — I  believe  that  these  two  great  commonwealths  may  march 
on  abreast,  parents  and  guardians  of  freedom  and  justice  wheresoever  their  language 
shall  be  spoken  and  their  power  shall  extend."  (Great  cheering.) 

Lord  Hartington,  a  few  days  after,  proposed  a  vote  of 
.£50,000  for  the  fortification  of  Quebec,  being1  part  of  a  sum 
of  .£200,000  which  would  be  asked  for  the  defence  of  Canada. 
Mr.  Bright  opposed  the  vote,  but  the  motion  was  carried  by  a 
large  majority.  Mr.  Cobdeu  left  his  residence  for  the  purpose 
of  opposing-  this  expenditure  of  money,  and  Mr.  Bright,  in 
alluding*  to  the  circumstance  at  a  public  meeting-  at  Bradford, 
said : — 

"You  know  how  much  he  sympathised,  I  will  not  say  with  the  institutions,  but 
with  the  interests  of  the  United  States.  He  visited  that  country  twice  during  the 
course  of  his  life,  and  he  made  there — as  he  made  wherever  he  went — many  very 
earnest  and  very  warm  friends.  He,  I  think,  was  more  broken  down  in  heart  and 
feeling  by  the  American  war  than  perhaps  any  other  man  that  I  happened  to  know 
at  that  time  in  England.  He  had  thought  that  in  that  country,  spreading  over  a 
whole  continent,  there  would  be  perpetual  peace.  There  was  no  great  army,  there 
was  no  great  navy,  there  were  no  foreign  politics,  and  he  thought  that  America 
was  the  home  of  peace.  But  he  had  not  calculated  the  effect  of  a  vast  enormity 
like  the  question  of  slavery  in  that  country.  (Hear,  hear.)  Slavery  was  one 
of  those  devils  that  would  not  go  out  without  tearing  the  nation  that  was 
possessed  of  it.  (Hear,  hear.)  But  still  he  always  held  the  belief  that  the 
result  of  the  war  would  be  slavery  abolished,  and  the  great  Republic  still  one  and 
indivisible,  and  henceforth,  as  he  hoped  it  might  be,  the  advocate  of  peace  and  the 
promoter  of  civilisation." 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1865,  Mr.  Brig-ht  visited  Mr.  Cobden 
at  Midhurst,  and  has  thus  beautifully  described  what  took 
place  : — 

"  We  strolled  out  in  the  fields,  and  as  we  were  returning  home  he  began  to  talk 
of  his  poor  boy,  his  only  son,  who  had  died  some  nine  or  ten  years  before;  and  he 
said — turning  round  and  pointing  to  a  beautiful  little  church  in  a  most  lovely  situa- 
tion— 'Yes,  my  poor  boy  lies  there,  and  I  shall  very  soon  be  with  him.'  I  little 
thought  how  soon.  Only  a  few  days  afterwards  he  went  up  to  London.  It  was  a  time 
when  the  question  of  expending  large  sums  on  an  absurd  and  monstrous  idea  of 
defending  Canada  from  the  United  States  was  under  discussion.  He  went  up  to 
London  with  the  intention  of  speaking  upon  that  question,  and  pointing  out  to  the 
House  of  Commons  the  foolish  and  irrational  course  on  which  they  were  invited  to 
enter.  He  went  up  on  one  of  the  bitterest  days  of  that  month  of  March,  and  he 
was  stricken  by  the  cold,  and  fatally  stricken.  Only  some  ten  days  afterwards,  I 
think,  his  complaint  became  greatly  aggravated,  and  on  that  2nd  of  April  that  I 
have  spoken  of  I  was  at  his  room,  early  in  the  morning,  and  remained  with  him 
during  some  unconscious  hours,  until  the  final  close  of  a  life  to  which  I  felt  myself, 
and  have  always  felt  myself,  so  strongly  attached.  .  .  .  Now,  my  friend  did  not 
see  the  fulfilment  of  his  wishes.  It  was  a  circumstance  somewhat  singular,  and  very 
affecting  to  my  mind,  that  on  the  very  day  when  President  Lincoln  and  the  Northern 
forces  entered  the  city  of  Richmond,  and  when,  in  point  of  fact,  the  slave  confederacy 
was  vanquished  and  at  an  end—on  that  very  day,  on  that  very  Sunday,  that  2nd  of 
April,  in  the  year  1865,  the  spirit  of  my  friend  left  its  earthly  tenement,  and  took  its 
way  to  another,  and  to  him,  doubtless,  a  brighter  world." 

Mr.  Cobden  was  accompanied  to  London  by  Mrs.  Cobden 
and  his  second  daughter  on  the  2 1st  of  March,  and  they  took 


416  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  fi865. 

apartments  in  Suffolk  Street.  Shortly  after  he  arrived  he  was 
attacked  with  asthma,  which  prostrated  him.  For  days  a  piercing 
east  wind  blew,  and  Cobden  watched  attentively  the  smoke  from 
the  opposite  chimneys  to  ascertain  if  the  wind  changed  its 
course,  but  his  eager  vigilance  ended  in  weariness  and  disappoint- 
ment. The  asthma  became  congestive  on  the  1st  of  April,  and 
bronchitis  setting  in,  recovery  fast  became  hopeless.  His  old  and 
true  friend,  Mr.  Bright,  paid  him  a  visit  in  the  evening ;  but  as 
it  was  thought  that  the  interview  would  be  too  much  for  his 
little  remaining  strength,  Mr.  Bright  retired  without  seeing  him. 
Early  next  morning,  which  was  Sunday,  he  repeated  his  visit, 
and  as  all  chance  of  recovery  was  now  beyond  expectation,  he 
formed  one  of  the  group  who  affectionately  witnessed  the  closing 
scene,  with  Sabbath  peace,  of  the  life  of  one  of  the  greatest 
benefactors  of  his  country.  Just  as  the  church  bells  of  the  great 
metropolis,  and  every  town  and  village  in  England,  were  sweetly 
chiming,  and  calling  worshippers  to  their  devotions  on  that 
hallowed  morning,  and  blessed  groups  of  children,  as  well  as 
those  of  maturer  years,  were  wending  through  quiet  streets  and 
primrose  meadow-paths  towards  spires  and  towers,  Cobden's 
generous  heart  ceased  to  throb,  and  in  complete  possession  of  his 
intellect  he  expired,  at  the  age  of  61,  arid  left  "  a  void  and  silent 
place  in  his  sweet  home." 

Throughout  England  his  death  was  deeply  lamented.  Indeed, 
all  Europe  and  the  world  were  quick  to  recognise  the  loss  which 
they  had  sustained  in  common  with  us;  for  this  great  statesman 
did  much  to  hasten  the  day  when  conciliated  nations  shall  war 
with  each  other  no  more.  He  entered  upon  life  with  none  of 
the  advantages  of  birth  or  fortune ;  singled  himself  out  by  his 
ability  and  patriotism  for  the  service  of  his  country";  was  called 
continually  to  higher  measures  of  duty  ;  moved  with  steady  pro- 
gress to  still  loftier  applications  of  his  principles ;  adhered  to 
them  with  heroic  patience,  through  evil  and  good  report;  brought 
statesmen  to  sit  at  his  feet  and  accept  him  as  a  master ;  wedded 
nations  in  the  bonds  of  reciprocal  goodwill ;  turned  away  from 
the  honours  which  were  decreed  him  with  the  simplicity  of  one 
who  loved  truth  for  her  own  sake ;  and  finally  resigned  to  the 
disposal  of  his  God  a  life  which,  in  its  public  relations,  no  self- 
interest  had  ever  warped ;  no  inconsistency  had  ever  mis- 
directed ;  no  blot  had  ever  stained ;  and  whose  memory  shall 
be  held  in  honour  so  long  as  truth  and  justice  are  the  master 
powers  of  the  world.  He  showed  how  in  England  we  may  build 
up  a  constitution  upon  the  principles  of  justice  and  truth. 

The  beauty  of  his  character,  and  the  services  he  had  ren- 


1865.]  A  SAD   SCENE   IN   THE   HOUSE    OF    COMMONS.  417 

dered  to  his  country,  were  appreciated  by  all  parties,  and  it  was 
felt  that  a  great  and  good  life  had  closed  in  the  zenith  of  its 
fame.  "  He  died  full  of  years  and  glory,  as  illustrious  by  the 
honours  he  refused  as  by  those  he  accepted/'  and  left  a  pure  and 
spotless  name,  crowned  with  a  halo  of  inimitable  splendour. 
His  past  life  formed  an  interesting  picture  :  unceasing  labour 
and  self-sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  high  duty. 

His  remains  were  removed  to  his  residence  at  Midhurst,  one 
of  the  loveliest  spots  in  England.  "  Its  hills  are  covered  with 
foliage,  its  valleys  bright  with  verdure  or  teeming  with  fertility, 
alternating  with  dark  sombre-looking  heaths,  sandy  patches, 
and  trim,  silent,  old-fashioned  villages,  and  isolated  farmhouses 
built  in  the  days  of  the  Tudors." 

There  was  an  unusual  scene  at  the  House  of  Commons  on 
the  Monday  afternoon.  The  members  were  in  the  halls  and 
lobbies  long  before  the  hour  of  sitting,  whispering  in  groups. 
Just  as  the  deep-toned  Westminster  clock  tolled  four,  Lord 
Palmerston,  followed  by  the  other  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
entered  the  House  amidst  hushed  silence.  Every  eye  seemed  to 
be  in  search  of  one  familiar  figure  as  the  assembly  rapidly  in- 
creased ;  and  at  last  there  was  seen  approaching,  with  sorrowful 
countenance  and  bowed  head,  the  friend  of  one  whose  vacant  seat 
by  his  side  would  never  be  filled  again. 

Lord  Palmerston,  with  his  whitened  locks  and  dejected 
appearance,  who  had  witnessed  the  leading  men  of  more  than  two 
generations  fall  one  by  one  along  the  weary  wayside  of  life,  rose, 
and  spoke  of  the  great  loss  the  House  and  the  nation  had  sus- 
tained, and  so  affected  was  he  that  his  voice  quivered,  and  then 
sank  into  a  low  tone  that  was  deeply  pathetic.  Mr.  Disraeli, 
who  for  years  had  combated  the  arguments  of  the  politician  whose 
loss  the  House  now  deplored,  next  rose,  and  generously  said : — 

"  I  believe  that  when  the  verdict  of  posterity  is  recorded  on  his  (Cobden's)  life 
and  conduct,  it  will  be  said  of  him  that,  looking  to  all  that  he  said  and  did,  he  was 
without  doubt  the  greatest  political  character  the  pure  middle  class  of  this  country 
has  yet  produced — an  ornament  to  the  House  or  Commons,  and  an  honour  to 
England.'' 

After  a  brief  and  impressive  pause,  Mr.  Bright  rose,  evidently 
oppressed  with  great  sorrow.  Twice  he  essayed  to  speak,  but  his 
voice  failed  him.  At  length,  with  broken  utterance,  but  with 
eloquent  simplicity,  he  said  : — 

"  Sir,  I  feel  that  I  cannot  address  the  House  on  this  occasion ;  but  every  expres- 
sion of  sympathy  which  I  have  witnessed  has  been  most  grateful  to  my  heart. 
(Noble  John  Bright  here  betrayed  strong  emotion,  but  recovering  himself  pro- 
ceeded.) But  the  time  which  has  elapsed  since  I  was  present,  when  the  manliest 
and  gentlest  spirit  that  has  ever  quitted  or  tenanted  a  human  form  departed  this  life, 
is  so  short  that  I  dare  not  even  attempt  to  give  utterance  to  the  feelings  by  which  I 

B   B 


418  LIFE    AND   TIMES  OP  JOHN   BRIGHT.  [186S. 

am  oppressed.  (Mr.  Bright  here  for  a  moment  paused,  and  covered  his  face  with 
his  hands.)  I  shall  leave  to  some  calmer  moment,  when  I  may  have  an  opportunity 
of  speaking  to  some  portion  of  my  countrymen,  the  exposition  of  the  lesson  •which  I 
think  may  oe  learned  from  the  hf e  and  character  of  my  friend.  (Kear,  hear,  and 
applause.)  I  have  only  to  say,  after  twenty  years  of  intimate  and  almost  brotherly 
friendship  with  him,  I  little  knew  how  much  I  loved  him  until  I  found  that  I  had 
lost  him. 

Mr.  Bright' s  broken  words  of  sorrow  were  with  difficulty 
spoken,  but  they  plaintively  told  his  sense  of  loneliness,  and  he 
sat  down  amid  the  sympathetic  applause  of  the  House. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  Cobden  was  on  the  verge  of  the 
sunset  of  life,  and  before  the  winter  of  age  had  chilled  the 
warm  impulses  of  his  heart,  or  dulled  the  edge  of  his  wit,  or 
changed  the  force  and  elegance  of  his  language  into  laborious 
vagueness.  He  was  still  as  susceptible  of  tenderness  and  love  as 
at  any  period  of  his  existence,  and  the  more  so  from  the  oppres- 
sive conviction  that  the  day  was  not  distant  when  the  grave 
must  for  ever  chill  his  heart  against  the  endearments  for  which 
it  panted.  When  autumn  strewed  the  valleys  with  the  honours 
of  the  woods,  he  often  remarked  that  the  decay  of  nature  was  full 
of  instruction  for  us,  who  blossomed  for  a  while,  and  then  simi- 
larly decayed.  In  his  simple  study,  on  a  little  table  set  apart 
from  the  desk  at  which  he  toiled,  there  always  lay  the  Bible, 
that  it  might  be  ready  to  his  hand.  Mr.  Bright,  in  alluding  to  an 
incident  at  the  funeral,  in  one  of  his  memorable  speeches,  said : — 

' '  Standing  by  me,  and  leaning  on  the  coffin,  was  his  sorrowing  daughter,  one 
whose  attachment  to  her  father  seems  to  have  been  a  passion  scarcely  equalled 
amongst  daughters.  She  said,  '  My  father  used  to  like  me  very  much  to  read  to 
him  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.'  His  own  life  was  to  a  large  extent — I  speak  it  with 
reverence  and  with  hesitation — a  sermon  based  upon  that  best,  that  greatest  of  all 
sermons.  His  life  was  a  life  of  perpetual  self-sacrifice." 

When  at  home,  Mr.  Cobden  was  reg\.Iatlj  seen  on  Sundays 
walking  with  his  family  along  a  pretty  country  path  to  West 
Lavington  Church ;  but  he  was  not  the  man  to  parade  his  religious 
sentiments  or  feelings.  Writing  to  a  friend  several  years  before 
his  death,  he  stated  : — 

"  I  am  not  without  hopes  that  if  I  am  spared  to  return  in  health  to  this  country, 
the  same  fortunate  circumstance  in  my  organisation  may  enable  me  to  co-operate 
efficiently  with  the  most  active  and  best  spirits  of  our  day  in  the  work  of  moral  and 
intellectual  education.  I  could  insist  upon  the  necessity  of  secular  teaching  and 
training  without  wounding  the  religious  prejudices  of  any  man,  except  the 
groyellmg  bigots,  whether  of  the  High  Church  party  or  the  opposite  extreme, 
against  whom  I  could  make  war  in  the  same  spirit  which  has,  in  the  case  of  the 
corn  monopolists,  enabled  me  to  deprive  them  of  the  pretence  for  personal  resent- 
ment, even  in  the  hour  of  their  defeat  and  humiliation.  I  have  said  that  I  have 
a  strong  f  eelingof  sympathy  for  the  religious  sentiment.  A  feeling  so  great  that 
I  have  sat  in  a  Welsh  chapel,  listening  to  a  ranting  sermon,  not  a  syllable  of  which 
I  understood,  and  watching  with  pleasing  excitement  the  effects  upon  the 
countenances  of  the  hearers ;  their  glistening  eyes,  and  compressed  lips,  and  out- 
stretched heads,  were  eloquence  enough  in  themselves  for  me !  But  I  sympathise 
with  all  moral  men  who  are  not  passive  moralists." 


1866.]  THE  RESTING-PLACE    OF   COBDEN.  419 

He  had  great  faith  in  the  power  of  prayer,  and  when  the 
poor  operatives  of  Lancashire  were  suffering  severe  privations 
from  the  want  of  employment  during  the  cotton  famine,  he 
remarked  to  the  vicar  of  his  parish,  "  Ah,  there  is  need  that  we 
should  pray  for  the  poor  people  in  the  North."  He  was  most 
liberal  to  the  poor,  and  homely  and  familiar  with  all  those  with 
whom  he  came  into  contact.  In  the  whole  of  his  public  life 
there  was  a  Catholicity  of  spirit,  which  marked  all  his  aims  and 
inspired  all  his  teachings,  although  he  lived  in  an  age  when  the 
traditional  policy  of  statesmen  was  still  struggling  against  the 
idea  of  human  brotherhood,  and  opposing  those  sublime  lessons 
which  point  to  the  happy  day  when  kingdoms  shall  be  knit 
together  by  commerce,  and  when  nations  shall  learn  war  no 
more. 

Many  of  Mr.  Cobden's  friends  wished  that  his  final  resting- 
place  should  be  Westminster  Abbey,  but  a  pompous  sepulchre, 
with  a  life  so  simple  and  self-denying  as  was  his,  would  have 
been  utterly  incongruous ;  and,  moreover,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  it  was  his  desire  to  be  buried  with  his  son  in  the 
pretty  churchyard  of  West  Lavington.  Nine  years  before  his 
death,  one  summer's  day  while  strolling  in  Westminster  Abbey 
with  a  friend,  he  remarked  that,  although  he  had  for  fifteen 
years  habitually  passed  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  he  had  never  been 
within  its  walls.  As  they  were  reading  the  monuments  of  the 
illustrious  dead,  the  friend  casually  remarked  that  the  time  might 
come  when  the  name  of  Cobden  would  there  be  seen  amongst  the 
departed  heroes.  Cobden  replied,  "  I  hope  not.  My  spirit  could 
not  rest  in  peace  amongst  these  men  of  war.  No,  no  ;  cathedrals 
are  not  meant  to  contain  the  remains  of  such  men  as  Bright 
and  me."  He  preferred  to  sleep  amongst  his  own  people,  the 
undistinguished  dead  of  a  Sussex  village,  and  pressed  by  the 
flowery  turf  where  once  he  played  in  'childhood,  where  his 
obsequies  might  be  sung  by  the  gray  plover  Hying,  and  the 
soaring  lark.  This  was  the  place  of  sepulture  preferred  by  him 
to  the  costly  and  luxurious  memorials  of  Westminster  Abbey  and 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  where  many  are  buried  who  were  torments 
and  scourges  to  their  day  and  generation,  and  "  laid  schemes  for 
death,  and  to  slaughter  turned  their  hearts" — made  towns  and 
villages  solitudes,  and  called  it  peace.  And  here,  too,  has  often 
been  heard  unholy  thanksgiving  over  slaughtered  men,  women, 
and  children.  Benefactors  of  the  world  are  also  interred  here — 
men  who  enlightened  it  by  their  wisdom,  animated  it  with  their 
gaiety,  or  soothed  it  by  their  delightful  harmonies. 

The  sad  ceremonial  of  committing  the  body  to  the  ground 
B  B  2 


420  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OP  JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1866. 

was  performed  on  the  7th  of  April,  and  for  the  numbers  and 
the  character  of  those  attending1,  it  was  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable funerals  on  record.  The  House  of  Commons  led  the 
van  with  a  large  gathering  of  the  most  eminent  of  its 
members,  and  the  Court  was  represented  by  the  Pagets.  There 
were  deputations  from  most  of  the  large  towns,  that  from 
Rochdale  being  composed  of  Messrs.  J.  Tatham  (the  Mayor), 
Thomas  Bright,  G.  L.  Ash  worth,  R.  T.  Heape,  T.  B.  Willans, 
G.  Healey,  William  Fenton,  G.  T.  Kemp,  E.  Ashworth,  J.  T. 
Pagan,  J.  H.  Moore,  John  Robinson,  T.  Booth,  W.  Petrie, 
G.  Mansell,  J.  Ashworth,  John  Hoyle,  C.  Whitaker,  R.  Hurst, 
and  S.  Stott. 

The  procession  was  over  half  a  mile  in  length.  The  hearse 
was  without  "  nodding  plumes/'  or  barren  pomp,  or  trappings 
of  woe.  The  utmost  simplicity  characterised  the  whole  of  the 
arrangements.  A  walk  of  an  hour  and  a  half  along  the  pic- 
turesque highway,  the  banks  of  which  were  fretted  with  primroses 
and  violets,  the  embroidery  of  spring,  brought  the  mourners  to 
West  Lavington  Church.  The  pall  was  held  by  twelve  of  Mr. 
Cobden's  most  distinguished  friends,  namely,  Mr.  John  Bright, 
M.P. ;  the  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  M.P. ;  the  Right  Hon. 
Charles  Pelham  Villiers,  M.P. ;  Mr.  George  Wilson ;  the  Right 
Hon.  T.  Milner  Gibson,  M.P. ;  Mr.  Moffatt,  M.P.,  Mr.  T.  B. 
Potter,  Mr.  A.  W.  Paulton,  Mr.  Henry  Ashworth,  Mr.  Bazley, 
M.P.,  Mr.  William  Evans,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Thomasson.  The 
chief  mourners  were  Mr.  Charles  Cobden;  Mr.  William  Sale,  of 
Manchester,  his  brother-in-law ;  Mr.  John  Williams,  brother  of 
Mrs.  Cobden ;  Mr.  Frederick  Hogard,  Mr.  Charles  F.  Kirk,  Mr. 
William  Sale,  junr.,  Mr.  Rhodes,  Mr.  Fisher,  and  Mr.  Fisher, 
junr.  The  service  having  been  gone  through  in  the  church, 
which  was  not  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  vast  number 
of  mourners,  the  coffin"  was  borne  to  the  vault  which  lies  at  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  graveyard,  in  which  his  son,  who 
died  in  Germany,  was  interred.  The  scene  was  most  impressive. 
The  sun  shone  out  in  all  its  splendour,  and  threw  a  glow  of 
light  on  the  uncovered  and  bended  heads  and  sad  faces  of  not 
a  few  of  England's  master-spirits.  The  foot  of  the  coffin  was 
adorned  with  wreaths  of  spring  flowers  which  had  been 
gathered  and  woven  by  loving  hands.  As  the  coffin  was 
,  lowered,  Mr.  Bright,  with  a  sorrowful  and  tear-besprinkled  face, 
advanced  near  to  the  brink  of  the  grave  which  was  so  soon 
to  cl  ose  over  the  remains  of  his  departed  friend.  There  stood, 
too,  Mr.  Gladstone,  with  face  unnaturally  pale  and  closed 
eyes,  in  company  with  Mr.  Milner  Gibson,  Mr.  Villiers,  Mr. 


1865.]  COBT»EN'S    FUNEEAL.  421 

George  "Wilson,  Mr.  Edward  Miall,  Mr.  W.  E.  Forster,  Mr. 
Robertson  Gladstone,  the  Rev.  Newman  Hall,  Dr.  Hook  (the 
Dean  of  Chichester),  Mr.  T.  B.  Potter,  Mr.  Elihu  Burritt, 
Mr.  Samuel  Morley,  Mr.  Bazley,  Sir  C.  Wentworth  Dilke, 
Professor  Fawcett,  Mr.  Samuel  Smiles,  Mr.  Adams  (the 
American  Minister),  and  a  host  of  other  well-known  men. 

It  was  touching1  to  witness  the  anxiety  of  the  mourners  to 
preserve  some  memento,  not  only  of  the  churchyard  but  also  of 
the  spot  where  Mr.  Cobden  had  resided,  by  gathering  ferns, 
flowers,  and  shrubs  from  the  paths  which  had  been  trod  by  the 
departed  statesman.  The  churchyard  from  that  day  was  destined 
to  have  a  memorable  historic  interest,  but  the  whole  land  is  the 
sepulchre  of  this  illustrious  benefactor  of  his  country,  and  his 
good  deeds  are  his  imperishable  monument. 

No  sound  ruder  than  the  whistling  of  the  wind,  the  crack 
of  the  ploughman's  whip  or  the  sportsman's  gun,  disturbs  the 
quietude  and  peace  of  the  scene  of  this  pastoral  loveliness. 
The  earliest  light  of  the  morning  gilds  the  tomb,  and  parting 
day  lingers  and  plays  upon  it.  Thither  at  times  his  life  com- 
panions will  direct  their  pilgrim  feet,  to  see 

"  The  tomb  of  him  who  would  have  made 
The  world  too  glad  and  free." 

Amongst  the  numerous  pilgrims  to  this  sacred  place,  the  Bishop 
of  Oxford  was  accompanied  there,  on  the  16th  of  August,  1868, 
by  Lord  and  Lady  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  Lady  Marion  Alford, 
and  Lady  Dorothy  Nevill.  The  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  party 
visited  it  on  the  12th  of  March,  18G9.  Several  members  of 
the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  paid  homage  at  the  shrine  of  their 
departed  friend  on  the  24th  of  June,  1871.  Dowager  Lady 
Northbrook  was  there  on  the  12th  of  July,  1871.  Mr.  John 
Bright,  accompanied  by  two  of  his  daughters,  Miss  M.  H. 
Bright  and  Miss  M.  S.  Bright,  again  visited  the  tomb  on  the 
25th  of  August,  1874.  In  December  of  that  year  the  Earl  and 
Countess  of  Egmout  paid  their  respects  to  the  illustrious  dead, 
and  the  Mayor  of  Portsmouth  and  members  of  his  Town 
Council  stood  reverently  round  the  grave  on  a  bright  summer's 
day  in  1877. 

From  the  crest  of  the  hill  upon  the  slope  of  which  the 
graveyard  stands,  the  eye  ranges  over  a  charming  landscape. 
In  the  far  distance  stretches  the  range  of  the  South  Downs, 
from  Worthington  in  the  east  to  Petersfield  in  the  west,  a 
distance  of  at  least  thirty  miles ;  the  valley  being  thickly 
wooded  with  pine,  oak,  and  fir, 


422  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  HEIGHT. 

Mr.  Bright,  when  performing  the  ceremony  of  unveiling  a 
statue  of  Cobden,  at  Bradford,  in  July,  1877,  said : — 

"I  have  lately  been  reading  a  new  poem  which  has  interested  me  very  much — a 
poem  called  The  Epic  of  Hades.  Many  of  you  may  never  have  heard  of  it ;  most  of 
you  may  not  have  seen  it.  It  is,  as  I  view  it,  another  gem  added  to  the  wealth  of 
the  poetry  of  our  language.  In  that  poem  the  author  says — 

'  For  knowledge  is  a  steep  which  few  may  climb, 
While  duty  is  a  path  which  all  may  tread.' 

I  think  it  will  be  admitted  by  those  who  know  anything  of  the  life  of  Mr.  Cobden 
that  he  trod  what  he  believed  to  be  the  path  of  duty,  and  trod  it  with  a  firm  and  un- 
faltering footstep ;  and  when  I  look  upon  this  statue  which  is  now  before  us,  so  like 
him,  and  so  spotless,  as  was  his  name  and  character,  I  will  say  that  I  trust  his  fol- 
lowing of  the  path  of  duty  will  have  many  imitators  in  this  district ;  and  that  from 
this  stainless  marble,  and  from  those  voiceless  lips,  there  may  be  taught  a  perpetual 
lesson  to  many  generations  of  the  intelligent  and  industrious  men  of  this  district  of 
our  country.  But  let  me  add,  that  this  which  you  have  erected  to-day,  or  which  is 
erected  in  your  midst,  is  by  no  means  the  greatest  monument  that  has  been  built 
up  to  him.  There  is  one  far  grander,  and  of  wider  significance.  There  is  not  a 
homestead  in  the  country  in  which  there  is  not  added  comfort  from  his  labours — not  a 
cottage  the  dwellers  in  which  have  not  steadier  employment,  higher  wages,  and  a 
more  solid  independence.  This  is  his  enduring  monument.  He  worked  for  these 
ends,  and  for  these  great  purposes,  and  he  worked  even  almost  to  the  very  day  when 
the  lamp  of  life  went  out.  He  is  gone ;  but  his  character,  his  deeds,  his  Me,  his 
example,  remain  a  possession  to  us  his  countrymen.  And  let  this  be  said  of  him  for 

fnerations  to  come,  as  long  as  the  great  men  of  England  are  spoken  of  in  the 
iglish  language ;  let  it  be  said  of  him  that  Richard  Cobden  gave  the  labours  of  a 
life  that  he  might  confer  upon  bis  countrymen  perfect  freedom  of  industry,  and  with 
it,  not  that 


might  confer  upon  bis  countrymen  perfect  freedom  of  industry,  ai 
blessing  only,  but  its  attendant  blessings  of  plenty  and  of  peace." 


"Nothing  that  has  been  written  on  the  life  and  career  of 
Mr.  Richard  Cobden,  whose  place  in  society  stands  so  con- 
spicuously vacant,"  commented  one  writer,  "nothing  that  has  been 
said  of  his  labours,  whose  fruits,  rich  and  golden  as  the  autumn 
cluster  of  the  southern  vine,  meet  the  eye  in  every  homestead  in 
the  land — no  panegyric  that  has  been  pronounced  on  services 
which  exhorted  public  homage,  and  even  silenced  public  envy — no 
tribute  that  has  been  tendered  to  his  memory  by  friendship,  by 
gratitude,  or  by  sorrow,  is  half  so  eloquent  or  half  so  instructive 
as  the  simple  record  furnished  by  the  Probate  Court,  that  his 
personalty  was  swofn  under  .£8,000.  It  is  the  key  to  the  man's 
whole  life,  to  the  motives  by  which  he  was  actuated,  to  the 
objects  he  had  in  view,  to  the  difficulties  which  beset  him,  to  the 
circumstances  in  which  he  struggled,  and  above  all  to  the  heroic 
purposes  for  which  he  endured  the  steady  torture  of  prolonged 
labour,  and  the  sudden  martyrdom  of  its  final  termination.  To 
have  lived  as  Cobden  lived — with  influence  at  his  disposal,  power 
within  his  grasp,  the  boundless  wealth  of  a  nation  at  his  feet, 
and  to  have  turned  his  back  upon  them,  and  used  his  position 
solely  for  the  good  of  his  country  and  his  race — was  in  itself  a 
great  and  rare  glory." 

Mr.  Cobden  despised  foppery,  plush,  and  liveries,  and  did  not 


1866.1  THE   PERSONALITY  OF   COBDEN.  423 

care  for  great  public  dinners.  Mr.  Bright,  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  in  speaking  of  a  court  dress  necessary  in  attending 
the  Speaker's  dinners  and  levees,  and  in  contending  that  the 
custom  should  be  abolished,  said  : — 

"  I  will  state  a  case  in  point.  Last  year  the  House  lost — and  I  lost  more  than  any 
other  member  of  the  House — one  of  its  members,  a  dear  and  lamented  friend  of 
mine,  whose  absence  I  greatly  deplore,  and  without  whose  presence  I  feel  almost 
alone.  For  twenty-four  years  he  was  a  member  of  this  House — from  1831  to  1865 — 
and  during  the  whole  of  that  time  he  felt  himself  restrained  from  accepting  official 
invitations,  either  from  Lord  Eversley,  when  he  was  Speaker,  or  the  right  hon.  gentle- 
man who  subsequently  occupied  the  chair.  Now,  Mr.  Cobden  was  not  a  man  of 
striking  eccentricities.  .  .  .  Posterity  will  say  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  eminent 
men  that  ever  adorned  the  Parliament  of  this  country.  But  for  twenty- four  years 
so  strongly  did  he  feel  on  this  subject,  that  he  was  restrained  from  dining  with  the 
Speaker,  or  attending  his  official  evening  parties  or  levies." 

So  high  did  Mr.  Cobden  stand  in  the  esteem  of  the  Legisla- 
tive Assembly  of  Australia  that  his  name  was  given  to  one  of 
the  new  divisions  of  the  colony.  The  Province  of  Cobden  com- 
prises the  southern-coast  district  from  Goulburn  to  the  border 
of  Victoria. 

In  all  of  Mr.  Cobden's  controversies  he  slandered  no  one, 
although  some  of  his  opponents  were  guilty  of  the  offence ;  but 
long  before  his  death  the  harsh  charges  that  had  been  preferred 
against  him  had  been  annihilated  by  his  pure  and  successful  life. 
He  was  of  a  highly  sensitive  nature,  which  made  him  careful  of 
other  men's  reputation  as  of  his  own,  and  the  more  his  character 
is  scrutinised  the  more  illustrious  it  appears. 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

PAELIAMENTABY  REFORM. 

Mr.  T.  B.  Potter  elected  to  fill  the  vacant  seat  at  Rochdale — The  General  Election 
of  1865 — Death  of  Lord  Palmerston — The  State  of  Ireland — Parliamentary 
Reform — Outbreak  of  Fenianism  in  Ireland — Mr.  Gladstone's  Reform  Bill  intro- 
duced— It  is  thrown  out — The  Derby  Cabinet — Mr.  Bright  lays  the  Foundation 
Stone  of  the  Rochdale  Town  Hall — Reform  Demonstrations. 

THERE  was  a  desire  in  the  first  place  to  offer  the  vacant  seat 
created  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Cobden  to  Mr.  Bright,  but  he 
could  not  possibly  accept  it  with  due  regard  to  the  unquestionable 
claims  of  his  Birmingham  constituents.  The  Liberal  electors  at 
last  selected  Mr.  T.  B.  Potter,  of  Manchester,  a  personal  friend  of 
Mr.  Cobden's,  as  their  candidate.  The  Conservatives  brought 
forward  an  eminent  Queen's  Counsel,  Mr.  W.  Baliol  Brett. 
Mr.  Bright  consented  to  be  present  at  a  meeting  of  the  electors, 
which  was  held  on  the  evening  of  the  10th  of  April,  1865,  in 
the  extensive  warehouse  of  Messrs.  Kelsall  and  Kemp,  in  Baillie 
Street,  and  he  said : — 

"  You  will  believe  me  when  I  say  I  have  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  consenting 
to  come  foiward  before  you  to-night  on  this  sad  occasion.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  have 
suffered  so  much  during  the  past  week,  that  perhaps  no  place  can  be  more  uncon- 
genial to  my  f eelings  than  the  platform  of  a  public  meeting ;  but  whilst  we  sorrow 
for  the  departed  we  are  not  permitted  to  abandon  the  duties  which  lie  upon  us  as 
citizens  of  our  country,  and  therefore,  in  the  hope  that  as  one  of  the  electors  of  this 
borough  I  may  be  able  to  add  my  counsel  to  the  general  counsel,  with  a  view  to 
promote  a  wise  result,  I  have  ventured  to  come  here  to-night,  to  join  you  in  the 
course  which  may  be  taken  with  regard  to  the  future  representation  of  this  borough. 
(Hear,  hear.)  .  .  .  Mr.  Ashworth,  who  moved  the  resolution,  has  referred  to  the 
character  of  the  late  Sir  Thomas  Potter.  There  are  many  here  who  did  not  know 
him.  I  knew  him  intimately,  and  I  believe  there  was  not  in  this  country  a  man 
more  entirely  devoted  to  what  was  just,  and  wise,  and  liberal  in  the  legislation  and 
government  of  this  country.  I  have  never  known  a  man  who  was  more  ready  to 
expend  his  money,  and  to  give  his  time  and  labour  for  great  public  objects,  more 
willingly  than  he  was  during  his  life.  (Cheers.)  I  know  one  man  who  bids  fair  to 
approach  him,  and  that  is  his  son,  who  is  proposed  to  be  your  representative.  (Loud 
cheers.)  ...  It  is  not  the  time,  and  probably  the  time  will  never  come,  when  it 
would  become  me  to  advert  to  a  hundred  acts  of  kindness  which  Mr.  Potter  has 
wished  to  perform,  and  many  of  which  he  has  performed  to  your  late  eminent  repre- 
sentative. (Cheers.)  If  I  can  speak  for  him  who  is  here  no  longer — and  I  know  no 
one  amongst  his  friends  who  has  a  better  right  to  speak — (hear,  hear) — I  should  say 
in  the  position  in  which  this  borough  is  now  placed  you  would  be  doing  only  that 
which  would  be  welcome  to  him,  if  y_ou  give  the  confidence  and  support  which  you 
offered  to  him  to  the  gentleman  who  is  now  proposed  to  you  as  a  candidate  for  your 
Buff  rages."  (Loud  cheers.) 

The  election  took  place  on  the  15th  of  April,  and  resulted  in 
the  return  of  Mr.  Potter  by  a  majority  of  150  ;  646  votes  were 
tendered  in  favour  of  Mr.  T.  B.  Potter,  and  496  for  Mr.  Brett. 


M66.1  LATERAL   EXTENSION    OP   THE   FRANCHISE.  425 

Some  time  after,  Mr.   Brett  was   made  a  judge,  and  is  now 
Master  of  the  Bolls. 

Parliament  was  dissolved  on  the  6th  of  July,  1865,  and  Mr. 
Brig-lit,  in  his  address  to  the  electors  of  Birmingham,  stated  : — 

"  I  fear  the  career  of  the  House  which  is  now  about  to  separate  is  one  which  has 
given  you  much  disappointment.  The  election  of  1859  was  caused  by  the  question 
of  suffrage  extension,  and  was  intended  to  promote  an  advance,  if  not  a  settlement, 
of  'that  question.  The  House  which  was  returned  at  that  election  has  been  disloyal 
to  its  pledges,  and  has  neglected  its  first  duty ;  the  Administration,  which  in  1859 
climbed  into  office  under  the  pretence  of  its  devotion  to  the  question  of  Parliamentary 
Reform,  has  violated  its  solemn  pledges.  Its  chiefs  have  purposely  betrayed  the 
cause  they  undertook  to  defend,  and  its  less  eminent  members  have  tamely  acquiesced 
in  that  betrayal.  The  Ministers  have  for  six  years  held  office,  which,  but  for 
promises  they  made,  and  which  they  have  broken,  they  could  not  have  obtained 
possession  of  even  for  a  single  day." 

Mr.  Bright,  with  his  colleagues,  were  returned  to  Parliament 
unopposed,  and  in  returning  thanks  to  the  electors,  during  a 
long  speech  he  remarked,  in  speaking  on  Reform  : — 

"  Now,  Mr.  Disraeli  is  a  man  who  does  what  may  be  called  the  conjuring  for  his 
party.  (Laughter.)  He  is  what,  amongst  a  tribe  of  Red  Indians,  would  be  called 
"  the  mystery  man."  (Renewed  laughter.)  He  invents  phrases  for  them — -and  one 
of  the  phrases,  the  last  and  the  newest,  is  this  lateral  extension  of  the  franchise. 
Now,  Mr.  Disraeli  is  a  man  of  brains,  of  genius,  of  great  capacity  for  action,  of  a 
wonderful  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  of  a  rare  courage.  He  would  have  been  a 
statesman  if  his  powers  had  been  directed  by  any  noble  principle  or  idea.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  But,  unhappily,  he  prefers  a  temporary  and  worthless  distinction 
as  the  head  of  a  decaying  party,  fighting  for  impossible  ends,  to  the  priceless  memo- 
ries of  services  rendered  to  his  country — (cheers) — and  to  freedom,  on  which  only  in 
our  age  an  enduring  fame  can  be  built  up.  (Loud  cheers.)  Now,  what  is  meant  by 
lateral  extension  ?  It  means  this :  that  all  below  £10  householders  are  not  to  be 
admitted.  Well,  the  present  law  admits  all  that  are  above  £10  householders,  and 
therefore  it  can  only  include  those  not  now  included,  a  few  men,  inconsiderable  in 
the  whole  number,  who  are  lodgers,  or  who  are  brothers  or  sons  of  housekeepers 
whose  names  are  already  on  the  register ;  and  therefore  it  is  quite  clear  that  this  is 
a  miserable  pretence  and  a  delusion,  and  an  insult  of  the  most  glaring  kind  to  the 
great  body  of  the  people.  (Loud  cheers.)  ...  I  believe  the  time  is  coming, 
nay,  that  we  are  upon  its  very  threshold— when  a  large  number  of  those  hitherto 
excluded  will  be  admitted,  and  we  shall  feel  more  than  ever  before  that  we  are  one 
nation  and  one  people.  Many  of  you  have  stood,  as  I  have  often  stood,  on  the  sea- 
shore, in  an  hour  of  quiet  and  of  calm.  No  tempest  drives  the  waves ;  the  wind  is 
but  a  whisper ;  and  yet  the  tide  comes  on  as  by  some  latent  and  mysterious  power. 
The  loiterers  on  the  beach  are  driven  from  point  to  point  as  the  waves  advance,  and 
at  length  the  whole  vast  basin  of  the  ocean  seems  filled  to  the  brim.  So  on  this 
question :  there  is  no  violence  nor  even  menace  of  force ;  but  opinion  grows,  its  tide 
moves  on ;  opposition,  ignorant  on  the  one  hand,  insolent  »n  the  other,  falls  back ; 
and  shortly  we  shall  see  barriers  thrown  down,  privilege  and  monopoly  swept  away, 
a  people  enfranchised,  and  the  measure  of  their  freedom  full.  You  have  honoured 
me  this  morning  by  committing  this  great  cause  in  part  to  my  keeping.  I  may 
defend  it  feebly,  I  may  fall  from  the  ranks  before  it  is  won,  but  of  one  thing  you 
may  be  sure,  I  shall  never  betray  it." 

The  result  of  the  general  election  was  that  the  Liberals 
gained  fifty-nine  new  seats,  and  the  Conservatives  thirty-three, 
which  relieved  the  Government  of  the  dread  of  a  Tory  descent 
upon  the  Ministerial  benches,  which  hitherto  operated  like  an 
incubus  on  the  spirits  of  those  who  wished  to  assert  the  inde- 
pendence of  Liberalism, 


«6  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   HEIGHT. 

Lord  Palmerston  was  not  destined  to  hold  the  reins  of 
Government  much  longer,  for  while  riding  in  an  open  carriage 
at  Brocket  Hall,  without  an  overcoat,  he  caught  a  severe  cold 
on  the  llth  of  October,  and  died  on  the  19th  of  the  same 
month. 

"Fate  steals  along  with  sileiit  tread, 
Found  of  tenest  in  what  least  we  dread ; 
Frowns  in  the  storm  with  angry  brow, 
But  in  the  sunshine  strikes  the  blow." 

The  noble  lord,  however,  had  reached  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-one. 
He  had  held  office  under  the  Crown  altogether  for  forty-eight 
years,  and  had  been  a  member  of  fourteen  Administrations.  He 
was  a  descendant  of  a  family  that  traced  its  lineage  to  a  Saxon 
earl,  and  had  for  ancestors  some  of  the  most  distinguished  states- 
men of  the  past  generation.  He  was  educated  at  a  public 
school  and  two  universities.  Although  he  had  held  office  for 
nearly  half  a  century,  he  had  not  originated  one  measure  of 
importance  with  which  his  name  will  be  associated.  His 
country's  welfare,  he  had  been  of  opinion,  was  best  achieved  by 
preserving  her  institutions  unchanged,  and  that  her  honour  was 
best  sustained  by  making  her  opinions  felt  in  every  part  of  the 
world.  He  was  "  a  terrible  man  with  a  terrible  name/'  and  the 
Russians,  it  was  said,  used  to  terrify  into  silence  their  children 
by  pronouncing  his  name.  Before  he  died,  however,  he  yielded 
to  the  doctrine  of  non-intervention.  By  the  express  com- 
mands of  the  Queen  he  was  honoured  with  a  public  funeral,  and 
was  sepulchred  at  Westminster  Abbey.  We  may  justly  lament 
that  the  ability  he  possessed  should  have  been  devoted  to 
squandering  his  country's  treasure  in  a  fruitless  foreign  policy, 
and  in  defences  against  an  imaginary  foe,  and  from  his  tomb  we 
can  draw  no  other  moral  than  of  defeated  hopes,  waste4  ability, 
and  worn-out  fame. 

The  Ministry  was  reconstructed,  and  Earl  Eussell  filled  the 
vacant  place  of  Premier,  and  Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone  became 
leader  in  the  House  of  Commons,  occupying  the  post  of  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer. 

Mr.  Bright  again  addressed  a  public  meeting  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Birmingham,  in  the  Town  Hall  of  that  town,  on  the 
13th  of  December,  1865.  Mr.  Yates,  the  Mayor,  presided. 

"I  recollect  reading  in  a  book,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  "I  believe  published 
under  the  authority  and  by  the  approval  of  a  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland,  that  there 
had  been  200  Acts  of  Parliament  passed  in  favour  of  the  landlord,  and  not  one  that 


he  could  point  to  in  favour  of  the  tenant.  (Cries  of  'Shame.')  Look  at  their 
Church — I  am  always  sorry  to  have  to  say  things  which  appear  injurious  to  the 
character  of  a  Church.  The  Church  religious  is  one  thing,  the  Church  political  is 


another.     (Cheers.)     Don't  let  any  labouring,  earnest,  Protestant  clergyman  in 
Ireland  think  that  I  am  undervaluing  whatever  services  he  may  render  to  religion. 


1866.]  A   REFORM   MEETING   AT   ROCHDALE.  427 

I  speak  of  the  Church  as  a  political  institution,  set  down  in  that  country  not  by  the 
opinion  of  the  people  but  by  the  power  of  the  Tory  party  in  England,  and  I  say  that 
so  long  as  that  Church  exists  there  never  will  be,  there  never  can  be— in  the  nature 
of  the  human  mind  there  never  ought  to  be — content  and  tranquillity  in  Ireland. 
(Cheers.)  And  this  is  not  all  we  suffer.  Look  at  America  in  connection  with  this 
question.  How  many  Irishmen  have  emigrated  to  America  ? 

'  Myriads  are  gathered  there  whom  rage  or  fear 
Drive  from  their  wasted  homes.' 

And  in  America  they  form  a  portion  of  the  people  perpetually  hostile  to  England. 
The  Scotch  are  a  people  no  more  disposed  to  put  up  with  insult  and  wrong  than  the 
Irish,  but  the  Scotch  who  emigrate,  whether  to  Canada  or  the  United  States,  are 
not  there  £he  enemies  of  this  country.  They  speak  of  England,  of  Scotland,  of 
Britain,  of  the  United  Kingdom,  with  respect  and  affection ;  and  if  the  Irish 
had  been  treated  as  the  Scotch  have  been  treated,  the  whole  of  the  Irish  nation  on 
the  American  continent,  instead  of  being  hostile,  bitterly  and  unchangeably  hostile, 
to  England,  would  have  been  much  smaller  in  its  numbers,  and  would  have  been 

just  as  friendly  to  us  as  the  emigrants  from  Scotland  are.     (Cheers.) Let 

me  now  put  to  you,  before  I  sit  down,  a  single  proposition,  and  through  these 
gentlemen  who  sit  below  me,  to  whom  freedom  in  this  country  is  so  greatly  and 
so  constantly  indebted — (applause) — let  me  put  it  to  the  people  of  this  kingdom — 
if  of  the  five  millions  who  are  now  shut  out  one  million  were  admitted — and  you 
will  mark  the  extreme,  some  will  say  blameable,  moderation  of  that  suggestion — if 
only  one  million  were  admitted,  would  not  the  cry  of  the  toil-laden  and  the 
suffering  which  even  now  ascends  to  Heaven,  would  it  not,  think  you,  reach 
further — be  heard  even  on  the  floor  of  Parliament  ?  For  do  not  forget  that  the  ear 
of  the  Supreme  is  nearer  even  to  the  lowliest  of  us  than  is  that  of  pur  earthly 
rulers.  (Cheers.)  But  if  that  voice  was  heard  in  Parliament,  would  it  not,  per- 
chance, do  something  to  still  the  roar  of  faction,  and  to  bend  the  powers  of 
statesmanship  to  the  high  and  holy  purposes  of  humanity  and  justice  ?  I  speak  not 
the  language  of  party ;  I  feel  myself  above  the  level  of  party.  (Great  and  con- 
tinued cheering.)  I  speak,  as  I  have  endeavoured  to  speak,  on  behalf  of  the  unen- 
franchised, the  almost  voiceless  millions  of  my  countrymen.  Their  claim  is  just, 
and  it  is  constitutional.  It  will  be  heard;  it  cannot  be  rejected.  (Cheers.)  To 
the  outward  eye  monarchs  and  parliaments  seem  to  rule  with  absolute  and  unques- 
tionable sway ;  but — and  I  quote  the  words  which  one  of  our  old  Puritan  poets  has 
left  for  us — 

'  There  is  on  earth  a  yet  auguster  thing, 
Veil'd  though  it  be,  than  Parliament  or  King.' 

That  auguster  thing  is  the  tribunal  which  God  has  set  up  in  the  consciences  of 
men.  It  is  before  that  tribunal  that  I  am  now  permitted  humbly  to  plead,  and  there  is 
something  in  my  heart — a  small  but  an  exultant  voice — which  tells  me  I  shall  not 
plead  in  vain."  (Great  cheers,  the  audience  rising  and  continuing  the  demonstra- 
tion for  some  tune.) 

A  Reform  meeting-,  which  had  been  called  by  the  Mayor  of 
Rochdale,  in  compliance  with  a  requisition,  was  held  on  the  3rd 
of  January,  1866,  in  Mr.  Pickuls's  wooden  theatre,  which  at  that 
time  was  situated  in  Newgate,  Rochdale.  Mr.  Bright  delivered 
a  lengthy  speech,  in  the  course  of  which  he  said : — 

"  I  was  glad  when  I  heard  it  was  intended  to  hold  this  meeting,  but  now  when  I 
stand  before  this  audience  I  feel  myself  filled  with  sadness  which  I  cannot  easily 
describe.  I  remember  some  of  your  former  meetings,  one  great  meeting  held  two 
years  ago,  and  another  still  greater  which  was  held  last  year,  at  which  I  was  not 
able  to  be  present ;  but  I  remember  that  great  and  most  noble  speech  which  many  of 
you  were  privileged  to  hear.  The  lips  whose  words  then  charmed  and  instructed 
you  are  now  closed  for  ever,  but  there  remains  to  us  one  thing,  a  priceless  legacy, 
the  example  of  a  great  and  noble  life,  devoted  to  justice — I  say,  devoted  to  justice — 
and  whose  labours  have  added  whole  realms  to  tne  ever-widening  empire  of  human 
freedom.  (Applause.)  In  the  midst  of  our  unavailing  regrets  let  us  thank  God  that 
buch  a  life  has  been  lived  amongst  us.  (Hear,  hear.)  ....  I  cannot  believe  that 


428  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN   BRIGHT. 

that  party  which  calls  itself  the  Conservative  party  will  make  this  question  of  Jamaica 
a  battle-ground  in  the  ensuing  session.  Mr.  Disraeli  is  a  man  who  is  a  head  and 
shoulders  taller  than  all  those  who  sit  about  him  or  who  follow  him,  in  all  intellect 
and  statesmanship.  (Hear,  hear.)  And  I  do  not  believe,  and  will  not  believe  until 
I  see  it,  that  Mr.  Disraeli  will  ever  permit  the  shocking  atrocities  committed  in 
Jamaica  to  be,  in  any  way  of  a  defence  of  them,  associated  with  his  public  character 
and  career.  (Hear,  hear.)  Besides,  suppose,  which  I  should  think  highly  probable, 
that  Mrs.  Gordon  were  to  retire  from  an  island  so  sad  to  her  henceforth  and  come  to 
England ;  suppose  she  came  to  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  asked  for 
justice,  is  there  any  man  in  that  House  who  dare  get  up  and  deny  that  justice  to 
that  woman  ?  Or  if  she  should  make  her  way  as  a  suppliant  to  the  steps  of  the 
throne,  think  you  that  the  widow  of  the  murdered  Gordon  will  ask  in  vain  for 
justice  at  the  hands  of  England's  widowed  Queen  ?  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  .*  But  two 
things  are  possible — I  am  not  certain  that  they  are  not  clear.  The  one  is,  that  if  this 
question  of  Reform  is  treated  with  a  feeble  hand  the  Government  wUl  fall ;  and  the 
other  is,  that  if  this  Government  falls,  presided  over  by  the  most  eminent  statesman 
now  living  of  the  Whig  party,  I  think  we  are  likely  to  see  the  entire  extinction  of 
the  Whigs  as  a  governing  party  in  the  affairs  of  this  country.  (Hear,  hear.)  But 
whether  the  Whigs,  whether  this  Government,  are  equal  to  the  time  or  not,  the 
cause  which  we  espouse,  and  which  I  am  endeavouring  to  defend,  is  nevertheless 
quite  safe ;  it  has  within  it  an  indestructible  life.  Feebleness  or  treacheiy  may 
retard  it  for  a  time,  but  cannot  prevent  its  final  and  its  early  triumph.  (Cheers.) 
There  is  an  old  poem  that  I  have  read  with  great  pleasure,  but  many  years  ago,  the 
'Fairie  Queene,'  a  line  of  which  I  think  may  teach  us  something  in  our  present 
position — 

'  No  fort  so  fensible,  no  -wall  so  strong, 
But  the  continual  battery  may  rive.' 

I  feel  certain  that  the  part  of  selfishness  and  monopoly  cannot  be  held  for  ever,  and 
that  the  walls  of  privilege  cannot  through  all  time  resist  the  multitudes  that  are 
gathering  to  the  assault.  (Hear,  hear.)  In  all  the  nations  of  the  world  at  this  day, 
I  believe,  the  powers  of  good  are  gaining  steadily  on  the  powers  of  evil.  (Hear, 
hear.)  I  think  it  is  eminently  and  happily  so  in  this  country.  Let  us  take  courage 
then.  We  are  endeavouring  by  constitutional  means  to  pass  a  great  constitutional 
end,  to  make  the  Parliament  not  only  the  organ  of  the  will,  but  the  honest  and 
faithful  guardian  of  the  interests  of  all  the  classes  of  this  country.  (Hear,  hear.)  It 
is  a  great  and  noble  purpose  which  we  have  set  ourselves  to  do,  and  it  is  a  purpose 
which  cannot  fail  if  we  are  true  to  it  and  ourselves."  (Great  cheering.) 

The  discontent  in  Ireland,  resulting  from  years  of  misrule, 
brought  into  being  a  brotherhood  that  assumed  the  name  of 
"  Fenians/''  The  civil  war  in  America  having  terminated,  multi- 
tudes of  Irishmen  who  had  enlisted  in  the  American  armies,  finding 
their  "  occupation  gone/'  and  preferring  a  life  of  adventure  and 
agitation  to  the  obscurity  of  monotonous  labour,  became  avowed 
Fenians.  Having  been  liberally  supplied  with  funds,  they  re- 
turned to  Ireland  and  sowed  the  seed  of  disaffection.  The 
safety  of  Ireland  becoming  serious,  it  was  deemed  wise  that  the 
Habeas  Corpus  Act  should  be  suspended,  and  accordingly,  on  the 
17th  February,  1866,  Sir  George  drey,  the  Home  Secretary, 
moved  in  the  House  of  Commons  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill  to 
effect  that  object.  Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  speech  on  the  subject. 
He  said : — 

"  Sixty  years  ago  this  House  undertook  to  govern  Ireland.  I  will  say  nothing 
of  the  circumstances  under  which  the  union  of  the  two  countries  took  place,  save 
that  they  were  disgraceful  and  corrupt  to  the  last  degree.  I  will  say  nothing  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  promises  made  to  the  Irish  people  were  broken.  During 
tljc  sixty  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the  union,  three  considerable  measures. 


1866.]  MB.    GLADSTONE'S   REFOBM   BILL.  429 

calculated  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  Irish  people,  have  passed  through  the 
House.  The  first  of  these  was  the  measure  passed  in  1829,  for  the  emancipation  of 
the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  an  Act  the  justness  of  which  no  one  now  questions.  Well, 
the  First  Minister  of  the  Crown,  himself  a  great  soldier,  stated  that  that  measure 
was  passed  in  the  face  of,  and  only  because  of,  the  danger  of  civil  war.  The  other 
two  measures  to  which  I  refer  are  the  Bill  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  the  Bill  for 
the  sale  of  encumbered  estates  ;  and  these  two  measures  were  introduced  into  this 
House,  and  passed  this  House,  on  the  emergency  of  a  famine,  more  severe,  I  believe, 
than  any  that  has  desolated  any  Christian  country  of  the  world  within  the  last  400 
years.  Except  on  these  emergencies — I  appeal  to  every  Irish  member  and  to  every 
English  member  who  has  ever  paid  any  attention  to  these  matters — except  in  these 
emergencies  Parliament  has  done  nothing  for  the  people  of  Ireland.  (Hear,  hear.) 
.  .  .  But  suppose  it  were  possible  for  these  men,  with  their  intellects,  with  their 
far-reaching  vision,  to  examine  this  question  thoroughly,  and  to  say  for  once, 
whether  this  leads  to  office  and  to  the  miserable  notoriety  that  men  call  fame  which 
springs  from  office,  or  not,  'If  it  be  possible,  we  will  act  with  loyalty  to  the 
Sovereign  and  justice  to  the  people ;  and  if  it  be  possible,  we  will  make  Ireland  a 
strength,  and  not  a  weakness,  to  the  British  Empire.'  It  is  from  this  fighting  with 
party  and  for  party,  and  for  the  gains  which  party  gives,  that  there  is  so  little  result 
from  the  great  intellect  of  such  men  as  these.  Like  the  captive  Samson  of  old — 

'  They  grind  in  brazen  fetters,  under  task, 
With  their  Heaven-gifted  strength ' — 

and  the  country  and  the  world  gain  little  by  those  faculties  which  God  has  given 
them  for  the  blessing  of  the  country  and  the  world."  (Cheers.) 

The  Bill  passed,  and  on  the  same  evening  received  the  Royal 
assent. 

Sir  George  Grey  in  February  introduced  a  Bill  for  sup- 
pressing the  cattle  plague,  for  the  ravages  by  this  disease  had 
become  alarming.  Mr.  Bright  agreed  in  the  absolute  necessity, 
so  far  as  farms  were  concerned,  of  enforcing  a  rigid  isolation ; 
but  he  differed  from  the  proposal  in  the  Bill  which  left  the 
power  of  widespread  and  indiscriminate  slaughter  to  the 
local  authorities.  With  compensation,  he  believed  that  the 
slaughter  would  be  unnecessary  and  monstrous  in  amount.  It 
was  contrary  to  the  principle  adopted  by  Parliament  on  past 
occasions  of  public  suffering  to  vote  money  out  of  taxes  to 
remedy  a  misfortune  of  this  kind  ;  and  it  was  a  grievance  which 
every  taxpayer  would  complain  of,  if  his  money  were  applied  to 
the  compensation  of  well-to-do  farmers  and  rich  landowners  who 
might  suffer  from  the  affliction.  The  Bill,  after  some  objection- 
able clauses  were  expunged,  and  throwing  the  whole  charge 
on  the  county  and  borough  rate,  passed,  .and  soon  received 
the  Royal  assent. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  on  behalf  of  the  Government,  on  the  12th  of 
March,  brought  in  a  Reform  Bill,  in  which  it  was  proposed 
to  reduce  the  county  franchise  from  £50  to  £14,  but  occupation 
of  property  of  a  value  less  than  £50  was  to  include  a  house  as 
well  as  land,  and  the  annual  value  of  the  house  was  not  to  be 
less  than  £7.  The  franchise  was  to  be  extended  to  compound 
householders  in  "boroughs,  to  tenants  of  separate  parts  of 


430  LITE  AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1866. 

a  house,  and  to  lodgers  paying  £10  a  year.  In  boroughs  the 
qualification  was  to  be  lowered  from  £10  to  £7.  The  Bill,  it 
was  calculated,  would  add  400,000  persons  to  the  list  of  voters. 
Mr.  Bright  approved  of  the  Bill  in  the  main,  and  gave  it  his 
support  because,  he  said,  as  far  as  it  went  it  was  a  simple  and 
honest  measure.  In  this  speech  Mr.  Bright  exhibited  his  great 
facility  in  stinging,  sticking  designations,  at  the  expense  or 
Messrs.  Lowe  and  Horsman,  who  opposed  the  Bi  1,  and  who 
had,  it  was  said,  become  disaffected  on  account  of  being  left  out 
in  the  cold  without  office  : — 

"  If  I  may  parody,  or  if  I  may  make  an  alteration  in  a  line  or  two  of  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  poems  in  our  language,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "  I  might  ask — 

'For  who,  to  dumb  forgetfulness  a  prey, 

That  pleasing,  anxious  office  e'er  resigned, 
Left  tha  warm  precincts  of  the  Treasury, 
Nor  cast  one  last,  long,  lingering  look  behind.' 

(Laughter.)  What  I  complain  of  is  this — that  when  place  recedes  into  the  some- 
what dim  past,  that  which  in  office  was  deemed  patriotism  vanishes  with  it ;  and 
we  have  one  howl  of  despair  from  these  right  hon.  gentlemen  because  it  is  proposed 
to  diminish  the  franchise  in  boroughs  from  £10  to  £7,  and  to  add  by  so  small 
a  proportion  as  that  something  to  the  freedom  of  the  people' of  this  country  .... 
The  right  hon.  gentleman  below  me  (Mr.  Horsman)  said  a  little  against  the 
Government  and  a  little  against  the  Bill,  but  had  last  night  a  field-night  for  an 
attack  upon  so  humble  an  individual  as  myself.  The  right  hon.  gentleman  is  the 
first  of  the  new  party  who  has  expressed  his  great  grief,  who  has  retired  into  what  may 
be  called  his  political  Cave  of  Adullam,  and  he  has  called  about  him  every  one  that 
was  in  distress,  and  every  one  that  was  discontented.  The  right  hon.  gentleman 
has  been  anxious  to  form  a  party  in  this  House.  There  is  scarcely  any  one  on  this 
side  of  the  House  who  is  able  to  address  the  House  with  effect,  or  to  take  much 
part  in  our  debates,  whom  he  has  not  tried  to  bring  over  to  his  party  or  cabal ;  and 
at  last  the  right  hon.  gentleman  has  succeeded  in  hooking  the  right  hon.  gentleman 
the  member  for  Calne.  (Laughter.)  I  know  there  was  an  opinion  expressed  many 
years  ago  by  a  member  of  the  Treasury  Bench  and  of  the  Cabinet,  that  two  men 
would  make  a  party.  When  a  party  is  formed  of  two  men  so  amiable,  so  discreet, 
as  the  two  right  hon.  gentlemen,  we  may  hope  to  see  for  the  first  time  in  Parlia- 
ment a  party  perfectly  harmonious,  and  distinguished  by  mutual  and  unbroken 
trust.  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  But  there  is  one  difficulty  which  it  is  impossible  to 
remove.  This  party  of  two  reminds  me  of  the  Scotch  terrier,  which  was  so 
covered  with  hair,  that  you  could  not  tell  which  was  the  head  and  which  was  the 
tail  of  it."  (Great  laughter.) 

Mr.  Bright  opened  the  adjourned  debate  on  the  subject  of 
Reform  on  the  23rd  of  April,  in  a  very  long  speech,  in  which, 
replying  to  Sir  E.  B.  Lytton,  he  said : — 

"  The  right  hon.  baronet  once  held  very  different  opinions  from  these.  Many 
years  ago  he  published  a  book  called  '  England  and  the  English.'  This  is  not  a  very 
profound  but  a  very  amusing  book,  and  I  should  like  to  read  to  the  House  a  sentence 
which  the  right  hon.  gentleman  put  as  a  motto  to  the  book,  which  motto,  I  think, 
he  took  from  Ben  Jonson.  The  words  are— 

'  I  am  he, 

Have  measured  all  the  shires  of  England  over, 
For  to  these  savages  I  was  addicted 
To  search  their  nature  and  make  odd  discoveries.' 

The  discovery  which  he  had  made  up  to  1860  was  this:  if  you  introduce  artisans  and 
working-men  between  a  £10  and  £6  rental,  you  give  the  lion's  share  of  the  power  of 
the  representation  to  the  poverty  and  passion  of  the  country.  In  his  speech  last 


1866.]  THE   GOVEENMENT   DEFEATED.  441 

week  he  did  not  treat  the  working-men  as  if  they  were  made  up  of  poverty  and 
passion,  but  he  used  generous  words  of  them,  and  he  told  us  how  there  was  a  tie, 
not  only  of  interest,  but  of  respect  and  affection,  between  the  rich  and  the  labouring 
poor ;  and  doubtless  this  language  far  more  accurately  stated  his  real  opinion  than 
when  he  said  that  between  £6  and  £10  the  working-men  were  represented  by 
'  poverty  and  passion.'  But  to  give  them  compliments  of  this  kind,  and  not  votes, 
seems  to  me  to  be  a  thing  which  will  not  be  well  received  by  the  great  body  of  the 
people,  who  are  asking  that  at  least  some  of  them  may  be  admitted  to  a  representa- 
tion in  this  House.  It  reminds  me  very  much  of  that  couplet,  which  I  am  sure  the 
right  hon.  gentleman  will  remember,  from  Shenstone — 

'  He  kicked  them  downstairs  with  such  a  sweet  grace, 
They  may  think  he  was  handing  them  up.' 

(Laughter.)  How  is  it  to  be  conceived  that,  after  a  speech  full  of  such  noble  and 
generous  sympathy,  the  right  hon.  gentleman  concludes  to  throw  all  the  weight  of 
his  character  and  influence  into  the  side  of  a  party  which  says  little  that  is  kind  and 
generous  of  this  class  ?  (Loud  opposition  cries  of  '  No,  no.')  I  will  say,  then,  of  a 
party  which  sometimes  does  say  something  generous  of  the  working-class,  but  never 
shows  the  slightest  disposition  to  confer  upon  it  any  portion  of  political  rights. 
(Cheers.)  I  have  been  misrepresented,  and  condemned,  and  denounced  by  hon. 
gentlemen  opposite,  and  by  not  a  few  writers  in  their  press.  My  conscience  tells  me 
that  I  have  laboured  honestly  only  to  destroy  that  which  is  evil,  and  to  build  up 
that  which  is  good.  The  political  gains  of  the  last  twenty-five  years,  as  they  were 
summed  up  the  other  night  by  the  hon.  member  for  Wick  (Mr.  Laing),  are  my 
political  gains,  if  they  can  be  called  the  gains  in  any  degree  of  any  living  English- 
man. (Cheers.)  And  if  now,  in  all  the  great  centres  of  our  population — in 
Birmingham  with  its  busy  district — in  Manchester  with  its  encircling  towns — in 
the  population  of  the  West  Biding  of  Yorkshire — in  Glasgow  and  amidst  the  vast 
industries  of  the  west  of  Scotland — and  in  this  great  Babylon  in  which  we  are 
assembled — if  we  do  not  find  ourselves  surrounded  by  hungry  and  exasperated 
multitudes — if  now,  more  than  at  any  time  during  the  last  hundred  years,  it  may  be 
said,  quoting  the  beautiful  words  of  Mr.  Sheridan,  that — 

'  Content  sits  basking  on  the  cheek  of  toil ' — 

if  this  House,  and  if  its  statesmen,  glory  in  the  change,  have  I  not  as  much  as  any 
living  man  some  claim  to  partake  of  that  glory  ?  I  know,  and  eveiy  thoughtful 
man  among  you  knows,  and  those  gentlemen  who  sit  on  that  bench  and  who  are 
leading  you  to  this  enterprise,  know  that  the  policy  I  have  urged  upon  the  House 
and  upon  the  country,  so  far  as  it  has  hitherto  been  accepted  by  Parliament,  is  a 
policy  conservative  of  the  public  welfare,  strengthening  the  just  authority  of 
Parliament,  and  adding  from  day  to  day  fresh  lustre  and  dignity  to  the  Crown. 
And  now,  when  I  speak  to  you  and  ask  you  to  pass  this  Bill — when  I  plead  on  behalf 
of  those  who  are  not  allowed  to  speak  themselves  in  this  House — if  you  could  raise 
yourself  for  this  night,  for  this  hour,  above  the  region  of  party  strife — if  you  could 
free  yourselves  from  the  pestilent  atmosphere  of  passion  and  prejudice  which  so 
often  surrounds  us  here,  I  feel  confident  that  at  this  moment  I  should  not  plead  in 
vain  before  this  Imperial  Parliament  on  behalf  of  the  English  constitution  and  the 
English  people. ' '  (Cheers. ) 

On  the  27th  of  April,  on  the  second  reading  of  the  Bill,  it 
was  found  that  the  majority  numbered  only  five.  The  Govern- 
ment took  the  vote  to  mean  that  the  House  wished  the  Reform 
Bill  to  go  on,  and  also  that  it  should  be  made  to  include  the 
redistribution  of  seats.  Accordingly,  a  Bill  for  this  purpose  was 
introduced  in  May,  the  main  features  of  which  were  the  obtaining 
forty-nine  vacant  seats  by  grouping  small  boroughs  and  taking 
away  their  second  members,  and  the  allotment  of  these  seats — 
seven  to  Scotland,  twenty-six  to  English  counties,  and  the  rest 
to  English  boroughs.  On  Lord  Dunkellin's  motion,  substituting 
a  rating  for  a  rental  franchise  in  the  boroughs,  the  Government 


482  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1868. 

were  left  in  a  minority  of  eleven,  and  instantly  resigned.  Lord 
Derby  next  formed  a  Cabinet.  Mr.  Disraeli  was  appointed 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer;  Lord  Chelmsford,  Lord  Chan- 
cellor; Duke  of  Buckingham,  Lord  President  of  the  Council; 
Earl  of  Malmesbury,  Lord  Privy  Seal ;  Mr.  Walpole,  Home 
Secretary  ;  Lord  Stanley,  Foreign  Secretary ;  Earl  of  Carnarvon, 
Colonial  Secretary;  General  Peel,  War  Secretary;  Viscount 
Cranbourne,  Indian  Secretary ;  Sir  S.  Northcote,  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trade ;  Earl  of  Devon,  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster;  Duke  of  Montrose,  Postma ster- General ;  Sir  J. 
Pakington,  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty ;  Marquis  of  Abercorn, 
Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland;  and  Lord  Naas,  Secretary  for 
Ireland. 

Mr.  Bright  laid  the  foundation-stone  of  the  Rochdale  Town 
Hall  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  number  of  his  townsmen 
on  the  31st  of  March.  Mr.  Bright's  speech  was  lengthy,  and  in 
alluding  to  the  Liberal  members  who  had  represented  Rochdale 
in  Parliament,  he  said : — 

"  If  I  look  at  the  members  who  have  sat  for  this  borough,  taking  the  whole  time 
from  the  period  of  our  enfranchisement,  now  thirty-four  years  ago,  I  think  we  may 
hold  up  our  heads  alongside  any  constituency  in  the  "kingdom.  (Hear,  hear.) 
Whether  I  take  Mr.  Fenton,  who  was  our  first  member — (hear,  hear) — a  neighbour 
in  high  esteem,  faithful  always  to  his  convictions,  and  retaining,  as  long  as  he  chose 
to  sit,  the  confidence  of  the  constituency ;  or  coming  down  from  him  to  Mr.  Shannan 
Crawford,  who  came  to  this  town,  I  will  hardly  say  as  a  candidate,  because  he  was 
riot  a  candidate  of  his  own  offering,  but  came  to  be  elected  at  the  time  when  I  believe 
there  was  not  a  single  person  in  this  town  but  myself  who  had  not  voted  for  his 
candidature  when  he  was  first  proposed,  though,  of  course,  I  voted  for  him  at  the 
election.  Well,  after  him  came  Mr.  Miall,  a  gentleman  who  has  made  himself  a 
great  position — (hear^  hear) — and  a  name  in  connection  with  great  principles,  for 
which,  it  may  be,  this  country  is  not  yet  prepared,  but  which  principles  will  live 
long  after  all  those  who  now  deride  and  oppose  them  are  forgotten.  (Cheers.)  Well, 
after  him  we  elected  another  man,  and  I  fear  to  speak  now  of  a  man  who  this  time 
twelve  months  was  yet  living,  but  the  anniversary  of  whose  death  will  be  only  to- 
morrow. You  see  here  in  marble  (pointing  to  the  bust  of  the  late  Mr.  Cobden, 
which  was  placed  in  the  room)  the  representation  of  his  outward  form,  so  good  I 
think  as  you  will  rarely  see  of  any  man  who  has  passed  from  among  us,  but  marble 
itself  is  but  of  transient  duration  compared  with  the  permanency  of  that  fame  which 
his  services  to  this  country  confer  upon  his  name.  (Loud  cheers.)  We  have  selected 
another  since  then.  I  will  not  speak  of  the  present  member  of  this  borough 
(Mr.  T.  B.  Potter).  He  said  of  the  Parliament  that  it  was  a  new  Parliament,  and 
had  not  been  very  long  tried ;  therefore  I  might  say  the  same  of  him,  but  I  have  no 
doubt  that  when  the  time  shall  come  that  his  connection  with  this  borough  shall 
cease,  and  I  wish  it  to  be  remote — (applause) — that  we  shall  be  able  to  add  him  to 
the  list  of  our  representatives  who  have  done  credit  to  the  choice  of  the  consti- 
tuency, and  who,  by  their  consistency  in  the  support  of  all  just  principles  of  public 
freedom,  have  done  something  to  aid  the  advancing  interests  and  liberties  of  their 
country."  (Cheers.) 

A  "Reform  Demon stration"  was  held  in  Birmingham,  on 
the  27th  of  August,  which  was  the  first  of  a  series  held  in 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  Mr.  Bright  was  invited  to  all 
of  these  demonstrations.  At  Birmingham  several  thousand 


EEFOEM   DEMONSTRATIONS.  433 

persons  walked  in  procession,  headed  by  a  number  of  can  iages,  in 
the  first  of  which  were  Mr.  John  Bright  and  Mr.  Schofieid,  M.P. 
No  fewer  than  six  platforms  were  erected  in  Brooke's  Field,  and 
about  150,000  men  were  present.  Resolutions  in  favour  of 
Reform  were  passed.  In  the  evening  a  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Town  Hall;  the  Mayor  presided.  About  6,000  persons  managed 
to  get  accommodation  in  this  large  hall.  Mr.  Bright,  in  the 
course  of  his  speech,  in  referring  to  the  Reform  Bill  introduced 
by  the  Liberal  Government,  said  : — 

"  Now  that  Bill,  so  moderate  that  I  confess  I  had  entertained  the  hope  that  it 
would  pass  through  Parliament  without  any  great  difficulty,  was  resisted  as  if  it 
had  been  charged  with  all  the  dangerous  matter  which  the  Tory  party  attributed  to  it. 
It  was  intrigued  against  in  a  manner — I  had  almost  said  more  base,  but  I  will 
say  more  hatefuj,  than  any  measure  I  have  seen  opposed  during  the  twenty- three 
years  that  I  have  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  and  finally,  under  every  kind 
of  false  pretence,  it  was  rejected  by  a  small  majority,  and  fell,  and  with  it  the 

Government  which  had  proposed  it  also  fell The  Government  of  Lord 

Derby  in  the  House  of  Commons,  sitting  all  in  a  row,  reminds  me  very  much  of  a 
number  of  amusing  and  ingenious  gentlemen  whom  I  dare  say  some  of  you  have 
seen  and  listened  to.  I  mean  the  Christy  Minstrels.  The  Christy  Minstrels,  if 
I  am  not  misinformed,  are,  when  they  are  clean-washed,  white  men ;  but  they 
come  before  the  audience  as  black  as  the  blackest  negroes,  and  by  this  trans- 
formation it  is  expected  that  their  jokes  and  songs  wUl  be  more  amusing.  The 
Derby  minstrels  pretend  to  be  Liberal  and  white ;  but  the  fact  is,  if  you  come 
nearer  and  examine  them  closely,  you  will  find  them  to  be  just  as  black  and  curly 
as  the  Tories  have  ever  been.  I  do  not  know,  and  I  will  not  pretend  to  say,  which 
of  them  it  is  that  plays  the  banjo  and  which  the  bones.  But  I  have  no  doubt  that, 
in  their  manoeuvres  to  keep  in  office  during  the  coming  session,  we  shall  know 
something  more  about  them  than  we  do  at  present.  They  are,  in  point  of  fact, 

when  they  pretend  to  be  Liberal,  mere  usurpers  and  impostors The 

address  which  has  been  presented  to  me  has  referred  to  1832.  I  remember  that 
time  well.  My  young  heart  then  was  stirred  with  the  trumpet-blast  that  sounded 
from  your  midst.  There  was  no  part  of  this  kingdom  where  your  voice  was  not 
heard.  Let  it  sound  again.  (Cheers.)  Stretch  out  your  hands  to  your  country- 
men in  every  part  of  the  three  kingdoms,  and  ask  them  to  join  you  in  a  great  and 
righteous  effort  on  behalf  of  that  freedom  which  has  been  so  long  the  boast  of 
Englishmen,  but  which  the  majority  of  Englishmen  have  -never  yet  possessed.  I 
shall  esteem  it  an  honour  which  my  words  cannot  describe,  and  which  even  in 
thought  I  cannot  measure,  if  the  population  which  I  am  permitted  to  represent 
should  do  its  full  duty  in  the  great  struggle  which  is  before  us.  Remember  the 
great  object  for  which  we  strive.  Care  not  for  calumnies  and  lies.  Our  object  is 
this — to  restore  the  British  Constitution  in  all  its  fulness,  with  all  its  freedom,  to 
the  British  people."  (Cheers.) 

A  demonstration  was  next  held  in  favour  of  Reform  at 
Manchester  on  the  24th  of  September.  An  open-air  meeting 
was  held  in  Campfield,  Knott  Mill,  and  thousands  of  working 
men  from  the  surrounding  towns  showed  their  zeal  by  going  to 
Manchester,  although  it  was  pouring  rain.  The  procession  num- 
bered about  12,000  persons,  and  about  80,000  persons  listened  to 
the  speeches  that  were  delivered.  In  the  evening  a  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Free-trade  Hall,  which  was  not  sufficiently  large  to 
accommodate  the  vast  number  that  thronged  to  seek  admission. 
When  Mr.  Bright  appeared  on  the  platform  the  entire  mass  saluted 
him  with  cheers  and  waving  of  hats  and  handkerchiefs,  and  the 
c  c 


434  LITE  AND  TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [ISM. 

band  played  "Auld  Lang  Syne."  Instantly  the  appropriateness 
of  this  chorus  to  the  renewal  of  intercourse  between  Mr.  Bright 
and  his  former  constituents  was  perceived ;  the  entire  audience 
joined  in  the  chorus,  and  repeated  it  again  and  again.  The  chair 
was  taken  by  Mr.  T.  B.  Potter,  M.P.  Mr.  George  Wilson,  in 
moving  the  adoption  of  an  address  to  Mr.  Bright,  said  that  for 
the  last  twenty  years  Mr.  Bright  had  had  the  question  of  Reform 
entirely  in  his  hands.  No  man  had  worked  harder  or  made 
greater  sacrifices,  and  although  he  might  not  acquire  a  fortune, 
although  he  might  not  succeed  in  establishing  a  family,  yet  he 
would  leave  a  name  behind  him,  an  inheritance  to  his  children, 
which  all  the  wealth  in  England  could  not  buy.  Mr.  Hooson 
seconded  the  adoption  of  the  address,  which  was  supported  by 
Mr.  E.  Beales  and  Mr.  Benjamin  Armitage,  and  adopted  amid 
deafening  cheers.  Mr.  Bright's  speech  ranged  over  two  columns 
and  a  half  of  the  newspapers.  He  remarked  : — 

"And  now,  as  my  eye  has  rested  upon  this  wonderful  assembly,  I  have  thought 
it  not  wrong  to  ask  myself  whether  there  is  any  question  that  is  great,  that  is  suffi- 
cient, that  is  noble,  that  has  called  us  together  to-night,  and  I  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  great  as  is  this  meeting,  and  transcendently  great  the  meeting  which 
was  held  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  that  the  question  which  has  brought  us  together 
is  worthy  of  our  assembling  and  worthy  of  every  effort  we  may  make.  (Hear,  hear.) 
We  are  met  for  the  purpose,  so  far  as  lies  in  our  power,  of  widening  the  boundaries 
and  making  more  stable  the  foundations  of  the  freedom  of  the  country  in  which  we 
live.  (Hear,  hear.)  We  are  not,  as  our  forefathers  were  two  hundred  years  ago, 
called  upon  to  do  battle  with  the  crown ;  we  have  no  dynasty  to  complain  of,  nor 
royal  family  to  dispossess.  In  our  day  the  wearer  of  the  crown  of  England  is  in 
favour  of  freedom.  (Cheers.)  On  many  separate  occasions,  as  you  all  know,  the 
Queen  has  strongly — as  strongly  as  became  her  station — urged  upon  Parliament  the 
extension  of  the  franchise  to  the  people.  (Hear,  hear.)  Parliament  has  been  less 
liberal  than  the  crown — (hear,  hear) — and  time  after  time  those  recommendations 
have  been  disregarded,  and  the  offers  of  the  monarch  have  been  rejected  and  denied." 
(Cries  of  "  Shame.") 

Leeds  followed  Manchester  with  a  demonstration,  on  the  8th 
of  October,  in  favour  of  Reform.  The  day  was  observed  more 
or  less  as  a  general  holiday.  The  procession  took  an  hour  to 
pass  a  given  point,  and  the  streets  were  crowded  with  spectators. 
A  meeting  was  held  on  Woodhouse  Moor,  and  about  150,000 
pei-sons  were  present.  Resolutions  were  passed  at  five  different 
platforms  in  favour  of  Reform,  and  acknowledging  the  services 
of  Messrs.  Gladstone,  Bright,  and  Mill.  In  the  evening  there 
was  an  immense  meeting  in  the  Victoria  Hall,  at  which  Mr. 
Bright  was  presented  with  an  address.  In  responding,  he  delivered 
a  lengthy  speech,  remarking  that — 

"  The  Tories  were  half  repenting  the  course  they  took  during  the  previous  session, 
and  when  he  stated  that  Lord  Derby  was  not  a  Reformer  he  was  charged  with  railing 
at  Lord  Derby  ;  and  it  was  said  that  it  was  positively  a  case  of  shocking  injustice  to 
charge  the  Tories  with  being  hostile  to  Reform.  (Laughter.)  Well,  his  memory 
might  not  be  as  correct  as  that  of  some  people,  but  he  recollected  that  during  the  last 


1866.]  REFORM   DEMONSTRATIONS.  436 

session  the  280  gentlemen  who  called  themselves  Tories  in  the  House  of  Commons 
objected  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  Bill  because  it  proposed  to  admit,  according  to  Mr. 
Gladstone's  estimate,  204,000  working-men  of  the  unenfranchised  five  million  to  the 
suffrage."  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.) 

The  agitation  was  next  extended  to  Glasgow,  and  on  the 
16th  of  October  there  was  a  procession  to  the  place  of  meeting 
which  extended  five  miles,  and  numbered  20,000  to  30,000 
persons.  On  the  ground  during  the  proceedings  it  was 
calculated  that  130,000  individuals  were  present.  In  the 
evening  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  City  Hall,  which  was 
crowded  by  an  enthusiastic  audience.  Mr.  Robert  Dalglish 
presided.  Mr.  Bright,  in  responding,  said: — 

"A  friend  of  mine — a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  who  lives  within  six 
miles  of  the  Royal  town  and  Castle  of  Windsor,  told  me  only  the  other  day  that 
he  knew  the  case  of  a  family  near  his  house  in  which  there  had  grown  up 
eleven  children,  not  one  of  whom  could  read  or  write  in  the  least  degree.  And 
he  said  that  he  had  lately  had  in  his  employ  upon  his  property  seven  men,  of 
whom  four  could  neither  read  nor  write,  two  of  them  could  read  most  im- 
perfectly, and- one  of  them  could  read  and  write  about  as  well  as  the  other  two 
could  read.  Bear  in  mind  that  all  this  exists  within  six  miles  of  the  Royal  Castle 
of  Windsor.  It  exists  in  a  neighbourhood  where  lords  and  squires  and  established 
clergymen  swarm.  Such  is  the  state  of  ignorance  of  that  population  at  this 
moment.  In  the  county  from  which  I  come,  girls  of  the  age  of  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  years  are  earning,  many  of  them,  I  believe,'  double  Jhe  weekly  wages  of 
the  able-bodied  farm  labourer,  the  head  and  father  of  a  family,  in  some  of 
the  south-western  counties  of  England.  But  what  must  be  the  ignorance  of 
that  population  with  such  wages  offering  to  them  in  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire 
that  they  scarcely  hear  of  them.  They  seem  to  have  no  aspiration  to  better 
their  condition,  and  there  is  no  sensible  emigration  from  these  wretched  counties 
to  the  more  prosperous  counties  of  the  north.  Your  address  refers  to  pauperism — 
the  gulf  of  pauperism.  In  the  United  Kingdom  at  this  moment  there  are  more 
than  1,200,000  paupers.  The  pauperism  of  the  United  Kingdom  last  year — and 
it  will  not  cost  less,  I  believe,  this  year — cost  the  ratepayers — -those  who  pay  taxes 
for  the  relief  of  the  poor — more  than  seven  and  a  half  millions  sterling,  and 
this  does  not  include  many  thousands  of  vagrants  who  also  come  occasionally 
under  the  name  of  paupers.  .  .  Now,  if  the  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Commons 
were  placed  at  Temple  Bar,  and  if  he  had  orders  to  tap  upon  the  shoulder  every 
well-dressed  and  apparently  clean-washed  man  who  passed  through  that  ancient 
bar,  until  he  had  numbered  six  hundred  and  fifty-eight ;  and  if  the  Crown 
summoned  these  six  hundred  and  fifty-eight  to  be  the  Parliament  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  my  honest  conviction  is  that  you  would  have  a  better  Parliament 
than  now  exists.  This  assertion  will  stagger  some  timid  and  some  good  men ; 
but  let  me  explain  myself  to  you.  It  would  be  a  Parliament,  every  member  of 
which  would  have  no  direct  constituency,  but  it  would  bo  a  Parliament  that 
would  act  as  a  jury  that  would  take  some  heed  of  the  facts  and  arguments  laid 
before  it.  It  would  be  free,  at  any  rate,  from  the  class  prejudices  which  weigh 
upon  the  present  House  of  Commons.  It  would  be  free  from  the  over- 
shadowing presence  of  what  are  called  noble  families.  It  would  owe  no 
allegiance  to  great  landowners,  and  I  hope  it  would  have  fewer  men  amongst 
it  seeking  their  own  gains  by  entering  Parliament.  .  .  I  believe  now  there 
is  nothing  which  would  tend  so  much  to  sweeten  the  breath  of  British  society 
as  the  admission  of  a  large  and  generous  number  of  the  working- classes  to 
citizenship  and  the  exercise  of  the  franchise.  (Cheers.)  Now,  if  my  words  should 
reach  the  ears  and  reach  the  heart  of  any  man  who  is  interested  in  the  advance- 
ment of  religion  in  this  country,  I  ask  him  to  consider  whether  there  are  not 
great  political  obstacles  to  the  extension  of  civilisation  and  morality  and  religion 
within  the  bounds  of  the  United  Kingdom.  (Cheers.)  We  believe — these 
ministers,  you,  and  I — we  believe  in  a' Supreme  Ruler  of  the  Universe.  We 
believe  in  His  omnipotence ;  w«  believe  and  we  humbly  trust  in  His  mercy.  We 

C   C   2 


436  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN  BRIGHT. 

kiiow  that  the  strongest  argument  which  is  used  against  that  belief,  by  those 
who  reject  it,  is  an  argument  drawn  from  the  misery,  and  the  helplessness, 
and  the  darkness  of  so  many  of  our  race,  even  in  countries  which  call  them- 
selves civilised  and  Christian.  Is  not  that  the  fact  ?  If  I  believed  that  this  misery, 
and  this  helplessness,  and  this  darkness,  could  not  be  touched  or  transformed, 
I  myself  should  be  driven  to  admit  the  almost  overwhelming  force  of  that 
argument;  but  I  am  convinced  that  just  laws,  and  an  enlightened  administration 
of  them,  would  change  the  face  of  the  country." 

A  banquet  was  given  by  the  Irish  Liberals  to  Mr.  Bright,  in 
the  Rotunda,  Dublin,  on  the  30th  of  October.  There  was  a 
very  large  attendance  of  the  leading  Liberals  of  Ireland,  and  the 
galleries  were  filled  with  a  brilliant  attendance  of  ladies.  The 
invitation  was  signed  by  upwards  of  twenty  members  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  by  a  large  number  of  gentlemen  of  position ;  in  fact, 
the  member  for  Birmingham  seemed  to  be  a  great  favourite,  and 
every  reliance  placed  on  what  he  stated.  The  chair  was  occupied 
by  The  O'Donoghue,  M.P.,  who  said  they  were  there  that  night  as 
a  great  national  assembly,  representing  all  who  loved  liberty,  and 
placed  the  interest  of  the  commonwealth  above  the  interest  of 
party;  and,  in  the  name  of  Ireland,  they  wished  John  Bright, 
the  matchless  advocate  of  the  people,  and  their  tried  and  trusted 
friend,  a  thousand  welcomes  to  the  shores  of  Ireland. 

"  I  think  I  was  told  in  1849,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "  as  I  stood  in  the  burial  ground 
at  Skibbereen,  that  at  least  400  people  who  had  died  of  famine  were  buried  within 
the  quarter  of  an  acre  of  ground  on  which  I  was  then  looking.  It  is  a  country,  too, 
from  which  there  has  been  a  greater  emigration  by  sea  within  a  given  time  than  has 
been  known  at  any  time  from  any  other  country  in  the  world.  It  is  a  country  where 
there  has  been,  for  generations  past,  a  general  sense  of  wrong,  out  of  which  has  grown 
a  state  of  chronic  insurrection ;  and  at  this  very  moment  when  I  speak,  the  general 
safeguard  of  constitutional  liberty  is  withdrawn,  and  we  meet  in  this  hall,  and  I 
speak  here  to-night,  rather  by  the  forbearance  and  permission  of  the  Irish  executive 
than  tinder  the  protection  of  the  common  safeguards  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom.  I  venture  to  say  that  this  is  a  miserable  and 
a  humiliating  picture  to  draw  of  this  country.  Bear  in  mind  that  I  am  not  speaking 
of  Poland  suffering  under  the  concjuest  of  Russia.  There  is  a  gentleman,  now  a 
candidate  for  au  Irish  county,  who  is  very  great  upon  the  wrongs  of  Poland ;  but  I 
have  found  him  always  in  the  House  of  Commons  taking  sides  with  that  great  party 
which  has  systematically  supported  the  wrongs  of  Ireland.  I  am  not  speaking 
about  Hungary,  or  of  Venice  as  she  was  under  the  rule  of  Austria,  or  of  the  Greeks 
under  the  dominion  of  the  Turk,  but  I-am  speaking  of  Ireland — part  of  the  United 
Kingdom — part  of  that  which  boasts  itself  to  be  the  most  civilised  and  the  most 
Christian  nation  in  the  world.  I  took  the  liberty  recently,  at  a  meeting  in  Glasgow, 
to  say  that  I  believed  it  was  impossible  for  a  class  to  govern  a  great  nation  wisely 
and  justly.  Now,  in  Ireland  there  has  been  a  field  in  which  all  the  principles  of  the 
Tory  party  have  had  their  complete  experiment  and  development.  You  have  had 
the  country  gentleman  in  all  his  power.  You  have  had  any  number  of  Acts  of 
Parliament  which  the  ancient  Parliament  of  Ireland  or  the  Parliament  of  the  United 
Kingdom  could  give  him.  Yon  have  had  the  Established  Church  supported  by  the 
law,  even  to  the  extent,  not  many  years  ago,  of  collecting  its  revenues  by  the  aid  of 
military  force.  In  point  of  fact,  I  believe  it  would  be  impossible  to  imagine  a  state 
of  things  in  which  the  principles  of  the  Tory  party  have  had  a  more  entire  and  com- 
plete opportunity  for  their  trial  than  they  have  had  within  the  limits  of  this  island. 
And  yet  what  has  happened  ?  This,  surely.  That  the  kingdom  has  been  continu- 
ally weakened — that  .the  harmony  of  the  empire  has  been  disturbed,  and  that  the 
mischief  has  not  been  confined  to  the  United  Kingdom,  but  has  spread  to  the 
colonies.  .  .  I  am  told — you  can  answer  it  if  I  am  wrong— that  it  is  not  common 


1866.]  IRELAND.  437 

in  Ireland  now  to  give  leases  to  tenants,  especially  to  Catholic  tenants.  If  that 
be  so,  then  the  security  for  the  property  of  the  tenant  rests  only  upon  the  good  feel- 
ing and  favour  of  the  owner  of  the  land,  for  the  laws,  as  we  know,  have  been  made 
by  the  landowners,  and  many  propositions  for  the  advantage  of  the  tenants  have  un- 
fortunately been  top  little  considered  by  Parliament.  The  result  is  that  you  have  bad 
fanning,  bad  dwelling-houses,  bad  temper,  and  everything  bad  connected  with  the 
occupation  and  cultivation  of  land  in  Ireland.  One  of  the  results — a  result  the  most 
appalling— is  this,  that  your  population  is  fleeing  from  your  country  and  seeking 
refuge  in  a  distant  land.  (Cheers. )  On  this  point  I  wish  to  refer  to  a  letter  which 
I  received  a  few  days  ago  from  a  most  esteemed  citizen  of  Dublin.  He  told  me  that 
he  believed  that  a  very  large  portion  of  what  he  called  the  poor,  amongst  Irishmen, 
sympathised  with  any  scheme  or  any  proposition  that  was  adverse  to  the  Imperial 
Government.  (Cheers.)  He  said  further,  that  the  people  here  are  rather  in  the 
country  than  of  it,  and  that  they  are  looking  more  to  America  than  they  are  looking 
to  England.  (Cheers.)  I  think  there  is  a  good  deal  in  that.  When  we  consider 
how  many  Irishmen  have  found  a  refuge  in  America,  I  do  not  know  how  we  can 
wonder  at  that  statement.  You  will  recollect  that  when  the  ancient  Hebrew  prophet 
prayed  in  his  captivity,  he  prayed  with  his  window  open  towards  Jerusalem.  You 
know  that  the  followers  of  Mohammed,  when  they  pray,  turn  their  faces  towards 
Mecca.  When  the  Irish  peasant  asks  for  food,  and  freedom,  and  blessing,  his 
eye  follows  the  setting  sun — (cheers) — the  aspirations  of  his  heart  reach  beyond 
the  wide  Atlantic,  and  in  spirit  he  grasps  hands  with  the  great  Republic  of 
the  West.  If  this  be  so,  I  say  then  that  the  disease  is  not  only  serious,  but  it 
is  desperate ;  but  desperate  as  it  is,  I  believe  there  is  a  certain  remedy  for  it 
if  the  people  and  the  Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom  are  willing  to  applv 
it.  .  .  .  I  believe  that  at  the  root  of  a  general  discontent  there  is  in  all 
countries  a  general  grievance  and  general  suffering.  (Loud  cheers.)  The  surface  of 
society  is  not  incessantly  disturbed  without  a  cause.  I  recollect  in  the  poem  of  the 
greatest  of  Italian  poets,  he  tells  us  that  as  he  saw  in  vision  the  Stygian  lake,  and 
stood  upon  its  banks,  he  observed  the  constant  commotion  upon  the  surface  of 
the  pool,  and  his  good  instructor  and  guide  explained  to  him  the  cause  of  it — 

'  This,  too,  for  certain  know,  that  underneath 
The  water  dwells  a  multitude,  whose  sighs 
Into  these  bubbles  make  the  surface  heave, 
As  thine  eye  tells  thee  wheresoe'er  it  turn.' 

(Cheers.)  And  I  say  in  Ireland,  for  generations  back,  that  the  misery  and  the 
wrongs  of  the  people  have  made  their  sign,  and  have  found  a  voice  in  constant  in- 
surrection and  disorder.  (Cheers.)  I  have  said  that  Ireland  is  a  country  of  many 
wrongs  and  of  many  sorrows.  Her  past  lies  almost  all  in  shadow.  Her  present  is 
full  of  anxiety  and  peril.  Her  future  depends  on  the  power  of  her  people  to  substi- 
tute equality  and  justice  for  supremacy,  and  a  generous  patriotism  for  the  spirit  of 
faction.  In  the  effort  now  making  in  Great  Britain  to  create  a  free  representation 
of  the  people,  you  have  the  deepest  interest.  The  people  never  wish  to  suffer  and 
they  never  wish  to  inflict  injustice.  They  have  no  sympathy  with  the  wrong- doer, 
•whether  in  Great  Britain  or  in  Ireland;  and  when  they  are  fairly  represented  in  the 
Imperial  Parliament,  as  I  hope  they  will  one  day  be,  they  will  speedily  give  an 
effective  and  final  answer  to  that  old  question  of  the  Parliament  of  Kilkenny — '  How 
comes  it  to  pass  that  the  King  has  never  been  the  richer  for  Ireland  ? ' ''  (Loud 
cheers.) 

A  deputation  from   the  Cork  Farmers'  Club  called  upon  Mr. 
Bright  the  following  day,  and  presented  him  with  an  address. 

"  But  I  have  always  had  the  opinion  that  a  people  are  very  much  what  their  laws 
make  them,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  responding.  "I  entirely  disbelieve  those  theorioii 
which  assume  that  it  does  not  matter  very  much  what  kind  of  laws  you  have — that, 
after  all,  everything  depends  on  a  man's  self.  A  great  deal  depends  on  a  man's  self, 
but  a  great  deal  depends  on  the  laws ;  and  I  think,  if  we  trace  history  back  and  look 
over  the  countries  we  know  something  of,  we  shall  find  that  the  people  are  in  the 
main  what  their  laws  and  institutions  make  them.  Now,  my  mind,  from  a  very 
young  age,  has  led  me  always  to  a  feeling  that  laws  should  be  equal  and  should  be 
j  ust ;  that  all  the  people  living  in  a  country  have  an  equal  right  to  be  considered  and 
well  treated  by  the  institutions  and  laws  under  which  they  live.  In  this  country,  more 


438  LITE  AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN   BRIGHT. 

porhaps  than  in  almost  any  other  country  in  Europe,  that  has  not  been  the  principle 
on  which  the  Government  has  been  conducted,  because  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  laws 
have  been  made  until  recently  by  a  party,  or  rather  for  the  supremacy  of  a  party 
more  than  for  the  whole  people ;  and  as  regards  the  land,  which  is  the  question  to 
which  you  particularly  refer,  there  can  be  no  kind  of  doubt  of  this,  that  the  laws  have 
been  absolutely  the  product  of  the  selfishness  and  ignorance  of  the  landed  proprietors, 
and  by  no  means  the  product  of  the  general  intelligence  of  all  classes  in  this  country. 
It  is  the  same  to  a  great  extent  in  England,  where,  as  Mr.  Murphy  knows  perfectly 
well,  in  the  House  of  Commons  there  are  questions  which  you  can  discuss  with  an 
expectation  that  they  will  be  fairly  considered ;  but  if  you  come  to  any  question 
connected  with  the  land,  with  the  supremacy  of  that  particular  property  in  the 
country,  argument  is  of  no  avail  whatever,  and  the  slightest  tendency  to  what  I 
would  call  intelligence  and  justice  with  regard  to  that  is  met  by  the  most  determined 
opposition  by  the  great  landowning  classes  in  the  House.  Of  course,  there  are  many 
admirable  exceptions  there,  as  there  are  here  ;  but,  on  the  whole,  the  great  weight 
of  that  party  and  class  is  directed  against  any  wise  change  in  regard  to  the  laws 
affecting  property  in  land.  .  .  The  Irish  question  has  been  to  me  one  of  great 
interest  from  my  earliest  connection  with  public  life.  I  knew  Mr.  O'Connell  with  a 
certain  intimacy,  and  when  I  was  a  very  young  member  of  the  House  of  Commons 
I  often,  if  I  found  an  opportunity,  sat  by  him,  for  I  found  his  conversation  not  only 
very  amusing  but  very  instructive.  He  knew  everybody,  and  almost  everything, 
and  his  comments  on  all  that  passed  were  very  pleasant  to  listen  to,  and  often  very 
informing.  I  don't  know  how — whether  it  is  from  a  natural  lore  of  what  is  just  or 
not — but  I  always  had  a  great  sympathy  with  the  Irish  people  and  Irish  questions, 
and  as  long  as  I  remain  in  Parliament,  or  in  public  life,  or  in  life  at  all,  and  am 
capable  of  thinking,  I  believe  I  shall  be  of  opinion  that  we  in  this  generation  do  owe 
it  to  ourselves,  and  owe  it  to  Ireland,  to  make  such  amends  as  we  can  for  an  amount 
of  neglect,  and  cruelty,  and  injustice  committed  in  the  past,  such  as  I  think  no 
civilised  or  Christian  nation  has  ever  inflicted  on  another  Christian  nation." 

A  meeting  of  the  working-  men  of  Dublin  was  held  in  the 
Mechanics'  Institute  of  the  city  on  the  2nd  of  November,  and 
Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  lengthy  speech  on  the  subject  of  Reform 
and  the  laud  question. 

"  I  am  very  sorry  that  my  voice  is  not  what  it  was,  and  when  I  think  of  the  work 
that  is  to  be  done  sometimes  I  feel  it  is  a  pity  we  grow  old  so  fast,"  remarked  Mr. 
Bright.  "But  years  ago,  when  I  have  thought  of  the  condition  of  Ireland,  of  its 
sorrows  and  wrongs,  of  the  discredit  that  its  condition  has  brought  upon  the 
English,  the  Irish,  and  the  British  name,  I  have  thought,  if  I  could  be  in  all  other 
things  the  same,  but  by  birth  an  Irishman,  there  is  not  a  town  in  this  Island  I  would 
not  visit  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  great  Irish  question,  and  of  rousing  my 
countrymen  to  some  great  and  united  action.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  necessity  of 
widespread  and  perpetual  misery.  I  do  not  believe  that  we  are  placed  on  this  Island, 
and  on  this  earth,  that  one  man  might  be  great  and  wealthy,  and  revel  in  every  pro- 
fuse indulgence,  and  five,  six,  nine,  or  ten  men  should  suffer  the  abject  misery  which 
we  see  so  commonly  in  the  world.  With  your  soil,  your  climate,  and  your  active 
and  spirited  race,  I  know  not  what  they  might  not  do.  There  have  been  reasons  to 
my  mind  why  soil  and  climate,  and  the  labour  of  your  population,  have  not  produced 
general  comfort  and  competence  for  all.  The  address  speaks  of  the  friendly  feeling 
and  the  sympathy  which  I  have  had  for  Ireland  during  my  political  career.  When  I 
first  went  into  the  House  of  Commons  the  most  prominent  figure  in  it  was  Daniel 
O'Conuell.  I  have  sat  by  his  side  for  hours  during  the  discussions  in  that  House, 
and  listened  to  observations  both  amusing  and  instructive  on  what  was  passing  under 
discussion.  I  have  seen  him,  too,  more  than  once  upon  our  platform  of  the  Anti- 
Corn-law  League.  I  recollect  that  on  one  occasion  he  sent  to  Ireland  expressly  for 
a  newspaper  for  me,  which  contained  a  report  of  a  speech  which  he  made  against  the 
corn  law  when  the  corn  law  was  passing  through  Parliament  in  1815,  and  we  owe 
much  to  his  exertions  in  connection  with  that  question,  for  almost  the  whole  Liberal 
— I  suppose  the  whole  Liberal — party  of  the  Irish  representatives  in  Parliament 
supported  the  measure  of  free  trade  of  which  we  were  the  prominent  advocates;  and 
I  know  of  nothing  that  was  favourable  to  freedom,  whether  in  connection  with 
Ireland  or  England,  that  O'Connell  did  not  support  with  all  his  great  powers.  I 


1866.]  IRELAND.  439 

know  nothing  pleasanter,  and  hardly  anything  more  useful,  than  personal 
recollections  of  this  nature.  .  .  I  will  tell  you  that,  since  the  day  when  I  sat 
beside  O'Connell  —  and  at  an  earlier  day,  I  have  considered  this  question  of 
Ireland.  In  1849,  for  several  weeks  in  the  autumn,  and  for  several  weeks  in  the 
autumn  of  1852, 1  came  to  Ireland  expressly  to  examine  these  questions  by  consulting 
with  all  classes  of  the  people  in  every  part  of  the  Island.  I  will  undertake  to  say 
that  I  believe  there  is  no  man  in  England  who  has  more  fully  studied  the  evidence 
given  before  the  celebrated  Devon  commission  in  regard  to  Ireland  than  I  have. 
Therefore  I  dare  stand  up  before  any  Irishman  or  Englishman  to  discuss  the  Irish 
question.  I  say  that  the  plans,  the  theories,  the  policy  of  legislation  of  my  opponents 
in  this  matter  all  have  failed  signally,  deplorably,  disastrously,  ignominiously,  and, 
therefore,  I  say  that  I  have  a  right  to  come  in  and  offer  the  people  of  Ireland,  as  I 
would  offer  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain  and  the  Imperial  Parliament,  a  wise  and 
just  policy  upon  this  question.  You  know  that  I  have  attended  great  meetings  in 
England  within  the  last  two  months,  and  in  Scotland  also.  I  think  that  I  am  at 
liberty  to  tender  to  you  from  those  scores  or  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  the  hand 
of  fellowship  and  goodwill.  I  wish  I  might  be  permitted  when  I  go  back,  as,  in  fact, 
I  think  by  this  address  that  I  am  permitted  to  say  to  them,  that  amidst  the  factions 
by  which  Ireland  has  been  torn,  amidst  the  many  errors  that  have  been  committed, 
amidst  the  passions  that  have  been  excited,  amidst  the  hopes  that  have  been  blasted, 
and  amidst  the  misery  that  has  been  endured,  there  is  still  in  this  Island,  and  amongst 
its  people,  a  heart  that  can  sympathise  with  those  who  turn  to  them  with  a  fixed 
resolution  to  judge  them  fairly,  and  to  do  them  justice.  (Loud  cheers,  which  were 
prolonged  for  several  minutes,  the  audience  rising  and  waving  their  hats.)  I  have 
made  my  speech.  I  have  said  my  say.  I  have  fulfilled  my  small  mission  to  you.  I 
thank  you  from  my  heart  for  the  kindness  with  which  you  have  received  me,  which 
I  shall  never  forget.  And  if  I  have  in  past  times  felt  an  unquenchable  sympathy 
with  the  sufferings  of  your  people,  you  may  rely  upon  it  that  if  there  be  an  Irish 
member  to  speak  for  Ireland,  he  will  find  me  heartily  by  his  side." 

A  Reform  Conference  was  next  held  in  the  Town  Hall,  Man- 
chester, on  the  20th  of  November,  and  the  chair  was  occupied 
by  Mr.  George  Wilson.  In  the  evening  a  banquet  was  held  in 
the  Free-trade  Hall,  which  presented  a  brilliant  spectacle.  It 
was  got  up  by  the  National  Reform  Union.  About  1,000 
gentlemen  were  present.  Mr.  George  Wilson  was  again  in  the 
chair. 

"  One  thing  I  think  we  have  a  right  to  insist  upon,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  "that 
the  next  Bill  which  is  introduced  by  a  Liberal  and  Reform  Government  shall  be  in 
its  suffrage  based  upon  the  ancient  borough  franchise  of  the  country.  Household  or 
rating  suffrage  has  existed  for  centuries  in  our  parishes.  It  has  existed  for  many 
years  in  our  municipal  corporations.  It  has  never  been  found,  either  in  parish  or 
corporation,  to  be  destructive  of  the  interests  of  the  people  of  those  circumscribed 
districts  of  the  country.  I  say,  therefore,  that  we  ought  to  stand  by  the  ancient 
constitution  of  England.  I  believe  Lord  Russell,  speaking  of  him  in  his  private 
capacity,  would  be  in  favour  of  extending  the  borough  franchise  at  least  to  the  limits 
of  the  municipal  franchise.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Gladstone  himself 
would  approve  of  such  a  measure.  We  know  that  the  late  Attorney- General,  one 
of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  and  one  of  the  most  accomplished  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  publicly  and  openly  expressed  himself  in  favour  of  that  change. 
I  believe  the  middle  class,  as  a  rule,  the  Liberal  portion  of  the  middle  class,  would 
have  no  objection  to  see  the  franchise  extended  to  all  householders  in  boroughs.  I 
believe  that  if  it  were  so  extended  we  should  arrive  at  a  point  at  which,  so  long  as 
any  of  us  are  permitted  to  meddle  with  the  politics  of  our  country,  no  further  change 
would  be  demanded.  I,  therefore,  am  entirely  in  favour  of  itT  because  I  believe  it 
to  be  wise  in  itself,  and  because  it  is  the  ancient  borough  franchise  of  this  kingdom. 
I  am  in  accord  with  our  ancient  constitution.  (Cheers.)  I  would  stand  by  it ; 
wherever  it  afforded  support  for  freedom  I  would  march  in  its  track.  That  track  is 
BO  plain  that  a  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  need  not  en-  therein.  (Cheers.)  I 
would  be  guided  by  its  lights.  They  have  been  kept  burning  by  great  men  among 
forefathers  for  many  generations.  Our  only  safety  in  this  warfare  is  in  adhering  to 


440  LITE   AND   TIMES    OF  JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1866 

the  ancient  and  noble  constitution  of  our  country.  (Cheers.)  And  when  we  have 
restored  it  to  its  bygone  strength,  and  invited  the  great  body  of  the  people  to  take 
part  in  political  power,  then  the  House  of  Commons  will  be  the  servant  of  the  nation 
and  not  its  master,  and  it  will  do  the  bidding,  not  of  a  small,  a  limited,  often  an 
ignorant,  necessarily  a  selfish  class,  but  the  bidding  of  a  great  and  noble  people." 
(Loud  and  prolonged  cheering.) 

A  Reform  demonstration  was  held  in  London  on  the  3rd  of 
December,  1866.  About  100,000  persons  walked  in  procession. 
On  the  following  evening  a  meeting  was  held  in  St.  James's 
Hall,  and  the  chair  was  occupied  by  Mr.  George  Potter,  and  on 
the  platform  were  Messrs.  J.  Bright,  T.  B.  Potter,  J.  Mason 
Jones,  G-.  J.  Holyoake,  Lieut.-Col.  Dickson,  and  P.  P.  M'Sweeny 
(Dublin). 

"  I  said  that  if  there  be  a  grievance — a  deep-seated  sentiment  that  there  is  a 
grievance — there  must  necessarily  be  a  voice  to  express  and  to  proclaim  it,"  said  Mr. 
Bright,  in  a  lengthy  speech.  "  What  is  the  grievance  of  which  you  complain  ?  You 
are  the  citizens,  the  native  inhabitants  of  a  country  which  is  called  constitutional ; 
and  what  is  meant  by  that  is  that  your  government  is  not  the  despotic  government 
of  a  monarch,  nor  the  oligarchical  government  of  an  oligarchy ;  but  that  it  is  a 
government,  a  large  and  essential  portion  of  which  is  conducted  by  honestly  elected 
representatives  of  the  people ;  and  the  grievance  is  this — that  this  constitution,  so 
noble  in  its  outline  and  so  noble  in  its  purpose,  is  defaced  and  deformed,  and  that 
when  you  look  at  it  it  seems  in  this  respect  absolutely  worse  than  any  other  repre- 
sentative constitution  existing  in  the  world.  For  I  believe  there  is  no  representation 
whatsoever  at  this  moment,  in  America  or  in  Europe,  that  is  so  entirely  deformed 
from  its  natural,  just,  and  beautiful  proportions,  as  is  the  representative  system  of 
this  country.  What  can  be  more  clear  than  this— that  the  aristocracy  of  land  and  of 
wealth  usurp  the  power  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament  ?  The  Lords  represent  them- 
selves and  generally  the  great  landowners  with  great  fidelity.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  we  must  admit  and  deplore  that  at  least  one-half  of  the  House  of  Commons  is 
in  fast  alliance  with  the  majority  of  the  House  of  Lords. 

"  Now,  I  have  said  before — I  repeat  it  again — that  there  is  no  security  whatsoever 
for  liberty  under  any  government  unless  there  be  an  essential  power  in  a  fair  repre- 
sentation of  the  nation.  An  illustrious  man,  the  founder  of  the  great  province,  and 
now  the  great  State,  of  Pennsylvania — William  Penn — in  the  preface  to  his  Constitu- 
tion for  that  province — a  Constitution  of  the  widest  and  most  generous  freedom — 
uses  these  words : — '  Any  government  is  free  to  the  people  under  it,  whatever  be  the 
frame,  where  the  laws  rule,  and  the  people  are  a  party  to  the  laws ;  and  more  than 
this  is  tyranny,  oligarchy,  or  confusion.'  Now,  let  us  ask  ourselves,  can  it  be  fairly 
said,  can  it  be  said  without  the  most  direct  falsehood,  that  the  people  of  this  country, 
through  the  House  of  Commons,  are  really  a  party  to  the  laws  that  are  made  ?  It  is 
not  at  all  disputed  that  only  sixteen  out  of  every  hundred  men  are  now  on  the 
electoral  rolls,  and  are  able,  all  other  circumstances  favouring,  to  give  their  vote  at 
a  general  election ;  and  it  is  not  disputed  that  half  the  House  of  Commons — that  an 
absolute  majority  of  that  House — is  elected  by  a  number  of  electors  not  exceeding 
altogether  three  men  out  of  every  hundred  in  the  United  Kingdom." 

Mr.  Ayrton,  M.P.,  in  his  address,  made  some  remarks  reflect- 
ing indirectly  on  the  Queen,  which  brought  forth  strong  expres- 
sions of  dissent  from  the  meeting.  Mr.  Bright  thereupon  rose 
and  said : — 

"  I  rise  for  the  purpose  of  making,  in  one  sentence,  a  reference  to  a  portion  of 
Mr.  Ayrton's  speech — (cheers) — which  I  hope  I  did  not  fully  comprehend,  but  if  I 
did,  in  which  I  am  totally  unable  to  concur.  He  made  an  allusion  to  the  great 
meeting  of  yesterday,  to  the  assemblage  in  the  park  and  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Palace.  He  also  made  observations  with  regard  to  the  Queen,  which,  in  my  opinion, 
IK'  meeting  of  the  people  in  this  country,  and  certainly  no  meeting  of  Reformers^ 


1866.]  LOYALTY.  441 

ought  to  have  listened  to  with  approbation.  (Cheers.)  Let  it  be  remembered  that 
there  has  been,  no  occasion  on  which  any  Ministry  has  proposed  an  improved  repre- 
sentation of  the  people  when  the  Queen  has  not  given  her  cordial,  unhesitating,  and, 
I  believe,  hearty  assent.  (Cheers.)  Let  it  be  remembered,  if  there  be  now  at  her 
side  a  Ministry  that  is  opposed  to  an  improvement  of  the  representation  of  the 
people,  it  is  because,  in  obedience  to  the  well-known  rules  and  constitutional  practice, 
the  decision  of  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  Bill  of  last  session  rendered  it  necessary 
for  her  to  take  the  course  which  she  then  did  take.  But  Mr.  Ayrton  referred  further 
to  a  supposed  absorption  of  the  sympathies  of  the  Queen  with  her  late  husband  to 
the  exclusion  of  sympathy  for  and  with  the  people.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  am  not  accus- 
tomed to  stand  up  in  defence  of  those  who  are  possessors  of  crowns.  (Hear,  hear.) 
But  I  could  not  sit  here  and  hear  that  observation  without  a  sensation  of  wonder  and 
of  pain.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  think  there  has  been  by  many  persons  a  great  injustice 
done  to  the  Queen  in  reference  to  her  desolate  and  widowed  position.  (Cheers.)  And 
I  venture  to  say  that  a  woman,  be  she  the  queen  of  a  great  realm,  or  the  wife  of  one 
of  your  labouring  men,  who  can  keep  alive  in  her  heart  a  great  sorrow  for  the  lost 
object  of  her  life  and  affection,  is  not  at  all  likely  to  be  wanting  in  a  great  and 
generous  sympathy  with  you." 

The  audience  cheered  enthusiastically,  and  concluded  by  sing- 
ing the  National  Anthem.  This  incident,  with  others  that 
occurred  during  Mr.  Bright's  lifetime,  showed  his  loyalty,  the 
great  respect  he  entertained  for  the  Queen,  his  deep  sympathy 
for  the  loss  she  had  sustained,  and  his  admiration  of  the  constancy 
and  faithfulness  which  made  it  impossible  for  her  to  forget  the 
death  of  her  dearest  earthly  companion. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  QUESTION  OF  PARLIAMENTARY  REFORM.- 

Mr.  Bright  Slandered— Sympathy  expressed  by  his  Workmen  and  Townsmen — Mr. 
Disraeli's  Thirteen  Reform  Resolutions— The  Government  obliged  to  frame  n 
Bill — Mr.  Bright's  Criticism  of  the  Bill — A  Reform  Bill  passed — The  Irish 
Church — Resolutions  in  favour  of  Disestablishment  passed  by  the  Commons  and 
thrown  out  by  the  Lords — At  Liverpool,  Limerick,  Birmingham,  and  Edinburgh. 

ABOUT  this  time  untruthful  statements  were  made  respecting 
Mr.  Bright,  to  the  effect  that  he  was  disliked  by  his  workpeople, 
and  had  never  subscribed  to  the  Cotton  Famine  Relief  Fund.  The 
principal  persons  who  had  given  utterance  to  such  statements 
were  Mr.  Richard  Garth,  M.P.,  Mr.  Pope  Hennessey,  Mr. 
Ferrand,  and  the  Rev.  W.  Chamberlain,  of  Little  Bolton  Hall. 
When  Mr.  Garth  was  called  upon  to  substantiate  his  accusations, 
he  endeavoured  to  explain  them  away. 

"  On  a  review  of  your  speech  and  your  letter,"  wrote  Mr.  Bright,  in  reply,  "  I 
came  to  this  conclusion — that  you  wished  to  get  into  Parliament,  and  were  not  par- 
ticular as  to  the  path  which  might  lead  to  it.  You  threw  dirt  during  your  canvass, 
doubtless  knowing  that  if  needful  you  could  eat  it  afterwards.  There  are  many  men 
who  go  through  dirt  to  dignities,  and  I  suspect  you  have  no  objection  to  be  one  of 
them." 

If  these  persons  who  had  circulated  the  defamatory  statements 
respecting  Mr.  Bright  had  taken  the  trouble  to  inquire  among 
the  workmen,  or  from  his  townsmen,  they  would  have  ascertained 
that  the  relations  between  employer  and  workpeople  were  of  the 
kindliest  nature.  These  inferior  adherents  of  the  Conservative 
party  had  little  gracious  feeling  to  spai-e  towards  Mr.  Bright,  and 
were  too  ready  to  utter  slander  and  groundless  calumny  against 
him,  but  their  dispraise  was  praise.  The  splendour  of  his  political 
renown  attracted  these  "  silly  moths,"  who  were  wishful  to  gain 
celebrity  even  by  attempting  to  "  eat  an  honest  name."  They 
were,  however,  unable  to  deface  that  likeness  of  him  which 
history  will  deliver  to  posterity;  still  they  will  be  consigned  to 
immortality,  like  the  Hy  in  amber,  by  merits  not  their  own. 
They  were  not  awed  by  shame  when  his  own  townsmen  testified 
that  in  the  privacies  of  his  life  he  was  candid,  just,  amiable,  and 
generous;  but  their  calumnious  and  malicious  statements  lost 
their  sting,  and  received  a  complete  refutation  by  the  workpeople 
of  Mr.  Bright,  who  took  the  matter  up,  and  called  a  public 
meeting,  in  the  Public  Hall,  Rochdale,  on  the  evening  of  the  25th 


1867.]  BRIGHT    DEFENDED    BY    HIS    WORKPEOPLE.  443 

January,  1867,  to  which  they  invited  Mr.  Bright,  and  they  pre- 
sented him  with  the  following  address  : — 

"  Honoured  Sir, — We,  the  workpeople  employed  by  the  firm  of  which  you  are 
the  head,  desire  to  convey  our  entire  sympathy  with,  and  our  sincere  respect  for,  you 
under  the  malignant  slanders  which  have  been  urged  against  you  as  our  employer.  We 
feel  impelled  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  take  this  opportunity  of  declaring  to  you  that  all 
the  reports  which  have  been  circulated  against  you  throughout  the  country  are 
entirely  false.  They  have  been  made  and  written  by  parties  who,  to  make  political 
capital,  have  attacked,  in  an  unscrupulous  and  base  manner,  your  private  character. 
We  are  well  aware  that  the  consciousness  of  those  attacks  being  untrue  will  be 
sufficient  to  uphold  you  in  the  dignity  to  which  you  have  attained.  Your  conduct  as 
our  employer  has  been  such  as  to  meet  with  our  entire  approval.  You  have  always 
endeavoured  to  improve  our  moral,  social,  and  intellectual  well-being.  As  a  public 
character,  your  best  endeavours  have  been  to  raise  the  great  wealth-producing  class 
to  the  full  rights  of  citizenship,  and  we  take  this  opportunity  of  saying  that  your 
public  acts  have  invariably  met  with  our  approbation ;  we  pray  that  your  valuable 
life,  as  an  employer  and  statesman,  may  long  be  spared  to  your  family  and  country, 
and  at  last  you  may  meet  with  the  great  and  just,  and  be  welcomed  as  a  good  and 
faithful  servant." 

Mr.  Bright  remarked  in  his  reply  : 

"  You  know — every  man  and  woman  in  this  assembly  knows — every  honourable 
man  in  Rochdale  knows — that  there  is  not  the  shadow  of  a  shade  of  foundation  for 
the  charges  that  have  been  made  against  me.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  The  men 
who  have  made  these  charges  for  the  most  part  could  have  no  knowledge  of  the  facts, 
and  having  no  knowledge  of  the  facts,  it  being  not  probable  that  they  could  be  true,  I 
say  they  have  exhibited  themselves  to  the  country  as  men  without  a  spark  of  honour— 
(hear,  hear) — and  slanderers  of  the  most  disgraceful  and  odious  character.  (Hear, 
hear.)  To  those  who  live  in  the  neighbourhood,  even  I  should  say  to  a  large  portion 
of  my  countrymen,  judging  either  from  my  life  at  home  or  from  my  public  career, 
they  might  have  found  a  sufficient  answer  to  these  charges.  (Hear,  hear.)  .  .  . 
For  myself,  looking  over  my  past  lif e — and  it  is  a  much  longer  lane  to  look  over 
now  than  it  was  some  years  ago — I  can  see  a  great  number  of  shortcomings, 
which  I  feel  ashamed  of.  I  can  see  many  failures  which  I  ought  to  have  avoided ; 
I  can-  recollect  resolutions  formed  to  do  good  things — which  have  failed  from 
some  unexplained  feebleness  of  action ;  still  I  have  worked  on,  and  I  hope  not 
without  some  little  result  upon  the  condition  of  the  people  and  the  interest  of 
our  common  country.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  meet  you  to-night  with  an  inexpressible 
pleasure.  You  are  the  nearest  to  me  in  my  neighbourhood.  (Hear,  hear.)  You 
tell  me  that  so  far  as  the  conduct  of  my  brothers  and  myself  goes  in  regard  to  our 
business  relations  with  you,  you  have  only  that  of  which  you  can  generally 
approve.  You  tell  me  that  you  have  observed  my  public  life,  and  that  you 
find  in  that  not  only  nothing  to  condemn  but  much  to  approve  of.  (Hear, 
hear,  and  applause.)  You  say  in  your  address  and  your  speeches  that  you 
confide  in  me;  that  you  believe,  whether  in  the  country  or  in  that  House  in 
which  I  expect  to  be  a  fortnight  hence,  that  I  shall  never  forget  your  interests 
and  never  betray  them.  (Cheers.)  I  thank  you  for  your  kindness,  all  of  you — 
my  friend,  the  chairman  (Mr.  James  Tweedale) ,  those  who  spoke  in  moving  and 
seconding  the^  address,  all  of  you  have  received  their  expressions  with  approba- 
tion— I  thank"  you  for  your -kindness.  I  am  greatly  cheered  by  your  reception 
of  me  to-night.  (Applause.)  I  am  strengthened  by  the  sympathy  you  have 
shown  me,  and  I  beg  to  assure  you,  from  my  heart,  that  the  event  of  this  day, 
which  I  can  never  forget,  will  be  always  to  me  an  abundant  compensation  for 
anything  that  I  can  possibly  do  or  suffer  in  your  cause."  (Great  cheering.) 

Mr.  Bright's  townsmen,  who  were  intimately  conversant  with 
his  domestic  life  as  well  as  his  public  career,  and  who  were  well 
qualified  to  judge  how  far  his  public  professions  coincided  with 
his  private  life,  next  held  a  meeting  in  a  large  building  in 
Rochdale,  on  the  30th  of  January.  Mr.  H.  Kelsall,  J.P., 


444  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1867. 

occupied  the  chair,  and  a  large  number  of  gentlemen  sat  on  the 
platform  as  well  as  in  the  body  of  the  meeting,  to  whom  Mr. 
Bright's  career  from  boyhood  was  familiar.  And  the  events  of 
the  evening  seemed  to  throw  a  new  light  on  his  character  as  a 
statesman,  a  private  citizen,  and  a  man.  Influential  gentlemen 
from  neighbouring  towns  signified  their  desire  to  be  present ; 
but  as  it  was  purely  a  meeting  of  his  own  townsmen,  and  the 
applications  for  admittance  were  so  numerous,  they  could  not  be 
accommodated. 

The  following  address  was  presented  to  Mr.  Bright : — 

"  Honoured  Sir, — We,  your  fellow-townsmen,  in  public  meeting  assembled,  desire 
to  express  the  sincere  admiration  we  feel  for  your  private  character,  and  your  long 
and  distinguished  career  in  advancing  the  social  and  political  condition  of  the  people. 
The  services  you  have  rendered  to  our  common  country,  in  conjunction  with  the 
illustrious  and  lamented  Mr.  Cobden,  the  nation  and  the  world  know,  and  we  are 
thankful  to  believe  that  the  great  announcement  of  '  Peace  on  earth  and  goodwill  to 
men '  has  received  another  impetus  by  your  noble  effort  to  establish  friendly  rela- 
tions_  between  the  nations  of  the  earth.  As  an  employer  of  labour  you  have  ever 
manifested  the  strongest  desire  to  educate  and  elevate  the  working  man,  and 
numerous  instances  testify  that  you  have  always  been  guided  by  a  love  of  justice  and 
humanity.  We  know,  sir,  that  during  your  long  advocacy  of  the  people's  cause 
your  words  have  frequently  been  misrepresented  and  your  character  unjustly 
attacked ;  and  though  we  are  assured  that  you  will  be  ever  sustained  by  the  con- 
sciousness that  your  cause  is  just,  we  cannot  but  express  our  sympathy  with  you, 
and  hope  that  you  may  long  five  to  champion  the  cause  of  popular  freedom." 

Mr.  Bright,  in  acknowledging  the  compliment,  in  one  part 
of  his  speech  said  : — 

"  Wondering  sometimes  at  those  varied  and  continued  assaults,  I  have  just  cast  a 
look  over  the  twenty-five  years  of  political  lif  e  which  I  have  lived,  and  I  have  asked 
myself  how  it  happens  that  that  is  done  in  political  life  which  is  not  done  in  any 
other  kind  of  life  with  which  we  are  acquainted  ?  A  man  may  be  very  active  and 
in  the  forefront  of  a  religious  controversy ;  he  may  hold  the  same  position  in  some 
literary  controversy  or  some  scientific  disputation ;  irat  no  man  living,  however  much 
opposed  to  him,  would  think  of  pursuing  him  with  that  rancorous  spirit  which, 
unfortunately,  is  introduced  into  political  controversy,  and  which  has  pursued  me 
with  an  unrelenting  animositv,  not  for  months  only,  but  for  years  past.  (Cries  of 
'Shame,'  and  cheers.)  And  looking  over  those  twenty- five  years,  I  found,  as  far 
as  my  mental  eye  could  detect,  that  my  path  had  been  straightforward,  not  varying, 
so  far  as  I  know,  to.  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left  from  any  unworthy  motive. 
(Cheers.)  I  found  that  the  principle  upon  which  I  had  acted  was  well  denned,  was 
distinctly  avowed,  and  was  easily  comprehended,  and  the  principle  was  simply  this, 
that  the  law  and  the  administration  of  the  law  in  this  country  should  regard  with 
equal  eye  all  classes  of  people — (cheers) — and  that  to  all  questions  of  government  we 
should  bring  those  simple  but  sublime  principles,  the  high  and  everlasting  principles 
of  a  pure  morality  which  we  derive,  or  think  we  derive,  from  the  religion  which  we 
profess.  (Cheers.)  Now,  in  these  twenty-five  years,  so  far  as  I  know,  I  find  no 
divergence  from  the  principle  with  which  I  set  out ;  but  unfortunately,  in  some 
respects,  I  have  not  allied  myself  with  any  political  partv.  The  public  men  of  tliis 
country  are  mainly  of  two  parties ;  the  public  press,  until  recently,  was  of  two  par- 
ties ;  and  if  any  politician  took  a  line  independent  of  those  two  parties,  he  did  not, 
and  could  not,  hope  to  receive  any  friendly  support  from  either  of  them.  Perhaps 
I  have  held  a  peculiar  position  from  another  ground.  As  you  know,  I  am  a  member 
of  a  small  but  somewhat  remarkable  religious  sect — (hear,  hear) — a  religious  body 
which  had  a  remarkable  origin,  and  which  in  its  early  days,  at  least,  had  a  somewhat 
remarkable  history.  It  is,  of  all  the  religious  sects  which  have  ever  appeared  in  the 


1867.1  BRIGHT   DEFENDED   BY   HIS   TOWNSMEN.  445 

world — certainly  since  the  first  corruption  of  the  Christian  Church — it  is  that  which 
of  all  others  has  most  taught  the  equality  and  the  equal  rights  of  men.  (Hear,  hear.) 
And  I  venture  to  say  more,  that  it  is  remarkable  for  another  thing :  that,  probably 
more  than  any  other  body,  within  its  borders  and  in  its  service,  personal  ambition  ia 
practically  unknown.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  think  that  much  of  my  opinions  and  much 
of  my  course  has  been  determined,  or  at  least  greatly  influenced,  by  the  training  I 
received  in  that  body.  (Hear,  hear.)  That  belief  in  the  equality  of  all  men  in  the 
sight  of  Heaven,  and  in  the  equal  rights  of  all  men  before  earthly  Governments, 
naturally  leads  to  a  strong  sympathy  with  the  great  body  of  the  people.  (Hear, 
hear.)  I  looked  upon  the  multitude,  the  millions  who  form  the  nation.  In  social 
rank  they  may  be  called  the  lowly.  They  labour  more,  they  suffer  more,  than  the 
ranks  above  them.  (Hear,  hear.)  They  have  less  of  what  we  consider  the  enjoy- 
ments of  life ;  they  have  fewer  of  those  compensations  which  give  to  us  who  are 
better  off  the  main  charms  of  life.  (Hear,  hear.)  And  I  have  learned  from  my 
earliest  youth  to  feel  for  these  men — (loud  and  prolonged  cheering) — to  feel  for  them 
a  sympathy  which  I  have  never  been  able  to  express  in  words,  and  of  which  I  can 
find  no  proper  exhibition,  in  any  outward  conduct  which  I  can  exhibit  to  them." 
(Cheers.) 

In  the  Royal  Speech,  on  the  opening  of  Parliament,  in 
February,  this  year,  it  was  stated — 

"Your  attention  will  again  be  called  to  the  state  of  the  representation  of  the 
people  in  Parliament,  and  I  trust  that  your  deliberations,  conducted  in  a  spirit  of 
moderation  and  mutual  forbearance,  may  lead  to  the  adoption  of  measures, 
which,  without  unduly  disturbing  the  balance  of  political  power,  shall  freely  extend 
the  elective  franchise." 

On  the  llth  of  February,  Mr.  Disraeli  submitted  thirteen 
resolutions,  as  the  basis  for  the  measure  of  Reform.  This 
movement  was  regarded  as  an  attempt  to  evade  responsibility, 
and  both  Liberals  and  Tories  rejected  the  proposition.  Driven 
from  this  device,  the  Government  was  obliged  to  frame  a  Bill. 
On  the  18th  of  March,  Mr.  Disraeli  propounded  a  bolder 
scheme,  by  stating  that  the  Government  accepted  the  principle 
that  the  franchise  should  be  associated  with  the  payment  of 
rates,  and  they  therefore  proposed  that  every  householder  paying 
rates,  and  having  resided  in  the  same  place  for  two  years,  should 
be  admitted  to  vote.  This,  he  stated,  would  admit  237,000  men 
who  lived  in  houses  under  £10  and  paid  rates,  leaving  unfran- 
chised  486,000  householders  not  paying  their  own  rates.  The 
Bill  would  also  contain  an  education  franchise,  and  would  give 
votes  to  holders  of  Savings  Bank  deposits  and  funded  property 
to  the  amount  of  £50.  The  direct  tax  franchise  would  add  more 
than  200,000  voters,  the  education  franchise  35,000,  the  funded 
property  franchise  25,000,  and  the  Savings  Bank  franchise 
45,000;  in  all,  more  than  1,000,000  would  be  added  to  the 
borough  constituencies.  In  the  counties  the  franchise  would 
be  fixed  at  £15  rating,  which  would  add  171,000,  and  the 
lateral  franchises  would  bring  the  -total  additions  to  the 
county  constituencies  up  to  something  like  330,000.  Thirty 
seats  would  be  redistributed ;  fourteen  to  boroughs,  fifteen  to 
counties,  and  one  to  the  London  University. 


44«  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OP   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1867 

A  second  Reform  demonstration  was  held  at  Birmingham  on 
the  22nd  of  April,  and  the  gathering  numbered  upwards  of 
50,000.  In  the  evening,  a  meeting  was  convened  in  the  Town 
Hall,  and  was  presided  over  by  the  Mayor.  Mr.  Bright  attributed 
the  change  of  opinion  of  Conservatives  on  the  matter  of  Reform 
to  the  meetings  that  had  been  held  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  but  he  regarded  the  Government  Bill  with  suspicion, 
and  said  he  should  prefer  one  that  was  clear,  simple,  and  honest, 
and  free  from  tricks. 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  a  Reform  meeting  held  in  St. 
James's  Hall,  London,  on  the  15th  of  May,  and  said  :— 

"  The  members  of  that  Administration  have  not  dared  altogether  to  refuse  to  defer 
to  public  opinion ;  but,  whilst  pretending  to  do  that  which  the  people  want,  they 
have,  in  almost  every  clause  of  their  Bill,  introduced  something  of  a  pernicious 
tendency,  that  should  make  the  whole  Bill  of  very  small  value  to  the  country. 
(Cheers.)  Now,  I  shall  not  say  much  about  the  basis  of  the  borough  franchise, 
except  this,  that  I  think  it  bad,  and  that  a  requirement  that  all  men  should  pay  a 
certain  rate,  the  poor  rate,  will  inevitably,  in  the  lowest  class  of  voters,  afford  at 
least  great  opportunity  for  corruption.  But  as  we  cannot  expect  that  in  the  pro- 
visions of  a  Bui  everything  should  be  as  we  wish,  I  will  not  even  quarrel  with  the 
basis  of  the  Bill,  if  the  basis  of  the  Bill  had  been  fairly  applied,  and  where  it  could 
not  apply,  if  some  other  mode  of  enfranchising  the  people  had  been  adopted,  so  that 
through  the  broad  land  of  England  and  Wales  the  same  common  justice  should  have 
been  meted  out  to  all  the  householders  in  all  the  boroughs.  (Hear,  hear.)  The 
newspapers  tell  us,  some  of  them — (great  laughter) — that  nobody  can  comprehend 
what  the  compound  householder  is,  that  the  thing  has  been  so  much  discussed  that 
those  who  knew  nothing  before  know  nothing  still — (laughter) — and  those  who 
thought  they  knew  everything  find  themselves  in  a  state  of  complete  confusion. 
(Renewed  laughter.)  But  this  Bill,  if  passed  to-night,  and  coming  into  operation 
under  the  most  favourable  circumstances,  and  operating  as  I  believe  its  framers  hope 
and  intend  it  will  operate,  would  offer  to  245,000  men,  in  all  the  boroughs  of  England 
and  Wales,  the  elective  franchise,  on  condition  that  every  one  of  them  had  resided 
twelve  months  in  the  borough,  paid  his  rate,  and  taken  whatever  steps  may  be 
necessary  to  see  that  his  name  is  left  neither  on  the  rate-book  nor  off  the  register. 
Now,  it  is  an  admitted  fact  in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  if  you  take  the  whole 
number  and  divide  it  by  two,  you  will  get  as  near  as  possible  to  the  actual  number  o 
persons  who  would  come  upon  the  register." 

The  second  reading  of  the  Government  Reform  Bill  was 
brought  before  the  House  of  Commons  on  21st  of  July. 

"  Sir,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  during  the  discussion,  "it  seems  to  me  impossible  to  assist 
a  Government  which  will  not  tell  us  frankly  what  it  intends,  what  it  stands  by,  what 
it  will  get  rid  of— which  asks  us  to  go  into  its  confidence,  and  yet  is  probably  the 
most  reticent  Government  that  ever  sat  on  those  benches.  If  any  gentlemen  on  this 
side  were  to  treat  you  as  you  treated  us  last  year,  I  should  denounce  them  in  the 
strongest  language  I  could  use.  I  hate  the  ways,  I  scorn  the  purposes  of  faction : 
and  if  I  am  driven  aow,  or  at  any  stage  of  this  Bill,  to  oppose  the  Government,  it  is 
because  the  measure  they  have  offered  to  us  bears  upon  its  face  marks  of  deception 
and  disappointment,  and  because  I  will  be  no  party  to  any  Bill  which  would  cheat 
the  great  body  of  my  countrymen  of  the  possession  of  that  power  in  this  House  on 
/vhich  they  have  set  their  hearts,  and  which,  as  I  believe,  by  the  constitution  of  this 
country  they  may  most  justly  claim."  (Loud  cheers.) 

The  following  evening  it  was  read,  without  a  division,  and 
passed  on  the  6th  of  August.  The  Lords  introduced  a  few 


186T.]  THE   REFORM    BILL   PASSED.  447 

amendments,  such  as  that  in  large  constituencies,  which  were  to 
send  three  members  to  Parliament,  the  electors  should  have  only 
two  votes,  thus  providing  for  the  representation  of  minorities.  This 
amendment  was  maintained  by  a  majority  of  49  votes.  The  votes 
of  electors  of  the  City  of  London  were  restricted  to  three ;  and 
on  the  15th  of  August  the  Bill  received  the  Royal  assent. 

Thus  the  original  Bill  was  ultimately  transformed  into  an  ex- 
tremely liberal  measure  by  the  tactics  of  the  Liberals,  and  Lord 
Cranborne  admitted  that  the  Bill  had  been  modified  according  to 
the  demands  made  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  on  the  principles  laid 
down  by  Mr.  Bright,  so  that  really  it  was  an  attempt  to  gain 
renown  out  of  the  many  years'  labour  of  Mr.  Bright : — 

"Perhaps  you  are  not  aware  of  this  fact,"  said  Mr.  Bright  to  his  constituents, 
"  that  although  the  Act  of  last  session  contained  no  less  than  sixty-one  clauses,  there 
were  left  in  it  when  the  Bill  passed  only  four  complete  and  perfect  clauses  as  the 
Government  offered  them  to  the  House.  Out  of  sixty-one  clauses,  forty-one  were 
materially  altered,  sixteen  of  them  being  borrowed  from  Mr.  Gladstone's  Bill  of 
1866.  Only  four  passed  as  the  Government  proposed  them  to  the  House.  I  will  tell 
you  what  those  clauses  were.  The  first  was  the  clause  which  gives  the  title  to  the 
Bill ;  the  second  was  the  clause  which  disfranchised  the  boroughs  of  Lancaster, 
YarmoutI-.,  Reigate,  and  Totnes ;  the  third  was  a  clause  imposing  a  penalty  if  any- 
body corruptly  paid  the  rates  of  any  elector ;  and  the  fourth  was  some  temporary 
provision  for  the  registration  of  some  divided  counties -or  boroughs.  I  should  like  to 
ask  you  how  the  Bill  would  have  been  made  worth  one  single  farthing  if  somebody 
had  not  voted  against  all  the  evil  parts  of  it  as  it  first  came  before  the  House  ?  " 

Mr.  Bright,  in  a  speech  delivered  on  the  6th  of  August  in 
the  Free-trade  Hall,  Manchester,  against  the  minority  clause, 
said  : — 

"  I  say  that  the  proposition  which  has  been  accepted,  which  was  rejected  by  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  which  has  been  accepted  by  the  Lords,  is  a  proposition 
aimed  with  a  deadly  malice  at  the  political  power  of  the  great  constituencies  of  the 
kingdom.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  find  myself,  curiously  enough,  constantly  called  upon  to 
stand  upon  and  to  defend  the  ancient  lines  of  our  venerable  constitution.  (Laughter 
and  cheers.)  I  am  rather,  like  Mr.  Jones — but  I  am  not  sure  that  I  should  speak  it 
with  so  much  enthusiasm  as  he  did — I  am  rather  an  admirer  of  many  things  that  are 
ancient,  sometimes,  not  because  they  are  very  useful,  but  I  can  admire  them  if  they 
are  harmless.  (Hear.)  I  would  not  advise  my  countrymen  with  hasty  and  irre- 
verent hands  to  pull  down  that  which  has  been  left  them  by  their  forefathers  until 
they  see  their  way  clearly  to  build  up  in  its  place  something  that  will  tend  more  to 
the  true  greatness  and  the  lasting  happiness  of  their  country — (cheers) — but  I  ask 
them  to  reject  this  new  and  worst  device  of  their  opponents,  because  it  has  within  it 
a  principle  as  I  believe  disastrous  and  fatal  to  everything  which  we  comprehend,  and 
which  our  forefathers  have  comprehended,  of  the  true  principle  of  popular  representa- 
tion. (Cheers.)  I  prefer,  infinitely  prefer,  the  practice  of  the  robust  common  sense 
of  those  who  have  gone  before  us  to  this  new  scheme  which  is  offered  to  us  with  so 
many  professions  for  our  good.  (Cheers.)  I  regard  it — I  say  it  here  without  fear  of 
whomsoever  it  may  strike — I  regard  it  as  the  offspring  and  the  spawn  of  feeble  minds. 
(Loud  cheers.)  It  may  have  been,  for  aught  I  know,  born  of  eccentric  genius — 
(laughter)—  it  may  have  and  probably  has  been  discovered  in  some  of  those  abysses 
in  which  the  speculative  mind  of  man  delights  to  plunge.  (Hear,  and  a  voice,  'The 
cave.')  But  I  prefer,  I  tell  you  honestly,  that  which  our  forefathers  understood  of 
fn-edom,  of  popular  representation,  of  the  mode  of  manufacturing  a  great  Parliament, 
to  any  of  these  new-fangled  and  miserable  schemes  which  have  come  into  light  in 
our  day."  (Cheers.) 


us  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1867. 

I 

In  March,  1883,  Mr.  Bright  further  remarked  : — 

"  Well,  before  the  House  Mr.  Disraeli  made  an  admirable  speech  against  it,  and 
the  bulk  of  his  party — I  am  not  sure  if  all  of  his  party — voted  with  him.  But  that 
was  in  rejecting  the  clause.  When  it  came  down  the  second  time,  having  come  from 
the  Lords,  we  heard  with  some  surprise  that  Mr.  Disraeli  and  his  followers  werr 
going  to  vote  for  it — for  that  which  he  had  so  utterly  condemned  a  short  time  before. 
I  remonstrated  privately  with  some  of  them  upon  this.  I  thought  it  was  a  grievous 
thing  that  Mr.  Disraeli,  understanding  the  question  as  well  as  he  did,  should  take  such 
a  coui'se.  Now  for  the  explanation.  A  friend  of  Mr.  Disraeli,  connected  with  his 
Government,  very  much  trusted  by  him,  and  deservedly,  spoke  to  me  about  it,  and 
lamented  the  course  which  was  about  to  be  taken.  He  said  Mr.  Disraeli  had  not  in 
the  least  changed  his  opinion,  that  his  view  was  against  it,  as  it  had  been  before,  and 
as  mine  remained ;  but  he  said  he  was  in  this  difficult  position,  that  all  the  amend- 
ments the  Lords  had  made  to  the  Bill  (I  do  not  mean  verbal  amendments,  but  amend- 
ments really  affecting  the  force  and  character  of  the  Bill),  we  had  rejected  one  after 
the  other  as  they  came  up,  and  there  remained  only  this  one  thing  the  Lords  had 
done  that  the  House  of  Commons  had  not  rejected.  '  Now,'  he  said,  '  Lord  Derby 
had  more  difficulty  in  getting  this  Bill  through  the  House  of  Lords  than  some  of 
you  perhaps  think  he  had.  If  the  Bill  were  to  go  back  without  one  single  amendment 
of  the  Lords  having  been  accepted  by  the  Commons,  it  is  impossible  to  say  what 
effect  it  would  have  upon  the  fate  of  the  measure.'  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter.) 
Well,  there  was  the  explanation  at  that  very  time.  Mr.  Disraeli  was  not  in  favour 
of  this  amendment,  and  if  we  had  admitted  some  one  or  two  of  the  other  of  the 
Lords'  amendments,  he  could  not  have  supported  the  argument ;  in  all  probability  he 
would  not  have  supported  the  clause,  and  on  that  ground  excused  it." 

At  a  meeting  held  in  the  Prince  of  Wales  Theatre,  Rochdale, 
on  the  23rd  December,  1867,  to  celebrate  the  return  of  Mr. 
Jacob  Bright  as  a  representative  for  Manchester,  presided  over 
by  the  Mayor  (Mr.  Charles  Whittaker),  Mr.  John  Bright,  in 
adverting  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  Reform  Bill,  said  : — 

"At  that  time,  of  course,  they  were  determined  against  Reform,  and  what 
changed  their  opinion  between  then  and  the  session  of  '67  was,  no  doubt,  the  great 
meetings  which  were  held  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  which  showed  them  at 
once  that  if  they  met  Parliament  without  a  promise  of  a  Bill,  within  one  single 
fortnight  after  the  meeting  of  Parliament  they  would  have  to  go  back  to  the  old 
side  of  the  house  which  they  sat  on  so  long,  and  in  which  they  seemed  to  me  never  to 
feel  the  smallest  degree  of  comfort.  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  During  the  session  of 
'66  it  was  impossible,  in  language  which  you  would  not  think  exaggerated  and  unfair, 
and  almost  insulting,  to  describe  the  eager  and  howling  rage  which  they  exhibited 
against  that  unfortunate  proposition  of  a  £7  franchise.  (Hear,  hear.)  Their  bitter- 
ness and  malice  against  Mr.  Gladstone  really  would  not  have  been  justified  if  he  had 
been  as  bad  as  they  said  he  was,  and  it  is  clear  now  that  he  was  not  half  so  bad  as 
they  themselves  have  proved  themselves  to  be.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  Their  con- 
duct in  the  pursuit  of  office  reminds  me  of  some  lines,  which  I  will  quote  if  they  will 
not  think  it  too  unkind — (laughter) — which  were  published  a  good  many  years  ago, 
and  which  have  never  had,  I  believe,  a  more  exact  application  than  when  used  to 
describe  the  course  of  the  Tory  party  last  year.  The  poet,  I  think  in  the  '  Rejected 
Addresses,'  says: — 

'  So  when  "  dogs'  meat"  re-echoes  thro'  the  streets, 

Rush  sympathetic  dogs  from  their  retreats, 

Beam  with  bright  blaze  their  supplicating  eyes, 

Sink  their  hind  legs,  ascend  their  joyful  cries, 

Each  wild  with  hope  and  maddening  to  prevail, 

Points  the  pleased  ear  and  wags  the  expectant  tail.' 

(Shouts  of  laughter,  continued  for  some  time.)  Just  so  with  the  gentlemen  on  the 
front  Opposition  bench,  and  such  of  them  behind  who  thought  that  something  was  to 
be  had — especially,  and  above  all,  the  lawyers — (cheers and  laughter) — who  have  since 
been  gorged  with  patronage.  (Loud  cheers.)  They,  for  the  sake  of  that  patronage 
and  that  plunder — that  which  in  India  i*  called  '  loot,' — formed  a  combination  to 


1868.]  TECHNICAL    EDUCATION.  449 

overthrow  the  Bill  of  1866  to  place  themselves  in  office.  (Cheers.)  And  to  keep 
themselves  in  office,  having  found  themselves  there,  they  consent  to  pass  a  Bill  infi- 
nitely worse  in  all  the  points  in  which  they  condemned  the  Bill  of  1866 — (hear,  hear) 
— and  I  venture  to  say  that  their  conduct  on  this  occasion  leads  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  is  scarcely  an  institution  in  the  country,  however  honourable  and  however 
ancient,  that  they  would  not  sell  for  the  permanent  possession  of  office.  (Loud 
cheers.)  But  if  there  be  opportunities  thus  to  criticise  the  conduct  of  the  Parlia- 
mentary Tory  party,  we  may  not  the  less  rejoice  in  the  triumph  which  our  principles 
have  achieved.  (Hear,  hear.)  But  there  is  more  to  be  added.  They  were  not 
willing  quietly  that  the  thing  should  be  done,  but  they  have,  since  the  rising  of 
Parliament,  taken  steps  to  add  greatly  to  our  triumph,  for  we  have  seen  the  principal 
leaders  of  the  party  at  great  banquets,  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  rejoice  in  a 
sort  of  grotesque  exultation  over  the  success  of  principles  which  have  all  along  been 
our  principles,  and  which  they  have  declared  in  a  thousand  speeches  were  absolutely 
destructive  of  the  constitution  and  the  true  interests  of  the  country.  (Hear,  hear,  and 
cheers.)  And  to  crown  the  whole  thing,  such  a — what  shall  I  say  ? — spectacle  as  that 
has,  I  believe,  not  been  before  seen  in  the  political  annals  of  this  country.  We  have 
had  Lord  Derby,  the  last  defender  of  protection — (laughter) — and  the  last  and  fore- 
most bulwark  against  democracy — (hear,  hear,  and  laughter) — we  have  seen  him 
exhibiting  himself  in  the  defence  of  Free-trade  and  household  suffrage  on  the  plat- 
form of  the  Free-trade  Hall  in  Manchester.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  Notwith- 
standing this,  I  suppose  our  friends  the  Tories  will  still — as  their  credulity  has  no 
limit —  (laughter)  — believe  in  him.  They  must  believe  in  somebody — (laughter) — and 
he  will  stand  as  a  sort  of  saint  and  hero  in  the  political  calendar  of  the  Conservative 
party.  .  .  If  Ireland  is  to  be  made  content,  if  her  wounds  are  to  be  healed, 
if  there  is  to  be  henceforth  what  there  never  has  been — a  united  kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland — if  the  sceptre  of  the  Queen,  representing  the  majesty  of  the 
law,  shall  ever  be  of  equal  authority  east  and  west  of  the  Channel,  it  must  be  done, 
and  it  can  only  be  done,  by  measures  of  great  statesmanship  and  of  justice.  (Cheers.) 
The  morals  of  the  turf,  la'd  on  the  floor  of  Parliament,  or  in  the  secrecy  of  the 
Cabinet,  will  fail  here.  The  disease  which  we  are  discussing  is  one  of  a  different 
character.  But  there  are  remedies,  unless  it  be  that  remedies  are  too  late.  Has  this 
country  fallen  so  low  that  it  can  produce  no  statesman  equal  to  these  things  ?  I  say 
the  man  who,  leading  in  the  counsels  of  the  Queen's  Government,  shall  grasp  this 
great  question  and  end  it — who  shall  comprehend  the  remedies,  and  shall  administer 
them  and  make  them  law — he  would  do  that  which  in  future  time  the  pen  of  history 
will  delight  to  trace.  He  may  to  the  very  full  gratify  the  noblest  ambition  of  his 
mind,  and  he  may  build  up  for  himself  a  lasting  memorial  in  the  happiness  and  the 
gratitude  of  a  regenerated  nation."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  a  breakfast  given  by  Mr.  J;  S. 
Wright,  the  chairman  of  the  Birmingham  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, on  the  5th  of  February,  to  the  artisans  who  had  visited 
the  Paris  Exhibition  : — 

"  Now,  suppose  we  had  in  this  country  all  the  working  people  educated,"  re- 
marked Mr.  Bright — "I  mean  thus  far,  that  every  boy  and  girl  amongst  them,  as 
near  as  could  be,  should  understand  how  to  read,  should  comprehend  what  was 
read,  should  go  through  the  ordinary  rules  of  arithmetic,  and  had  that  little  general 
knowledge  which  every  child  picks  up  at  school — such  as  a  little  knowledge  of 
history,  a  little  knowledge  of  geography,  and  probably  a  little  knowledge  of 
drawing — supposing  that  this  knowledge  was  universal  among  all  the  children  of  the 
labouring  classes,  what  else  would  be  necessary  ?  You  would  find  from  out  of  the 
vast  body  that  there  would  be  certain  boys  who  could  by  no  means  be  kept  down  to 
the  level  at  which  they  left  school.  There  would  be  found  in  their  mind  and  brain 
•in  energy  compelling  them  to  do  something  more,  and  the  desire  to  do  it,  so  that  if 
you  set  them  upon  Salisbury  Plain  without  anybody  within  five  miles  of  them,  still 
they  would  carry  on  in  some  way  or  other  their  education,  and  would  become  technically 
educated,  because  one  would  be  led  into  one  branch,  and  another  into  another,  and 
these  children  specially  gifted,  as  you  find  some  children  in  all  ranks  of  life,  would 
become  your  leaders  in  all  your  various  arts  and  manufactures.  In  my  opinion, 
then,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  have  much  of  what  in  called  technical  training  foi 
particular  trades." 

I)   D 


450  LITE    AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1868. 

Mr.  Bright  addressed  his  constituents  in  the  Town  Hall, 
Birmingham,  on  the  14th  of  February,  1868  : — 

"  There  is  nothing  that  Ireland  could  do  for  herself  if  she  were  a  State  of  the 
American  Union  which  the  Parliament  in  London,  if  it  be  statesmanlike  and  just, 
cannot  do  for  Ireland.  (Hear,  hear,  and  applause.)  Now,  suppose  we  had  a 
Parliament  in  Dublin  that  was  elected  by  a  fair  and  free  and  equal  vote  of  the 
householders  of  the  Irish  nation,  does  anybody  believe  that  there  would  exist  in 
that  country  an  institution  such  as  there  is  now  under  the  name  of  the  Protestant 
Established  Church  ?  (No,  no.)  Let  nobody  suppose  I  am  hostile  to  the  Protestant 
Church  or  to  Protestantism.  (Hear.)  I  am  myself,  as  you  know,  a  Protestant  of 
Protestants.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  can  have  no  kind  of  religious  sympathy  with  many 
of  the  practices  of  the  Catholic  Church ;  therefore  when  I  am  speaking  of  the 
Protestant  Church  I  am  speaking  purely  of  a  political  State  organisation.  (Hear, 
hear.)  If  any  would  say  that  with  such  a  Parliament  in  Dublin  the  Irish  people 
would  permit  that  political  State  Church  to  exist,  he  must  have  this  kind  of  idea  of 
Ireland  and  the  Irish  people — he  must  believe  that  Ireland  is  no  better  than  one 
huge  lunatic  asylum.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  Then,  why  should  the  people  of 
England,  being  the  most  powerful  section  of  the  three  kingdoms — why  should  our 
Parliament  in  England  maintain  and  support  that  church  against  the  individual 
opinions  and  the  thousand-times-repeated  protests  of  the  great  majority  of  the  Irish 
people?  (Hear,  hear.)  That  Church  has  been  maintained  there  for  the  sake  erf 
building  up  what  in  time  past  were  considered  English  interests.  A  supremacy 
party  was  established  with  the  idea  of  preserving  the  union  with  England,  and  it 
has  become  in  our  time,  more  than  all  other  institutions,  that  which  most  imperils 
that  union.  (Hear,  and  applause.)  Now,  I  believe  that  nobody  who  really  can 
have  any  kind  of  claim,  from  thinking  on  the  question,  to  give  an  opinion  upon  it, 
would  say  that  we,  the  people  of  England,  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  can 
pretend  any  longer  to  govern  Ireland  upon  the  principles  and  in  accordance  with 
the  prejudices  and  the  fashions  of  that  supremacy  party  in  Ireland.  (Hear,  hear.) 
.  .  *  .  I  recollect  when  Daniel  O'Connell  was  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  on 
many  occasions  I  sat  by  him.  I  asked  him  on  one  occasion  if  he  would  write  me  an 
autograph  for  a  lady,  a  relative  of  mine,  who  wished  to  preserve  it.  He  went  into 
the  lobby,  and,  taking  a  pen,  he  wrote  these  four  lines.  Speaking  of  Ireland,  he 
said  (I  don't  know  that  the  lines  were  his  own  composition,  but  he  wrote 
them) : — 

Within  that  land  was  many  a  malcontent, 

Who  cursed  the  tyranny  to  which  he  bent ; 

That  land  full  many  a  •wringing  despot  saw, 

Who  worked  his  tyranny  in  form  of  law.'  " 

Mr.  Maguire,  on  the  13th  of  March,  introduced  a  motion  to 
the  effect  that  the  House  should  resolve  itself  into  a  committee 
to  consider  the  condition  of  Ireland.  He  attributed  the  land 
grievance  and  the  existence  of  the  Established  Church  as  the 
chief  causes  of  Irish  discontent. 

The  Earl  of  Mayo,  in  introducing  the  Government's  pro- 
posal, stated  that  a  Commission  would  be  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  whole  state  of  the  relations  between  landlord  and 
tenant;  and  in  the  meantime  a  Bill  would  be  introduced 
providing  for  an  easy  compensation  for  money  laid  out  in 
improvements,  and  another  for  rendering  more  efficient  the 
working  of  Irish  railways.  The  general  education  of  the 
people  was  already  under  the  consideration  of  a  Commission, 
and  it  was  proposed  to  grant  a  charter  to  a  Roman  Catholic  uni- 
versity. With  regard  to  the  Irish  Church,  it  was  not  proposed 
to  take  any  immediate  action.  In  the  adjourned  debate  on  the 


1868.]  IRISH    DISCONTENT.  451 

14th  of  March,  Mr.  Bright  remarked  that  the  cause  of  discon- 
tent and  disloyalty  was  well  known  by  the  Government, 
particularly  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  adding  : — 

"I  am  in  favour  of  more  proprietors,  and  some,  of  course,  will  be  small  and 
some  will  be  large  ;  but  it  would  be  quite  possible  for  Parliament,  if  it  thought  fit 
to  attempt  anything  of  this  kind,  to  fix  a  limit  below  which  it  would  not  assist  the 
owner  to  sell  or  the  purchasher  to  buy.  I  believe  that  you  can  establish  a  class  of 
moderate  proprietors,  who  will  form  a  body  intermediate  between  the  great  owners 
of  land  and  those  who  are  absolutely  landless,  which  will  be  of  immense  service 
in  giving  steadiness,  loyalty,  and  peace  to  the  whole  population  of  the  island.  .  . 
It  reminds  me  of  an  anecdote  which  is  related  by  Addison.  Writing  about  the 
curious  things  which  happened  in  his  time,  he  says  that  there  was  a  man  who  made 
a  living  by  cheating  the  country  people.  I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  in 
Buckinghamshire  or  not.  (Laughter.)  He  was  not  a  Cabinet  minister — he  was 
only  a  mountebank — (great  laughter) — and  he  set  up  a  stall,  and  sold  pills  that  were 
very  good  against  the  earthquake.  (Roars  of  laughter.)  Well,  that  is  about  the 
state  of  things  that  we  are  in  now.  There  is  an  earthquake  in  Ireland.  Does 
anybody  doubt  it  ?  I  will  not  go  into  the  evidence  of  it,  but  I  will  say  that  there 
has  been  a  most  extraordinary  alarm — some  of  it  extravagant,  I  will  admit — 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  three  kingdoms  ;  and  although  Fenianism  may  be  but 
a  low,  a  reckless,  and  an  ignorant  conspiracy,  the  noble  lord  has  admitted  that  there 
is  discontent  and  disaffection  in  the  country ;  and  when  the  member  for  one  of  the 
great  cities  of  Ireland  comes  forward  and  asks  the  Imperial  Parliament  to  discuss 
this  great  question — this  social  and  political  earthquake  under  which  Ireland  is  heaving 
— the  noble  lord  comes  forward  and  offers  that  there  shall  be  a  clerically  governed 
endowed  university  for  the  sons,  I  suppose,  of  the  Catholic  gentlemen  of  Ireland. 
I  have  never  heard  a  more  unstatesmanlike  or  more  unsatisfactory  proposition ;  and 
I  believe  the  entire  disfavour  with  which  it  has  been  received  in  this  House  is  only 
a  proper  representation  of  the  condemnation  which  it  will  receive  from  the  great 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  three  kingdoms.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  We  are,  after  all, 
of  one  religion.  I  imagine  that  there  will  come  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  world 
when  men  will  be  astonished  that  Catholics  and  Protestants  have  had  so  much 
animosity  against  and  suspicion  of  each  other.  I  accept  the  belief  in  a  grand 
passage  which  I  once  met  with  in  the  writings  of  the  illustrious  founder  of  the 
colony  of  Pennsylvania.  He  says  that  "The  humble,  meek,  merciful,  just,  pious, 
and  devout  souls  are  everywhere  of  one  religion,  and  when  death  has  taken  off  the 
mask  they  will  know  one  another,  though  the  diverse  liveries  they  wear  here  make  them 
strangers."  Now,  may  I  ask  the  House  to  act  in  this  spirit,  and  then  our  work  will 
be  easy.  (Cheers.)  The  noble  lord,  towards  the  conclusion  of  his  speech,  spoke  of 
the  cloud  which  rests  at  present  over  Ireland.  It  is  a  dark  and  heavy  cloud,  and  its 
da  kn^ss  extends  over  the  feelings  of  men  in  all  parts  of  the  British  Empire.  But 
tin  re  is  a  consolation  which  we  may  all  take  to  ourselves.  An  inspired  king  and 
bard  and  prophet  has  left  us  words  which  are  not  only  the  expression  of  a  fact,  but 
whii'h  we  may  take  as  the  utterance  of  a  prophecy.  He  says,  '  To  the  upright  there 
ar  seth  light  in  the  darkness.'  Let  us  try  in  this  matter  to  be  upright.  Let  us  try 
to  be  just.  (Cheers.)  That  cloud  will  be  dispelled.  The  dangers  which  surround 
us  will  vanish,  and  we  may  yet  have  the  happiness  of  leaving  to  our  children  the 
hi-rt;ige  of  an  honourable  citizenship  in  a  united  and  prosperous  empire."  (Loud 
Cheers.) 

Mr.  Gladstone  took  part  in  the  discussion,  and  said  that  the 
Established  Church  must  cease  to  exist,  and  religious  equality  be 
established.  Not  many  days  after  he  tabulated  resolutions 
affirming  the  necessity  for  disestablishing  and  disendowing  the 
T  .lis  d  Church  of  Ireland,  and  on  the  3Uth  of  March  he 
1  ;<  *!••>  •'  i  i  '-voiir  of  his  resolutions.  Mr.  Bright,  in 

"i  Uniifc.  j.  lutgiii  a^,^*  u>  c.^j  .uuuibec  of  the  House  who  now  hears  me, 
whether,  if  he  had  been  placed  in  Ireland  with  his  father  before  him  among  the 

DPS 


462  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BEIGHT.  [1868. 

Catholic  population — I  might  ask  him  whether  he  would  not  have  felt  that  if  he 
threw  off  nis  allegiance  to  his  Church?  and  if  he  entered  the  portals  of  this  garrison 
Church,  that  it  would  have  been  to  him  not  only  a  change  of  faith,  but  a  denial,  aa 
it  were,  of  his  birth  and  of  his  country.  I  nave  felt  always  in  considering  this 
question — and  I  have  considered  it  much  for  twenty-five  years  past — that  all  the 
circumstances  of  that  Church  in  Ireland  have  been  such  as  to  stimulate  the  heart  of 
every  Catholic  to  a  stronger  adherence  to  his  own  faith,  and  to  a  determined  and 
unchangeable  rejection  of  the  faith  and  of  the  Church  which  were  offered  to  him  by 
the  hands  of  conquest.  There  is  one  point  on  this,  too,  which  is  important — that  the 
more  you  have  produced  dissatisfaction  with  Imperial  rule  in  Ireland,  the  more  you 
have  thrown  the  population  into  the  hands  of  Borne.  Now,  I  hope  I  shall  offend 
no  Catholic  Member  in  this  House  when  I  say  that  I  consider  it  one  of  the  greatest 
calamities  of  the  world  that  there  are  in  many  countries  millions  of  Catholic  popula- 
tion who  are  liable  to  be  directed  in  much  of  their  conduct,  and  often  in  their  political 
conduct,  through  their  bishop  and  clergy  from  the  centre  of  the  city  of  Eome.  I 
think  that  is  a  misfortune — I  think  it  is  a  misfortune  to  the  freedom  of  the  world. 
And  I  think,  moreover,  that  it  is  a  misfortune  to  every  Catholic  Church  in  every 
country,  for  it  tends  to  prevent  it  from  being  wholly  national,  and  it  prevents  also 
such  changes  and  such  reformations  as,  I  believe,  are  necessary  in  the  progress  of 
every  Church.  .  .  Let  us  take  this  Irish  State  Church ;  let  us  take  it,  not 
with  a  rude — I  am  against  rudeness  and  harshness  in  legislative  action — but  if  not 
with  a  rude,  still  with  a  resolute,  grasp.  If  you  adopt  the  policy  we  recommend,  you 
will  pluck  up  a  weed  which  pollutes  the  air.  ('  Oh,  oh.')  I  will  give  hon.  gentle- 
men consolation  in  the  conclusion  of  the  sentence — I  say  you  will  pluck  up  a  weed 
which  pollutes  the  air ;  but  you  will  leave  a  free  Protestant  Church,  which  will  be 
hereafter  an  ornament  and  a  gra.ce  to  all  those  who  may  be  brought  within  the  range 
of  its  influence.  (Cheers.)  Sir,  I  said  in  the  beginning  of  my  observations  that  the 
people  of  three  kingdoms  are  waiting  with  anxious  suspense  for  the  solution  of  this 
question.  Ireland  waits  and  longs.  I  appeal  to  the  right  hon.  gentleman,  the 
member  for  Limerick  (Mr.  Monsell) ;  I  appeal  to  that  meeting,  the  character  of 
which  he  can  describe,  and  perhaps  may  describe,  to  the  House ;  and  I  say  that 
Ireland  waits  and  longs  for  a  great  act  of  reconciliation.  I  say,  further,  that 
England  and  Scotland  are  eager  to  make  atonement  for  past  crimes  and  past  errors ; 
and  I  say,  yet  further,  that  it  depends  upon  us,  this  House  of  Commons,  this  Imperial 
Parliament,  whether  that  reconciliation  shall  take  place,  and  whether  that  atonement 
shall  at  length  be  made."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Gladstone's  motion  for  going  into  committee  was  carried 
by  a  majority  of  56. 

Mr.  Disraeli,  on  the  4th  of  May,  informed  the  House  that 
he  had  advised  her  Majesty  to  dissolve  Parliament,  but  at  the 
same  time  placed  the  resignation  of  himself  and  his  colleagues  at 
Her  Majesty's  disposal ;  at  a  second  interview  she  declined  to 
accept  the  Premier's  resignation,  but  signified  her  readiness  to 
dissolve  Parliament  as  soon  as  the  state  of  public  business 
permitted. 

On  the  7th  of  May  Mr.  Gladstone's  second  and  third  Irish 
Church  resolutions  were  carried  in  committee  without  a  division. 
Mr.  Disraeli  predicted  that  there  would  be  a  quarrel  amongst 
the  Liberals  over  the  division  of  what  he  termed  plunder. 

"I  have  held  consistently  for  twenty  years,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "the  conviction 
which  the  right  hon.  gentleman  at  the  head  of  the  Government  himself  held  then, 
and  which,  if  it  were  possible  now  to  put  him  under  an  accurate  examination  from 
which  he  could  not  flinch,  he  would  be  obliged  to  say  that  he  holds  now ;  because, 
on  a  recent  occasion,  he  admitted  that  the  main  sentiment  of  that  speech  which  he 
delivered  twenty-five  years  ago  was  right.  But  I  am  in  a  different  position  from  the 
right  hon.  gentleman.  I  have  not  been  endeavouring  to  climb  the  ladder  of  Parlia- 
mentary promotion  and  notoriety.  ('  Oh,'  and  cheers.)  No,  Sir,  I  have  only  had  the 


1868.]  THE    IRISH  CHUKCH.  453 

single  object — so  far  as  I  have  had  anything  to  do  with  Irish  questions — to  promote 
what  appeared  to  be  just  to  that  country,  and  which  would  tend  to  the  advantage  of 
the  United  Kingdom.  The  right  hon.  gentleman  the  other  night,  in  a  manner  at 
onco  pompous  and  servile,  talked  at  large  of  the  interviews  which  he  had  with  his 
Sovereign.  I  venture  to  say  that  a  Minister  who  deceives  his  Sovereign  is  as  guilty 
as  the  conspirator  who  would  dethrone  her.  ('  Oh,'  and  cheers.)  I  do  not  charge 
the  right  hon.  gentleman  with  deceiving  his  Sovereign  ;  but  if  he  has  not  changed 
the  opinion  which  he  held  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  which  he  has  said  in  the  main 
was  right,  then  I  fear  that  he  has  not  stated  all  that  was  his  duty  to  state  in  the 
interviews  which  he  had  with  his  Sovereign.  Let  me  tell  hon.  gentlemen  opposite, 
and  the  right  hon.  gentleman  in  particular,  that  any  man  in  this  country  who  puts 
the  Sovereign  in  the  front  of  a  great  struggle  like  this  into  which  it  may  be  we  are 
about  to  enter — who  points  to  the  Irish  people,  and  says  from  the  floor  of  this  House, 
'  Your  Queen  holds  the  flag  under  which  we,  the  enemies  of  religious  equality  and 
justice  to  Ireland,  are  marshalled  ' — I  say  that  the  Minister  who  does  that  is  guilty 
of  a  very  high  crime  and  a  great  misdemeanour  against  his  Sovereign  and  against 
his  country.  And  there  is  no  honour,  and  there  is  no  reputation,  there  is  no  glory, 
there  is  no  future  fame  that  any  Minister  can  gain  by  conduct  like  this,  that  will 
acquit  him  before  posterity  of  one  of  the  most  grievous  offences  against  his  country 
which  a  Prime  Minister  can  possibly  commit."  (Cheers.) 

On  the  22nd  of  May  Mr.  Gladstone's  resolutions  were 
carried  by  a  majority  of  fifty-four,  and  there  was  no  difficulty 
experienced  during  the  remaining  stages,  until  it  came  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  where  the  second  reading  was  negatived  on  a 
division  by  192  to  97. 

In  the  early  part  of  1868,  Mr.  W.  O'Sullivan,  of  Limerick, 
who  has  subsequently  become  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  was  arrested  on  suspicion  of  being  connected  with  the 
Fenian  organisation,  and  many  of  his  friends  in  England  formed 
the  opinion  that  he  was  unjustly  suspected,  and  ought  to  be 
liberated.  Mr.  Bright  was  asked  to  intercede  on  his  behalf, 
and,  in  reply,  wrote  : — 

"  I  think  it  likely  there  are  many  cases  of  great  hardship  and  injustice  under 
the  present  system  of  arrests  in  Ireland." 

He  also  promised  to  wait  upon  Lord  Mayo,  to  try  to  induce  him 
to  liberate  Mr.  O'Sullivan.  On  the  26th  of  March,  Mr.  Bright 
wrote  again,  stating — 

"  That  Lord  Mayo,  after  consulting  with  the  law  officers,  has  ordered  the  libera- 
tion of  Mr.  O'Sullivan,  on  condition  that  he  does  not  reside  within  the  county  of 
Limerick  before  the  1st  of  August  next.  This  seems  a  strange  condition,  but  I 
suppose  it  will  not  prevent  his  going  within  a  few  miles  of  home  to  live ;  and  per- 
haps may  enable  him  to  pay  some  attention  to  his  business." 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Welsh  National  Reform  Associa- 
tion was  held  in  Liverpool  on  the  3rd  of  June,  and  Mr.  Bright 
was  one  of  the  speakers,  and  said — 

"  That  out  of  a  population  of  six  million  persons  in  Ireland,  4,500,000  belonged 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Half  a  million  belonged  to  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  and  about  half  a  million  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The 
census  gave  under  700,000  of  Church  Protestants,  but  this  overstated  the 
numbers.  Notv,  if  we  belonged  to  these  four  and  a  half  millions,  and  knew  that 
this  little  Church  of  half  4  million  was  planted  among  us  by  those  who  had 


454  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  BRIGHT. 

conquered  our  fathers,  if  we  knew  also  that  this  little  Church  was  associated 
with  everything  that  had  been  hostile  to  our  national  interests  and  national 
prosperity,  and  if  we  knew  further  that  it  absorbed  incomes  amounting  to  not 
less  than  £700,000  or  £800,000  sterling  per  year,  these  incomes  being  derived 
from  national  property  amounting  to  probably  £13,000,000  or  £14,000,000  sterling — 
I  say  that  if  we  were  of  those  four  and  a  half  millions,  let  me  ask  every  man 
of  you  whether  we  should  not  feel  that  we  had  a  just  cause  of  complaint, 
and  that  there  was  a  national  grievance  in  our  country  that  required  to  be 
speedily  redressed.  .  .  Now,  what  is  it  we  propose  to  do  ?  So  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  I  should  be  sorry  to  join  any  political  party  that  was  about  to  do  a 
real  injury  or  a  real  injustice  to  any  portion  of  the  people.  We  propose— 
Mr.  Gladstone  in  his  resolution  proposed — the  House  of  Commons,  by  its  great 
majority,  has  resolved— to  place  the  Episcopal  Church,  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  Ireland,  in  this  position — a  position  familiar  to  you.  You  have  been 
in  this  position  for  a  long  tune;  you  know  exactly  its  hardships,  its  grievances, 
its  advantages,  and  its  glorious  successes.  We  propose  to  put  the  Protestant 
Episcopalians  of  Ireland  in  exactly  the  same  position  that  the  Welsh  Free 
Churches  are  in  now— in  the  position  in  which  the  Wesleyan  Churches  of  Scot- 
laud  are;  and  also,  I  may  say,  it  is  the  same  position  in  which  all  the  Protestant 
Churches,  the  Episcopalians  included,  are  in  Canada,  in  the  Australian  colonies, 
and  in  the  United  States  of  North  America.  But  we  propose  to  give  them  this 
advantage,  which  you  have  never  had,  to  leave  them  in  possession  of  all  the 
churches  wherever  they  have  a  congregation  that  will  keep  them  in  repair,  and 
of  all  the  parsonage  houses  belonging  to  those  churches  where  there  are  congrega- 
tions who  will  support  a  minister." 

Mr.  Bright  in  July,  1868,  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  Peabody  at 
Castle  Connel  in  Ireland,  and  on  the  14th  of  that  month  he  was 
invited  to  a  public  breakfast  in  the  Limerick  Athenaeum. 

"It  is  now  twenty  years  since  I  was,  the  only  time  before  this,  in  your  city," 
said  Mr.  Bright  to  his  audience.  "I  can  see — and  I  have  heard  much  more  than 
'I  have  seen — that  there  is  a  considerable  change  in  some  respects  for  the  better 
in  Ireland  during  the  last  twenty  years;  but  it  is  not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at. 
When  I  was  here  before,  famine  and  pestilence  had  scarcely  completed  their 
melancholy  duty.  When  I  say  duty,  I  regard  famine  and  pestilence  as  instru- 
ments appointed  by  Providence  to  punish  the  ignorance,  the  folly,  and  the  crimes 
of  men.  But  since  famine  and  pestilence  in  their  fearful  forms  have  ceased 
amongst  you,  there  has  been  an  emigration  unexampled,  I  believe,  from  any 
modern  nation,  and  in  any  modern  time ;  and  the  result  has  been  that  the 
population  of  Ireland  has  been  greatly  thinned,  and  it  is  only  reasonable  to 
expect  and  to  believe  that  there  should  be  better  and  more  constant  employment 
for  the  population  remaining  here,  and  a  higher  rate  of  wages  than  in  former 
times.  If  you  recollect  the  contents  of  the  report  of  the  Devon  Commission, 
which  I  think  sat  about  the  year  1845,  you  will  remember  that  nearly  one 
half  the  population  of  Ireland  at  that  moment  were  in  a  condition  of  absolute 
pauperism.  That  is  a  thing  which,  happily,  cannot  be  said  now  of  such  a  large 
proportion  of  your  people.  .  .  I  am  willing  and  anxious,  if  possible,  to  supple- 
ment the  Act  of  Union  by  deeds  of  generosity  and  of  justice,  which  shall  really 
unite  the  three  kingdoms.  And  I  would  offer  to  the  Irish  people  the  more 
durable  and  solid  independence  which  they  may  possibly  think  is  the  portion  of 
a  great  and  prosperous  empire,  whose  councils  and  whose  examples  would  move 
the  world  to  great  and  noble  ends.  .  .  In  travelling  through  this  country, 
one  may  not  accept  the  dictum  of  your  poet,  that  this  is  the  "First  flower  of 
the  earth ; "  but,  at  any  rate,  I  think  a  man  cannot  live  in  the  valley  of  the 
Shannon  without  believing  that  it  is  one  of  the  earth's  very  fairest  flowers. 
Your  climate  is  genial,  your  people  have  at  least  as  many  virtues,  so  far 
as  I  know,  as  other  people  have,  and  even  it  is  admitted  that  their  failings  lean 
rather  to  virtue's  side.  But  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  there  hangs  over 
the  country  something  like  a  shadow  of  the  curse  of  past  wrongs,  and  that 
there  are  amongst  you  afflicting  memories  that  will  not  sleep.  What  I  would 
propose,  if  it  were  possible  for  me  to  dictate  the  policy  of  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment towards  Ireland,  would  be  to  undo — absolutely  to  undo — the  terrible  and 


IRELAND.  455 

scclesiastical  arrangements  maintained  during  the  past  two  or  three  hundred 
years,  though  I  would  do  all  this  without  inflicting  upon  any  living  man  the  smallest 
act  of  injustice  in  connection  with  his  personal  interests  in  those  territorial  and 
ecclesiastical  arrangements." 

The  general  election  approaching1,  Mr.  Bright  issued  his 
address  to  his  constituents  on  the  22nd  August,  1868,  and 
stated — 

"I  regard  the  question  of  the  ballot  as  of  first  importance.  Whether  I  look 
to  the  excessive  cost  of  elections,  or  to  the  tumult  which  so  often  attends  them, 
or  to  the  unjust  and  cruel  pressure  which  is  so  frequently  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  less  independent  class  of  voters,  I  am  persuaded  that  the  true  interest  of 
the  public  and  of  freedom  will  be  served  by  the  adoption  of  the  system  of  secret 
and  free  voting.  It  is  in  practice,  and  is  highly  valued,  in  almost  every  other 
country  having  representative  institutions,  and  I  regard  it  as  absolutely  necessary 
to  a  real  representation  of  the  United  Kingdom.  The  foremost  question  for  the 
new  Parliament  will  be  our  treatment  of  Ireland.  You  know  my  views  on  the 
Irish  Church  Establishment  and  on  the  land  question.  In  dealing  with  the 
Irish  Establishment  we  are  not  promoting  the  spread  of  the  Roman  Catholic, 
or  damaging  the  influence  of  the  Protestant,  religion.  We  do  not  touch  religion 
at  all.  We  deal  only  with  the  political  institution,  which  has  wholly  failed  to 
secure  any  good  object,  and  which  has  succeeded  only  in  weakening  the  loyalty 
and  offending  the  sense  of  justice  of  the  great  majority  of  the  Irish  people. 
Our  opponents  speak  of  their  zeal  for  Protestantism  and  their  loyalty  to  the 
constitution.  I  prefer  a  Protestantism  which  is  in  alliance  with  Christian  kind- 
ness and  with  justice,  and  my  loyalty  to  the  constitution  leads  me  to  wish  for 
the  hearty  union  of  the  three  kingdoms  in  allegiance  to  the  Crown.  I  believe 
that  Christianity  and  the  constitution  will  be  alike  strengthened  in  these  Islands 
by  the  removal  of  the  Irish  Church  Establishment." 

Mr.  Bright  addressed  a  crowded  meeting  of  his  constituents 
in  the  Town  Hall,  Birmingham,  on  the  26th  of  October ;  Mr. 
J.  S.  Wright  in  the  chair. 

"Now,  will  you  allow  me  for  a  moment  to  tell  you  what  was  the  state  of 
England  exactly  forty  years  ago  ?  "  remarked  Mr.  Bright.  "  If  I  had  a  blackboard 
here  on  the  platform,  as  schoolmasters  have  in  their  schools,  or  if  I  had  a  large  chart 
where  I  could  point  to  all  these  things,  you  would  take  them  in  not  only  with  the 
ear  as  I  speak  them,  but  with  the  eye  as  you  would  see  them.  In  1828  no  Dissenter 
in  England — how  many  Dissenters  are  there  on  this  platform,  in  this  meeting?— 
(cheers) — half  the  people  at  least  who  go  to  a  place  of  worship  on  a  Sunday  are  Dis- 
senters— forty  years  ago  not  one  of  these  Dissenters  by  law  could  hold  any  civil  or 
military  office  in  the  State.  He  could  not  be  mayor  of  Birmingham ;  he  could  not 
be  an  alderman ;  he  could  not  be  a  member  of  the  town  council ;  he  could  not  be  a 
magistrate ;  he  could  not  hold,  I  believe,  a  position  of  the  rank  of  any  officer  in  the 
army.  There  were  many  that  did  hold  those  offices,  but  they  did  it  contrary  to  law, 
and  every  year  a  Bill  of  Indemnity  was  passed  to  excuse  them  for  having  broken  the 
law.  What  was  there  besides,  with  regard  to  your  fellow-countrymen,  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  the  kingdom  ?  Not  one  of  these  was  permitted  to  sit  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  although  he  was  elected  by  any  of  the  largest  constituencies  of  the  king- 
dom. ('  Shame.')  But  not  only  were  these  members  of  the  Catholic  Church  thus  dis- 
qualified, but  your  great  town  itself,  and  the  city  of  Manchester,  and  the  town  of 
Leeds,  and  the  town  of  Sheffield,  and  many  of  the  great  towns,  and  all  the  boroughs 
of  the  metropolis  of  the  kingdom,  except  the  city  of  London,  the  borough  of  South  - 
wark,  and  the  city  of  Westminster,  were  totally  without  Parliamentary  power. 
Where  do  you  think  all  the  members  of  Parliament  came  from  in  those  days  ?  I  will 
tell  you  where  forty-four  of  them  came  from.  I  have  been  lately,  within  the  last 
month,  spending  some  days  in  the  county  of  Cornwall,  a  very  charming  county,  with 
beautiful  coast  scenery,  with  an  industrious,  a  frugal,  an  intelligent,  and  a  noble- 
minded  population ;  but  the  forty-four  members  who  came  to  the  House  of  Commons 
were  not  returned  by  the  population,  but  for  the  most  part  by  what  were  called 


456  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1863. 

rotten  boroughs.  That  was  the  state  of  things  that  existed  at  the  time  of  which  I 
have  spoken.  You  know  that  as  to  municipal  government  there  was  scarcely  any  in 
England.  Mauy  boroughs  had  the  form  of  municipal  government,  but  they  had 
scarcely  any  of  the  substance.  You  know  that  the  question  of  popular  education 
had  never  been  taken  up  by  the  Government  or  Parliament  of  that  day,  and  that 
nothing  had  been  done  by  the  legislature  to  redeem  the  great  mass  of  our  population 
from  an  ignorance  which  was  degrading  to  us,  and  kept  us  also  below  many  of  the 
civilised  nations  of  Europe.  (Hear,  hear.)  At  that  time  also,  in  our  colonies,  we 
had  800,000  negroes,  in  a  state,  apparently,  of  hopeless  bondage,  and  at  the  same 
time,  at  home,  we  had  monopolies  that  reduced  the  working  classes  themselves  to  a 
condition  of  bondage.  You  had  a  monopoly  in  corn,  a  monopoly  in  sugar,  and  a 
monopoly  in  many  other  things,  which  I  need  not  particularise."  (Hear,  hear.) 

On  the  3rd  of  November,  1868,  Mr.  Bright  was  presented 
with  the  freedom  of  the  city  of  Edinburgh.  Mr.  W.  Chambers, 
the  noted  publisher,  who  at  that  time  filled  the  office  of  Lord 
Provost,  occupied  the  chair  at  the  meeting. 

"  Now,  more  than  thirty  years  ago,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "  when  I  was  very  young 
indeed,  in  my  beginning  to  think  about  public  affairs,  in  reading  the  pure  writings 
of  John  Milton,  I  found  a  passage  which  fixed  itself  in  my  mind.  This  passage  time 
has  never  been  able  to  take  from  my  memory.  He  says,  '  Yet  true  eloquence  I  find 
to  be  none  but  the  serious  and  hearty  love  of  truth.'  And  I  have  endeavoured,  so 
far  as  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  speaking  in  public,  to  abide  by  that  wise  and 
weighty  saying.  So  far  as  I  am  able  to  examine  myself,  during  the  thirty  years  that 
I  have  been  permitted  to  speak  at  meetings  of  my  countrymen,  I  am  not  conscious 
that  I  have  ever  used  an  argument  which  I  did  not  believe  to  be  sound,  or  have 
stated  anything  as  a  fact  which  I  did  not  believe  to  be  true.  I  have  endeavoured, 
further,  always  to  abstain  from  speaking  on  subjects  which  I  had  not  examined  and 
well  considered,  and  perhaps  it  is  because  I  have  endeavoured  to  attend  to  these 
rules  that. what  I  have  said  has  met  with  some  acceptance,  and  perhaps  in  some 
quarters  has  been  influential  with  the  country.  As  to  the  title  of  statesman,  I  may 
say  here  what  I  said  many  years  ago  in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  I  have  seen  so 
much  intrigue  and  ambition,  so  much  selfishness  and  inconsistency  in  the  character 
of  many  so-called  statesmen,  that  I  have  always  been  rather  anxious  to  disclaim  the 
title.  I  have  been  content  to  describe  myself  as  a  simple  citizen,  who  honestly 
examines  such  public  questions  as  affect  the  public  weal,  and  honestly  offers  his 
counsels  to  his  countrymen.  (Cheers.)  ...  I  am  one  of  those  who  have  never 
believed  that  there  is  anything  very  mysterious  in  the  art  or  knowledge  of  politics  ; 
and  that  what  we  call  statesmanship — honest  statesmanship — is  not  an  abstruse  and 
difficult  branch  of  knowledge.  Most  of  us  when  we  come  to  consider  a  public 
question  are  able  to  strip  it  of  all  the  things  which  do  not  really  belong  to  it  and 
get  at  the  pith  and  kernel  of  the  matter.  I  think  that  our  intellects  are  so  much  on  a 
par,  and  that,  as  a  whole,  we  are  so  anxious,  and  rightly  so,  that  on  almost  all 
occasions  we  may  be  able  to  come  to  an  early  and  wise  agreement  as  to  the  course 
which  the  public  should  pursue.  In  the  course  of  my  political  life  there  have  been 
several  great  questions  which  have  interested  me,  and  on  each  of  which  I  have  been 
astonished  that  I  found  myself  at  variance  with  so  many  of  my  countrymen,  and  I 
have  not  been  less  delighted  afterwards  to  find  that,  by-and-bye,  we  all  seemed  to 
agree  ;  but  unfortunately,  the  agreement  came,  occasionally  too  late,  and  when  the 
misfortunes,  which  had  been  perhaps  foretold,  had  already  happened,  and  it  was 
only  after  the  misfortunes  that  we  were  able  to  agree  as  to  what  ought  to  have  been 
done." 

On  the  5th  of  November,  1868,  Mr.  Bright  was  made 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Edinburgh  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
the  chairman,  Mr.  George  Harrison,  presiding.  In  the  evening 
Mr.  Bright  addressed  a  meeting  of  the  working  class,  and,  in  the 
course  of  a  lengthy  speech,  he  said : — 

"  Since  I  have  taken  a  part  in  public  affairs,  the  fact  of  the  vast  weight  of 
poverty  and  ignorance  that  exists  at  the  bottom  of  the  social  scale  has  been  a  burden 


PAUPERISM.  457 

on  my  mind,  and  is  so  now.  I  have  always  hoped  that  the  policy  which  I  have 
advocated,  and  which  has  been  accepted  iu  principle,  will  tend  gradually  hut  greatly 
to  relieve  the  pauperism  and  the  suffering  which  we  still  see  amongst  the  working 
classes  of  society.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  have  no  notion  of  a  country  being  called 
prosperous  and  happy,  or  being  in  a  satisfactory  state,  when  such  a  condition  of 
things  exists.  (Hear,  hear.)  You  may  have  an  historical  monarch,  decked  out  in  the 
dazzling  splendour  of  royalty ;  you  may  have  an  ancient  nobility,  settled  in  grand 
mansions  and  on  great  estates;  you  may  have  an  ecclesiastical  hierarchy,  hiding 
with  its  worldly  pomp  that  religion  whose  first  virtue  is  humility ;  but,  notwith- 
standing all  this,  the  whole  fabric  may  be  rotten  and  doomed  ultimately  to  fall,  if 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  on  whom  it  is  supported  is  poor  and  suffering  and 
degraded.  (Cheers.)  Is  there  no  remedy  for  this  state  of  things  ?  If  governments 
were  just,  if  taxes  were  moderate  and  equitably  imposed,  if  land  were  free,  if 
schools  were  as  prominent  institutions  in  our  landscapes  and  in  our  great  towns  as 
prisons  and  workhouses  are,  I  suspect  we  should  find  the  people  gradually  gaining 
more  self-respect,  that  they  would  have  much  more  hope  of  improvement  for  them- 
selves and  their  families,  that  they  would  rise  above,  in  thousands  of  cases,  all 
temptation  to  intemperance,  and  that  they  would  become  generally — I  say  almost 
universally — more  virtuous  and  more  like  what  the  subjects  of  a  free  state  ought 
to  be.  (Hear,  hear.)  The  solemn  question  as  to  the  future  condition  of  a  consider- 
able portion  of  the  labouring  classes  in  this  country  cannot  be  neglected.  It  must 
be  known  and  remedied.  It  is  the  work  upon  which  the  new  electoral  body  and 
the  new  Parliament  will  have  to  enter.  It  is  a  long  way  from  Belgrave  Square  to 
Bethnal  Green.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  contrast  the  palatial  mansions  of  the  rich  with 
the  dismal  hovels  of  the  poor^the  profuse  and  costly  luxuries  of  the  wealthy  with 
the  squalid  and  hopeless  misery  of  some  millions  of  those  who  are  below  them.  But 
I  ask  you,  as  I  ask  myself  a  thousand  times,  is  it  not  possible  that  this  mass  of 
poverty  and  suffering  may  be  reached  and  be  raised,  or  taught  to  raise  itself  ?  What 
is  there  that  man  cannot  do  if  he  tries?  The  other  day  he  descended  to  the 
mysterious  depths  of  the  ocean,  and  with  an  iron  hand  sought,  and  found,  and 
grasped,  and  brought  up  to  the  surface  the  lost  cable,  and  with  it  made  two  worlds 
into  one.  I  ask,  are  his  conquests  confined  to  the  realms  of  science  ?  Is  it  not 
possible  that  another  hand,  not  of  iron,  but  of  Christian  justice  and  kindness,  may  be 
let  down  to  moral  depths  even  deeper  than  those  the  cable  fathoms,  to  raise  up  from 
thence  the  sons  and  daughters  of  misery  and  the  multitude  who  are  ready  to  perish  ? 
(Cheers.)  This  is  the  great  problem  which  is  now  before  us.  It  is  one  which  is  not 
for  statesmen  only,  not  for  preachers  of  the  Gospel  only — it  is  one  which  every  man 
in  the  nation  should  attempt  to  solve.  The  nation  is  now  in  power,  and  if  wisdom 
abide  with  power,  the  generation  to  follow  may  behold  the  glorious  day  of  what  we, 
in  our  time,  with  our  best  endeavours,  can  only  hope  to  see  the  earliest  dawn. 
(Cheers.) 

A  deputation  of  Birmingham  gunmakers  waited  upon  Mr. 
Bright  on  the  10th  of  November,  1868,  with  respect  to  the 
action  of  the  Government  in  establishing  gun  manufactories  at 
Enfield.  The  deputation  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  work 
could  be  as  adequately  and  safely  executed  by  private  enterprise. 
Mr.  Bright  replied  at  some  length,  and  stated  that  ever  since  he 
had  been  in  Parliament,  when  it  was  possible  to  do  anything,  he 
had  supported  the  views  of  Mr.  Cobden,  that  the  Government 
ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  manufacture  for  itself  any  articles 
which  could  be  obtained  from  private  producers.  Touching  on 
the  military  expenditure,  he  said  : — 

"  There  live  upon  that  £26,000,000  so  vast  a  body  of  men — men  looking  for  better 
wages,  better  salaries,  higher  promotion,  that  they  form  necessarily  a  most  powerful 
influence,  acting  constantly  upon  the  executive,  and  against  the  interest  of  the 
taxpayer.  And  I  can  assure  you  that  the  House  of  Commons,  hitherto,  seems  to  be 
wholly  incapable  of  contending  with  this  power.  In  point  of  fact,  many  of  those 
who  nave  seats  in.  the  House  are  interested  in  this  expenditure ;  and  if  you  will 


458  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1868. 

follow  the  manner  in  which  this  expenditure  is  determined  on,  and  the  estimates  are 
proposed,  you  will  see  how  difficult  it  is  for  three  members  for  Birmingham,  or  for 
thirty,  to  make  much  difference  in  this  matter.  The  heads  of  departments — the 
Horse  Guards  for  the  army,  the  Admiralty  for  the  navy — bring  forward  certain 
proposals  with  regard  to  expenditure,  which  are  laid  before  the  Cabinet,  but  the 
public  are  never  heard  at  the  Horse  Guards  or  at  the  Admiralty.  Men  are  there 
who  are  certainly  heard — men  whose  heads  are  filled  from  morning  to  night  with 
the  grandeur,  the  glory,  and  the  extent  of  the  services ;  but  most  of  them  do  not 
appear  to  have  any  idea  that  it  is  of  the  slightest  importance  that  money  is  spent  or 
saved,  for  they  do  not  seem  to  know  that  a  tax  taken  from  the  people  is  so  much 
taken  from  their  comforts.  .  .  The  Cabinet,  as  a  whole,  is  disposed  greatly  to 
leave  each  particular  department  to  the  heads  of  that  department,  and  we  all  know 
that  in  the  House  of  Commons,  with  its  mob  of  generals,  and  colonels,  and  admirals, 
and  captains,  and  the  friends  of  such,  it  is  far  more  easy  to  work  the  Parliamentary 
machine  by  a  lavish  expenditure  of  money  than  it  is  to  procure,  or  to  promote,  or  to 
insist  upon  any  due  system  of  economy.  They  make  things  easy  by  what  is  called 
greasing  the  wheels.  .  .  What  is  wanted  is  an  entirely  new  system,  and  I  will, 
in  a  few  sentences,  tell  you  what  that  system  ought  to  be.  In  future  the  formation 
of  the  estimates  should  no  longer  be  left  to  be  determined  by  the  Admiralty,  the 
War  Office,  or  the  Cabinet.  There  ought  to  be  an  honestly  chosen  committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  House  pretends  to  hold  the  purse  of  the  nation — it  does  so, 
indeed,  but  its  own  hand  is  always  in  it.  Surely  instead  of  having  650  gentlemen, 
who  for  the  most  part  know  nothing  about  the  matter,  to  determine  these  claims,  all 
the  estimates  should  be  referred  to  a  fairly  selected  committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  that  committee  ought  to  go  into  the  consideration  of  the  whole 
matter,  to  hear  opinions,  to  take  evidence,  and  to  make  a  report  with  regard  to 
every  important  item  in  the  estimates  which  it  presents  to  the  House.  For  the  first 
ten  or  twelve  years  after  I  entered  the  House  of  Commons,  I  took  great  interest  in  the 
estimates.  I  sat  very  near  Mr.  Hume,  and  I  did  what  I  could  to  aid  him  in  his 
efforts  upon  this  snbject ;  but  I  found  out  that  it  was  all  in  vain.  In  fact,  there  is 
no  greater  delusion  imaginable  than  that  any  single  member  of  Parliament  can 
make  any  sensible  difference  in  the  public  expenditure. " 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

ME.  BRIGHT  A  CABINET  MINISTER. 

The  General  Election  of  1868 — Mr.  Gladstone  Premier — Mr.  Bright  made  a  Cabinet 
Minister — At  Windsor — Mr.  Gladstone's  Bill  for  Disestablishing  the  Irish 
Church — A  Free  Breakfast  Table — Illness  of  Mr.  Bright — His  Resignation  from 
the  Cabinet — Comments  of  the  Press — The  Queen's  kind  Offer —Presentation 
from  Staffordshire  to  Mr.  Bright — Recovery — Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster. 

THE  dissolution  of  Parliament  took  place  in  November,  and  on 
the  llth  of  the  same  month  the  electors  were  summoned  to 
choose  their  representatives.  The  result  was  that  the  Liberals 
gained  a  majority  of  120  in  the  new  Parliament.  The  Ministers 
wisely  decided,  at  a  Cabinet  meeting  on  the  1st  of  December,  to 
resign  at  once.  On  Mr.  Gladstone  devolved  the  task  of  forming 
a  new  Administration.  He  offered  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet  to  Mr. 
Bright,  who  at  first  declined,  but  ultimately  consented,  after 
much  friendly  and,  at  the  same  time,  earnest  discussion. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  in  his  contribution  to  this  work, 
states  : — 

"  I  remember  that  Mr.  Bright  told  me  the  next  day  he  had  not  slept  a  wink  after 
it.  It  lasted  from  two  to  three  hours,  during  the  whole  of  which  we  were  at  close 
quarters.  We  were,  however,  completely  united  in  spirit  and  aim,  and  were  only 
debating  the  means.  He  sat  in  the  same  chair  and  place  as  he  had  occupied  some 
months  before  at  a  meeting  of  the  principal  persons  of  the  Liberal  party,  at  which 
the  resolution  was  taken  to  raise  for  good  the  question  of  the  Irish  Church  Establish- 
ment and  to  fight  it  through.  I  am  not  sure  that  he  was  not  the  inventor  of  the 
word  '  disestablish  '  on  that  occasion." 

Very  few  members  of  Parliament  have  more  fairly  earned 
the  title  honourable  in  the  national  sense  of  the  term,  than 
Mr.  Bright  has  done  by  the  unbroken  tenor  of  his  speeches,  and 
his  spotless  life.  The  records  of  Parliament  present  the  names 
of  few  statesmen  to  whom  Englishmen  are  more  distinctly  in- 
debted for  the  practical  extension  of  their  freedom,  and  for  the 
lasting  improvement  of  their  constitution;  or  for  whom,  in  a 
wider  sense,  all  men  who  value  the  principle  of  genuine  freedom 
are  bound  to  cherish  and  to  express  a  more  cordial  gratitude.  To 
many,  however,  the  plain  "John  Bright,  the  burly,  unscrupulous 
apostle  of  the  people's  welfare,  was  far  more  preferable  than  the 
title  of  Right  Hon.  John  Bright/'  Still  his  name  was  a  source 
of  strength  to  the  Government,  for  it  was  a  common  saying 
amongst  his  admirers,  "  He  knows  all  that  is  going  on,  and  if 


466  LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF  JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1868- 

» 

he  is  satisfied,  we  are."  Appearing  before  his  constituents  for 
re-election  on  the  21st  December,  1868,  Mr.  Bright  informed 
them  that — 

"  Mr.  Gladstone,  soon  after  he  proceeded  to  the  formation  of  his 
Administration,  asked  me  to  join  him  in  the  Government.  (Loud  cheers.) 
I  have  reason  to  know  that  he  made  that  proposition  with  the  cordial  and  gracious 
acquiescence  of  Her  Majesty  the  Queen.  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheering.)  As  you 
know,  I  had  very  strong  reasons  for  refusing  to  chaiige  my  seat  and  place  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  arguments  which  were  used  to  induce  me  to  change  that 
opinion  were  arguments  based  entirely  upon  what  was  considered  best  for  the 
interests  of  the  great  Liberal  party  and  for  the  public  service.  (Cheers.)  And  I 
was  obliged  to  admit,  looking  at  them  from  that  point  of  view,  that  they  were  not 
easily  to  be  answered.  On  the  other  hand,  I  had  to  offer  arguments  which  were 
more  of  a  private  and  personal  nature,  which  I  also  believed  to  be  unanswerable. 
But  when  the  private  and  the  personal  came  to  be  weighed  against  the  apparent 
public  reasons — (cheers) — then  the  private  and  the  personal  yielded  to  the  public 
reasons — (loud  cheers) — and  I  surrendered  my  inclination,  and  I  may  say  also  my 
judgment,  to  the  opinions  and  to  the  judgment  of  my  friends.  (Cheers.)  Mr. 
Gladstone  told  me  that  he  did  not  wish  me  to  accept  of  any  office  that  was  inferior 
in  importance  or  in  emolument  to  any  office  held  by  any  one  of  his  colleagues — 
(cheers) — and  he  proposed  that  I  should  accept  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State  for 
India.  (Cheers.)  Now,  very  many  of  my  friends  have  urged  in  past  times  that  I 
should  undertake  that  office— (cheers) — and  not  a  few  have  expressed  regret  that  I 
have  not  accepted  it.  (Hear,  hear.)  In  a  sentence,  therefore,  I  think  it  right  to 
explain  why  I  took  the  course  which  led  to  my  declining  that  important  post. 
You  know  "that  twelve  years  ago,  just  before  I  came  here,  that  I  suffered 
from  an  entire  breakdown  of  my  health,  which  cut  me  off  from  public 
labours  for  about  two  years.  The  Indian  department,  I  believe,  is  one  of  very  heavy 
work,  and  I  felt  I  was  not  justified  in  accepting  it,  unless  there  were  some  great 
probability  of  some  useful  result  which  could  not  be  accomplished  under  any  chief 
of  that  office.  (Hear,  hear.)  Now,  my  own  opinion  is  that  the  views  I  have 
expressed  in  times  passed — especially  in  the  year  1858,  when  the  Indian  Government 
Bill  was  passing  through  Parliament — that  those  views  are  sound,  and  that  the  time 
will  come  when  it  will  be  necessary  to  apply  them  to  the  government  of  India ;  but 
I  believe  that  public  opinion  is  not  yet  sufficiently  advanced  to  allow  us  to  adopt 
them ;  and  that,  if  I  had  taken  that  office,  I  should  have  found  myself  unable  to 
carry  into  execution  the  principles  which  I  believe  to  be  sound  with  regard  to  Indian 
government.  (Hear,  hear.)  At  the  same  time,  I  will  confess  freely  that  it  did  not 
appear  seemly  for  me — I  think  I  should  have  felt  that  I  was  in  my  wrong  place, 
with  the  views  which  I  have  held  from  my  youth  upwards — if  I  had  connected 
myself  distinctly  with  the  direction  of  the  great  military  department  of  the  Indian 
Government.  (Hear,  and  cheers.)  Looking,  therefore,  at  these  points,  I  felt  it 
my  duty  to  decline  the  proposition ;  and  I  said,  very  distinctly,  that  if  I  am  to  accept 
any  seat  in  this  Government,  I  should  prefer  to  take  the  office  of  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade.  (Cheers.)  In  that  office,  perhaps,  I  may  do  a  little  good,  and 
perhaps  I  may  prevent  some  harm.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  At  least  it  will  not,  I 
hope,  so  burden  me  that  I  may  be  unable  to  take  some  reasonable  part  in  the 
discussion  of  the  great  questions  which  must  come  very  speedily  before  the  House  of 
Commons.  (Hear,  hear.)  Having  said  this  much,  then,  I  must  ask  you  to  consider 
that,  although  I  stand  before  you  in  a  new  character,  yet  I  have  not  the  smallest 
intention  of  getting  rid  of  my  old  one.  (Cheers.)  I  hope  the  time  has  arrived  in 
this  country — it  has  only  recently  arrived — when  a  man  may,  perhaps  without 
difficulty,  act  as  an  honest  Minister  of  the  Crown,  and  at  the  same  time  as  an  honest 
and  devoted  servant  and  counsellor  of  the  people.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  There  is  a 
charming  story  contained  in  a  single  verse  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  has  often 
struck  me  as  one  of  great  beauty.  Many  of  you  will  recollect  that  the  prophet, 
journeying  to  and  fro,  was  very  hospitably  entertained  by  what  is  termed  in  the 
Bible  a  Shunammite  woman.  In  return  for  her  hospitality  he  wished  to  make  her 
some  amends,  and  he  called  her  to  him  and  asked  her  what  there  was  that  he  should 
do  for  her.  '  Shall  I  speak  for  thee  to  the  king,'  he  said,  '  or  to  the  captain  of  the 
host  ? '  Now,  it  has  always  appeared  to  me  that  the  Shuuammite  woman  returned 
a  >;reat  answer.  She  replied  in  declining  the  prophet's  offer,  '  I  dwell  among  mine 


1868.]  BEFORE    THE    QUEEN.  461 

own  people.'  (Great  applause.)  When  the  question  was  put  to  me  whether  I 
would  sl;ep  into  the  position  in  which  I  now  find  myself,  the  answer  from  my  heart 
was  the  same — I  wish  to  dwell  among  my  own  people.  (Great  applause.)  Happily 
the  time  may  have  come — I  trust  it  has  come — when  in  this  country  an  honest  man 
may  enter  the  service  of  the  Crown — (great  applause) — and  at  the  same  time  not  feel 
it  in  any  degree  necessary  to  dissociate  himself  from  his  own  people.  (Great 
applause.)  Some  partial  friends  of  mine  have  said  that  I  have  earned  all  this  by  my 
long  services  in  the  popular  cause.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  They  know  not 
what  they  say.  (Laughter.)  They  would  add  labour  to  labour,  and  would  com- 
pensate a  lif e  of  service  by  a  doubled  responsibility.  I  am  sensible  of  the  duty  which 
is  imposed  upon  me  as  a  Minister  of  the  Crown.  It  is  my  duty  faithfully  to  perform 
that  which  belongs  to  such  a  position,  but  I  have  not  less  faithfully  to  act  as  becomes 
an  honest  representative  of  the  people."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright 's  colleagues  in  the  Cabinet  were  Lord  Hatherley 
as  Lord  Chancellor ;  Earl  de  Grey,  Lord  President  of  the 
Council ;  Earl  of  Kimberley,  Lord  Privy  Seal ;  Mr.  Lowe, 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer ;  Mr.  Bruce,  Home  Secretary ; 
Earl  of  Clarendon,  Foreign  Secretary ;  Earl  Granville,  Colonial 
Secretary ;  Mr.  Cardwell,  War  Secretary ;  Duke  of  Argyll, 
Indian  Secretary ;  Lord  Dufferin,  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster ;  the  Marquis  of  Hartington,  Postmaster-General ; 
Mr.  Childers,  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty ;  Earl  Spencer,  Lord 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland;  Mr.  Chichester  Fortescue,  Chief  Secre- 
tary for  Ireland;  and  Mr.  A.  H.  Layard,  Woods  and  Forests. 

When  Mr.  Bright  went  to  Windsor,  to  go  through  the 
ceremony  of  taking  the  oath  of  office,  Her  Majesty  showed  her 
delicate  consideration  for  the  great  commoner  in  a  very  marked 
way.  She  requested  Mr.  Helps,  the  clerk  to  the  Privy  Council, 
to  assure  Mr.  Bright,  if  it  was  more  agreeable  to  his  feelings  to 
omit  the  ceremony  of  kneeling  he  was  quite  at  liberty  to  do  so. 
Mr.  Bright  availed  himself  of  this  considerate  permission,  and  was 
very  kindly  and  cordially  received  by  Her  Majesty.  It  was 
afterwards  intimated  to  Mr.  Bright  that  Her  Royal  Highness 
the  Princess  Royal  of  Prussia  had  expressed  a  desire  that  Mr. 
Bright  should  be  presented  to  her.  She  herself,  she  said,  had 
read  his  speeches,  and  she  was  very  pleased  to  see  him.  Mr. 
Bright  replied  in  graceful  terms,  and  said  if  Her  Royal 
Highness  would  permit  him  he  would  tell  her  what  the  late 
Mr.  Buchanan,  the  American  Minister,  when  last  in  London, 
said  of  her  to  him,  "  that  wherever  Her  Royal  Highness  went, 
she  shed  sunshine  over  all  her  path/'  Mr.  Bright  was  very 
much  struck  with  the  graceful,  animated  manners  and  genial 
greeting  he  had  the  honour  to  receive  from  Her  Royal  Highness, 
and  the  young  ladies  of  the  Court  tell  with  curious  interest  of 
the  meeting  between  Her  Royal  Highness  and  the  great  Quaker 
courtier.  Mr.  Bright  became  as  famous  in  royal  circles  as  his 
illustrious  predecessor,  William  Penn. 


462  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  BEIGIIT. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  in  supplementing  our  account  of  this  interest- 
ing interview,  tells  us  that : 

"The  rules  of  costume  on  such  occasions  have  been  suspended  or  modified  since 
the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort.  It  was  at  court  or  levees  that  Mr.  Bright  availed 
himself  of  Her  Majesty's  gracious  permission,  and  appeared  in  a  velvet  dress  with 
trousers.  The  acceptance  of  office  was  at  Windsor,  in  a  small  room  in  which 
business  is  transacted  standing.  I  remember  being  struck  with  the  feeling 
that  there  was  more  loyalty,  I  will  even  say  more  reverence,  expressed  in  Mr. 
Bright's  face  than  would  have  served  many  a  man  to  go  through  the  kneeling  and 
the  kissing  of  hands." 

Mr.  Bright  made  his  first  official  reply  as  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  on  the  18th  of  February,  1869,  and  performed 
his  duties  very  naturally ;  but  it  was  certainly  very  strange  to 
listen  to  him  making  a  dry  departmental  statement.  Great 
was  the  curiosity  on  the  part  of  the  members  to  witness  how 
he  executed  the  duties,  and  the  impression  made  was  favourable. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  on  the  1st  of  March,  1869,  introduced  his 
Bill  for  the  disestablishment  and  partial  disendowment  of  the 
Irish  Church,  in  a  very  eloquent  speech.  On  the  resumed 
debate,  on  the  19th  of  March,  Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  masterly 
speech  : — 

"  It  is  too  late  to-night  to  go  into  the  question  of  the  surplus,"  said  Mr.  Bright. 
"  There  is  one  thing  that  I  should  say  about  it — and  I  say  it  in  the  hearing  of  my 
hpn.  and  learned  friend  (Sir  Rouudell  Palmer),  who  is  understood  to  take  a  different 
view  on  this  question  from  some  on  this  side.  John  Wycliffe,  as  the  House  knows, 
lived  five  hundred  years  ago  ;  he  was  born  in  the  town  of  Richmond  ;  and  he  was, 
perhaps,  the  first  and  greatest  of  the  English  Reformers.  John  "Wycliffe  was 
obliged  to  consider  this  question  as  to  what  should  be  done  with  regard  to  religious 
endowments ;  and  he  said,  '  If  Churches  make  bad  use  of  their  endowments, 
princes  are  bound  to  take  them  away  from  them.'  It  is  not  too  much  for  us  to  say 
that  if  endowments  are  found  to  be  mischievous,  Parliament  may  put  them  to  other 
uses.  I  sometimes  wonder  how  it  is  that  in  five  hundred  years  we  make  so  little 
progress  on  some  subjects.  That  was  the  opinion  of  Wycliffe  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  we  are  now  discussing  the  same  subject  in  this  House  ;  and  right  hon.  and 
hon.  and  learned  gentlemen  get  up  in  this  House  and  denounce  as  almost  sacrilege 
and  spoliation  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  to  deal  with  the 
endowments  of  the  State  Church  in  Ireland.  And  as  to  the  uses  to  which  these 
endowments  are  put,  if  I  were  particular  on  the  point  as  to  the  sacred  nature  of  the 
endowments,  I  should  even  then  be  satisfied  with  the  propositions  in  this  Bill- — for, 
after  all,  I  hope  it  is  not  far  from  Christianity  to  charity ;  and  we  know  that  the 
Divine  Founder  of  our  faith  has  left  much  more  of  the  doings  of  a  compassionate  and 
loving  heart  than  He  has  of  dogma.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  am  not  able  to  give  the 
chapter  or  the  verse,  the  page  or  the  column ;  but  what  has  always  struck  me  most 
in  reading  the  narratives  of  the  Gospel  is  how  much  of  kindness  and  how  much  of 
compassion  there  was,  and  how  much  also  there  was  of  dealing  kindly  with  all  that 
were  sick,  all  that  were  suffering.  Do  you  think  it  will  be  a  misappropriation  of  the 
surplus  funds  of  this  great  Establishment  to  apply  them  to  some  objects  such  as 
those  described  in  the  Bill  ?  Do  you  not  think  that  from  the  charitable  dealing  with 
these  matters  even  a  sweeter  incense  may  arise  than  when  these  vast  funds  are 
applied  to  maintain  three  times  the  number  of  clergy  with  which  they  are  con- 
nected? (Hear,  hear.)  We  can  do  little,  it  is  true.  We  cannot  relume  the 
extinguished  lamp  of  reason.  We  cannot  make  the  deaf  to  hear.  We  cannot  make 
the  dumb  to  speak.  It  is  not  given  to  us 


'  From  the  thick  film  to  purge  the  visual  ray, 
And  on  the  sightless  eyeballs  pour  the  day ; ' 


1869.]  IRISH   CHURCH   BILL.  463 

but  at  least  we  can  lessen  the  load  of  affliction,  and  we  can  make  life  more  tolerable 
to  vast  numbers  who  suffer.  (Loud  cheers.)  Sir,  when  I  look  at  this  great  measure 
— and  I  can  assure  the  House  I  have  looked  at  it  much  more  than  the  majority  of 
hon.  and  right  hon.  members  opposite,  because  I  have  seen  it  grow  from  Kne  to  line, 
and  from  clause  to  clause,  and  have  watched  its  growth  and  its  completion  with  a 
great  and  increasing  interest — I  say  when  I  look  at  this  measure  I  look  on  it  as 
tending  to  a  more  true  and  solid  union  between  Ireland  and  Great  Britain  ;  I  see  it 
giving  tranquillity  to  our  people — ('  Oh,  oh,'  from  the  Opposition,  followed  by 
Ministerial  cheers) — when  you  nave  a  better  remedy  I  at  least  will  fairly  consider  it 
— (cheers) — I  say  I  see  this  measure  giving  tranquillity  to  our  people,  greater 
strength  to  the  realm,  and  adding  a  new  lustre  and  a  new  dignity  to  the  Crown. 
(Hear,  hear.)  I  .dare  claim  for  this  Bill  the  support  of  all  thoughtful  and  good 
people  within  the  bounds  of  the  British  Empire,  and  I  cannot  doubt  that  in  its  earlj 
and  great  results  it  will  have  the  blessing  of  the  Supreme ;  for  I  believe  it  to  be 
founded  on  those  principles  of  justice  and  mercy  which  are  the  glorious  attributes  of 
His  eternal  reign.*'  (Loud  cheers.) 

The  cheers,  when  Mr.  Bright  sat  down,  were  most  enthusi- 
astic, and  repeated  again  and  again  from  both  sides  of  the 
House.  All  present  seemed  to  yield  unreservedly  to  the  influence 
of  the  orator,  as  in  softened  accents,  and  with  the  great  tender- 
ness of  a  strong  man,  he  touched,  amidst  the  most  hushed 
silence,  the  softer  passions  and  emotions.  The  peroration  swept 
on,  gathering  grandeur,  and  culminating  in  a  magnificent  invo- 
cation to  the  Divine  Ruler.  The  second  reading  of  the  Bill 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  118,  and  the  third  reading  by  114. 
In  the  committee  in  the  House  of  Lords  numerous  changes 
were  made  in  the  Bill.  Some  of  the  amendments  were 
accepted  by  the  Government  and  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
others  rejected.  The  Bill  was  accordingly  sent  back  to  the 
House  of  Lords  on  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  July,  and  after 
undergoing  some  slight  alterations  passed  into  law. 

Before  the  Bill  was  disposed  of  by  the  House  of  Lords,  Mr. 
Bright  gave  the  Members  of  the  upper  chamber  a  warning  in  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Birmingham  Liberal 
Association,  and  it  caused  considerable  excitement  amongst  the 
Peers,  and  had  the  desired  effect. 

"  I  must  ask  my  friends  to  excuse  me  if  I  am  unable  to  accept  their  invitation  for 
the  meeting  on  Monday  next,"  wrote  Mr.  Bright.  ' '  The  Lords  are  not  very  wise,  but 
there  is  sometimes  profit  to  the  people  even  in  their  innovations.  If  they  should 
delay  the  passing  of  the  Irish  Church  Bill  for  three  months,  they  will  stimulate 
discussion  on  important  questions,  which,  but  for  their  infatuation,  might  have 
slumbered  for  many  years.  It  is  possible  that  a  good  many  people  may  ask  what  is 
the  special  value  of  a  constitution  which  gives  a  majority  of  100  in  one  House  for  a 
given  policy,  and  a  majority  of  100  in  another  House  against  it.  I  may  be  asked 
also  why  the  Crown,  through  its  Ministers  in  the  House  of  Commons,  should  be 
found  in  harmony  with  the  nation,  while  the  Lords  are  generally  in  direct  opposition 
to  it.  Instead  of  doing  a  little  childish  tinkering  about  life  peerages,  it  would  be 
well  if  the  Peers  could  bring  themselves  on  a  line  with  the  opinions  and  necessities 
of  our  day.  In  harmony  with  the  nation,  they  may  go  on  for  a  long  time ;  but, 
throwing  themselves  athwart  its  course,  they  may  meet  with  accidents  not  pleasant 
for  them  to  think  of.  But  there  are  not  a  few  good  and  wise  men  among  the  Peers, 
and  we  will  hope  their  counsels  may  prevail." 


4C1  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OP   JOHN   BRIGHT  [1670. 

The  Corporation  of  Trinity  House  entertained  the  Prince  of 
Wales  and  other  members  of  the  Royal  family,  Her  Majesty's 
Ministers,  and  many  other  persons  of  distinction,  at  dinner,  in 
their  hall  on  Tower  Hill,  London,  on  the  3rd  of  July.  The 
Prince,  in  the  absence  of  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  the  Master 
of  the  Corporation,  presided  on  the  occasion,  and  was  supported 
right  and  left  by  Prince  Arthur,  Prince  Christian,  the  Prince  of 
Teck,  and  Prince  Edward  of  Saxe- Weimar,  Mr.  Gladstone,  Mr. 
Bruce,  Mr.  Lowe,  Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Cardwell,  the  Lord  Chief- 
Justice  Cockburn,  Mr.  Disraeli,  Sir  John  Pakington,  and 
several  other  Members  of  Parliament.  During  the  evening, 
Lord  Taunton  proposed  "  The  Maritime  and  Commercial 
Interests  of  the  Country,  and  the  Health  of  the  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade."  (Cheers.)  Mr.  Bright,  during  his  speech, 
remarked  : — 

"I  have  sometimes  imagined  what  a  scene  would  be  presented  if  any  man  could 
from  a  height  survey  all  the  land  and  waters  of  the  globe.  He  would  see  men  in 
every  hind  preparing  something  to  find  its  way  to  this  country.  And  if  he  could 
look  over  the  waters  he  would  see  ships  driven  either  by  the  winds,  or  what  is  more 
potent,  by  steam,  bringing  from  thousands  of  sources  the  produce  of  the  industry  of 
man  in  every  country  of  the  world  to  the  shores  of  this  country,  to  supply  the 
necessities,  comforts,  and  luxuries  of  the  various  classes  of  our  people.  .  .  .  For 
myself,  I  never  could  comprehend  why  such  great  navies  should  be  kept  up.  I  would 
forego  all  the  luxuries  of  life  rather  than  be  tempted  to  obtain  them  by  crossing  the 
sea.  Such  are  the  perils  of  the  deep  that  I  confess  I  never  hear  the  wind  howling,  or 
see  the  storm  raging,  or  the  clouds  drifting,  but  I  think  of  my  countrymen  on  stormy 
seas.  Therefore,  I  have  a  strong  sympathy  with  the  lifeboat  system,  and  no  less 
sympathy  with  the  great  and  benign  objects  of  this  corporation.  (Hear.)  I  hope 
it  may  so  come  up  with  the  requirement  of  the  times,  and  keep  up  with  them,  that 
it  will  never  require  to  be  either  disendowed  or  disestablished.  (Laughter.)  The 
subject  to  which  I  have  referred  leads  me  to  hope  that  the  industry  of  our  country 
may  be  sustained,  that  its  commerce  maybe  more  and  more  widely  diffused,  that  with 
an  economical  Government — it  is  long  since  we  had  one — (laughter) — that  with  an 
economical  Government,  and  the  efforts  that  I  trust  will  before  long  be  made  to 
support  a  general  and  universal  education  among  our  people,  they  may  grow  in  all 
that  is  good,  and  that  pur  country,  great  and  glorious  as  she  is,  is  destined  for  long 
generations  and  centuries  to  hold  her  place  among  the  nations."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  again  addressed  his  constituents  in  the  Town 
Hall,  Birmingham,  on  the  llth  of  January,  1870.  The  Mayor 
presided.  In  speaking  of  Ireland,  Mr.  Bright  said : — 

"  In  conjunction  with  her  representatives,  we  have  already  given  to  Ireland  free 
churches  and  free  schools — (loud  cheers) — and  I  hope  before  long  we  shall  give  to  Irish- 
men free  land  and  a  free  vote.  (Loud  and  prolonged  applause.)  Ireland  lies 
adjacent  to  the  most  populous  and  wealthy  island  of  the  world.  We  can  buy  from 
her  all  she  wishes  to  sell,  and  at  a  higher  price  than  any  other  nation  can  give ;  and 
we  can  sell  her  all  she  wishes  to  buy  at  a  lower  price  than  any  other  nation  will 
take.  (Hear.)  We  propose — we  may  fail,  but  I  hope  not — good  efforts  in  regard  to 
legislation,  honest  efforts  very  often  succeed — we  propose  a  new  conquest  of  Ireland, 
without  confiscation,  and  without  blood — (hear,  hear,  and  applause) — with  only  that 
holy  weapon,  a  frank  and  generous  justice — (cheers) — which  is  everywhere  potent  to 
bring  together  nations  which  have  been  long  separated  by  oppression  and  by  neglect. 
(Loud  cheers.)  Now,  from  this  new  policy  we  hope  for  great  changes  in  Ireland 


t870.]  A   FREE   BREAKFAST    TABLE.  466 

— not  that  Ireland  is  to  be  made  a  paradise,  but  that  Ireland  should  be  greatly  im- 
proved. (Applause.)  It  may  be,  possibly  it  is  or  will  seem  like,  the  language  of 
great  exaggeration  if  I  quote  the  lines  of  Pope,  in  one  of  the  most  exquisite  poems  in 
our  language : — 

'  All  crimes  shall  cease,  and  ancient  fraud  shall  fail ; 

Returning  Justice  lift  aloft  her  scale ; 

Peace  o'er  the  world  her  olive-wand  extend  ; 

And  white-robed  Innocence  from  heaveu  descend.' 

(Loud  cheers.)  This  may  appear  the  language  of  great  exaggeration ;  but  if  we  are 
able  to  suppress  conspiracy ;  if  we  can  abolish  agrarian  crime ;  if  we  can  unbar 
prison  doors — (cheers) — if  we  can  reduce  all  excess  of  military  force ;  if  we  can 
make  Ireland  as  tranquil  as  England  and  Scotland  now  are — (cheers) — then  at 
least  I  think  we  may  have  done  something  to  justify  the  wisdom  and  the  statesman- 
ship of  our  time.  (Loud  cheers.)  But  there  are  other  questions,  and  two  of  them  I 
will  touch  as  briefly  as  I  can.  ...  I  have  said  over  and  over  again,  hundreds  of 
times  in  private,  and  many  times  in  public,  that  I  thought  three  years  would  not 
elapse,  after  the  election  of  a  household  suffrage  Parliament,  without  our  having  a 
great  and  general  measure  of  national  education.  (Cheers.)  With  regard  to  my 
particular  views  upon  it,  they  were  stated  rather  at  length  in  a  meeting  that  I 
addressed  just  previous  to  the  general  election.  (Hear.)  One  thing  that  is  most 
gratifying  now  is  this,  that  there  seems  a  general  tendency  to  some  arrangement, 
which,  perhaps,  no  party  will  consider  unsatisfactory.  (Cheers.)  We  are  agreed 
upon  this.  Whether  speakers  or  writers  belong  to  one  section  or  the  other,  all  are 
agreed  upon  this,  that  there  must  be  some  means  of  instruction  for  all,  offered  to  all 
the  children  of  the  people.  ('  No  compulsion,'  and  a  laugh.)  We  are  unanimous 
upon  that.  We  are  not  unanimous  upon  the  manner,  but  the  discussion  which  is 
going  on,  in  my  opinion,  is  producing  that  kind  of  unanimity  out  of  which  it  is 
possible  to  carry  a  measure.  (Hear,  hear.)  Whether  the  schools  shall  be  free,  or 
whether  there  shall  be  any  payment ;  whether  there  shall  be  any  compulsion,  and, 
if  so,  whether  it  shall  be  of  this  kind  or  that — these  are  points  which  are  being 
sifted  throughout  the  public  discussion  which  is  going  on ;  and,  of  course,  nobody 
learns  more  from  public  discussion  than  a  member  of  Her  Majesty's  Government. 
(Applause  and  laughter.)  .  .  .  Well,  a  free  breakfast  table  is  by  no  meaus  an 
impossible  thing.  (Cheers.)  I  have  not  been  in  the  habit  of  recommending  or  pro- 
posing things  that  are  impossible.  (Great  cheering.)  If  we  could  get  rid  of  taxes 
upon  articles  which  come  to  our  breakfast  table  we  should  have  a  free  country,  as 
far  as  our  ports  and  customs  duties  go,  with  the  exception  of  things  which  many 
people  think  not  necessary,  and  injurious,  meaning  spirits,  wines,  and  tobacco. 
What  a  magnificent  thing  it  would  be  if  every  Englishman,  whenever  he  trod  the 
world  over,  could  say  to  all  the  world,  send  everything  which  all  mankind  agree  to 
be  useful  and  beneficial  to  the  human  race  to  any  port  in  England,  and  they  will  be 
received  there  without  the  payment  of  a  farthing  of  duty.  (Cheers.)  I  am 
speaking  now,  bear  in  mind,  as  your  representative.  (Great  laughter  and  cheers.) 
I  am  not  speaking  in  any  other  capacity.  (Renewed  laughter  and  cheers.)  I  am 
making  no  promises ;  I  am  only  telling  you  what  I  believe  to  be  possible,  and  what 
the  people  in  the  end  may  get — (cheers) — if  they  will  examine  it,  comprehend  it, 
majce  up  their  minds  in  its  favour,  and  let  Parliament  and  the  Government  know 
what  it  is  they  are  thinking  about."  (Cheers.) 

The  free  breakfast  table,  however,  might  be  laid  out  easier 
than  at  first  imagined.  For  instance,  under  Protection,  in 
1 839,  the  amount  of  tea  consumed  per  head  of  the  population 
was  lib.  13oz. ;  under  Free-trade  it  was  81bs.  8oz.  Under 
Protection  241bs.  of  sugar  were  consumed  per  head ;  under  Free- 
trade  39|lbs.  Under  Protection,  in  1844,  tea  was  5s.  per  Ib. ; 
in  1868  it  was  just  half  this  sum.  Under  Protection  we  had 
coffee  for  which  we  paid  Is.  8d.  per  Ib. ;  now  we  have  the  same 
article  at  Is.  Under  Protection,  in  1842,  sugar  was  9d.  per  Ib. ; 
it  is  now  4|d.  The  free  breakfast  table  is  still  looming  in  the 
distance. 

£  £ 


466  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BBIGHT.  [1870. 

A  deputation  waited  upon  Mr.  Bright  in  January  for  th» 
purpose  of  persuading  him  to  use  his  influence  in  procuring  some 
mitigation  in  the  sentences  passed  on  the  Fenian  prisoners  : — 

"Though  I  have  been  one  who  has  always  spoken  strongly  in  favour  of 
changes,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  reply,  "and  changes  which  we  showed  hy  demon- 
stration were  right  to  be  made,  still,  for  all  that,  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I  know  no 
greater  enemy  to  our  country  than  the  man  who  attempts  by  force  of  arms  to 
disturb  the  public  peace,  and  to  break  down  the  authority  of  the  laws.  Least  of  all 
are  those  to  be  excused  who,  being  in  a  country  to  which  they  have  emigrated,  and 
thereby  escaped  from  what  they  supposed  to  be  the  tyranny  and  oppression  here,  are 
free  to  do  what  they  please,  yet  conspire  against  our  common  country.  I  cannot  seo 
that  any  kind  of  allowance  is  to  be  made  for  such  persons." 

On  the  very  eve  of  the  meeting  of  Parliament,  in  February, 
1870,  while  in  London,  Mr.  Bright  suffered  severely  from  ex- 
haustion, the  result  of  mental  labour,  and  writing  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  he  stated  : — 

"I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  am  disappointed  at  being  absent  from  the  meet- 
ing of  Parliament,  but  I  have  distinct  warnings  of  an  attack  of  something  like  that 
from  which  I  suffered  fourteen  years  ago,  and  I  dare  not  disregard  them.  I  am 
quite  unable  to  work,  and  must  leave  London  for  a  time.  I  regret  deeply  that  I 
cannot  be  at  your  side  to  vote  and  plead  for  the  Irish  Land  Bill.  ...  I  think  it 
a  wise,  just,  and  comprehensive  measure,  and  I  hope  the  moderation  and  patriotism 
of  Parliament  will  enable  it  soon  to  become  law." 

The  quiet  and  rest  produced  a  favourable  effect  upon  Mr. 
Bright' s  health,  and  by  the  advice  of  his  physicians  he  abstained 
from  everything  tending  to  excitement.  Earl  Granville,  while 
in  attendance  on  Her  Majesty  at  Balmoral,  received  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Bright  in  which  he  stated  that  his  recovery  was  hopeful. 
The  noble  Earl  communicated  the  news  to  Her  Majesty,  who 
desired  Earl  Granville  at  once  to  telegraph  to  Mr.  Bright,  "that 
if  he  thought  it  prudent  in  regard  to  his  health,  she  hoped  he  would 
come  and  spend  two  or  three  days  in  retirement  at  Balmoral. "  Mr. 
Bright  was  prevented  accepting  the  kind  offer  on  account  of  the 
inevitable  excitement  attendant  upon  such  a  visit.  Mr.  Bright 
was  very  much  benefited  by  a  stay  of  six  months  at  Llandudno, 
and  on  the  28th  of  November  be  arrived  at  his  residence  in 
Rochdale.  In  December  he  resigned  the  office  of  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trade,  on  account  of  not  feeling  himself  sufficiently 
recovered  to  take  part  in  the  preliminary  deliberations  to  prepare 
the  work  for  the  session.  The  wish  of  Mr.  Gladstone  and  his 
colleagues,  warmly  expressed  from  time  to  time,  had  alone  with- 
held Mr.  Bright  from  resigning  before,  but  he  thought  it  was 
necessary  for  the  complete  recovery  of  his  health. 

The  London  Press  thus  commented  on  the  event : — The 
Times  stated  that  he  had  lavished  the  best  energies  of  a 
singularly  fine  intellect  for  the  benefit  of  his  country,  and  he 


1871.]  RESIGNS   OFFICE.  467 

had  done  so  at  a  grievous  personal  sacrifice ;  but  he  might  be 
assured  that  few  public  men  have  been  followed  into  retirement 
by  more  earn'est  good  wishes  from  all  classes  of  their  country- 
men. The  Morning  Post  thought  there  was  probably  not  a  man 
in  the  country,  be  his  politics  what  they  might,  who  would  not 
receive  the  intelligence  with  the  greatest  concern  and  regret. 
The  Daily  Telegraph  stated  that  his  resignation  would  be  keenly 
felt  throughout  the  country.  No  name  would  ever  go  more 
straight  to  the  Irish  heart  than  that  of  John  Bright,  and  his 
name  would  remain  as  that  of  one  of  the  greatest  orators  who 
ever  adorned  the  House  of  Commons.  The  Daily  News  was  of 
opinion  that  Englishmen,  without  distinction  of  party,  would 
share  regret  at  Mr.  Bright' s  resignation.  The  London  Figaro : 
"  We  understand — and  have  much  pleasure  in  making  the  an- 
nouncement— that  Her  Majesty  not  only  expressed  to  the 
Premier  her  sincere  regret  in  accepting  the  resignation  of  the 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  but  has  also  written  to  Mr. 
Bright  in  the  most  gracious  and  cordial  terms.  Her  Majesty's 
wish  that  the  health  of  Mr.  Bright  will  speedily  be  restored,  and 
that  he  may  be  able  for  many  years  to  devote  his  talents  to  the 
service  of  the  country,  will  find  a  general  response.  This  mark 
of  the  Sovereign's  regard  will  be  deeply  gratifying  to  the  right 
honourable  gentleman,  whose  zeal  for  popular  rights  has  always 
been  allied  with  a  fervent  attachment  to  the  Queen/' 

In  June,  1871,  Mr.  Bright  spent  a  few  days  with  Mr.  Bass, 
M.P.,  at  his  shooting  lodge,  Glen  Tulchan  Lodge ;  he  also  visited 
Invershin,  and  thence  to  Dingwall,  Inverness,  Kelso,  Melrose, 
and  returned  home  to  Rochdale,  much  improved,  and  universal 
was  the  wish  that  his  health  would  be  completely  restored. 

Mr.  Gladstone  introduced  an  Irish  Land  Bill  on  the  15th  of 
February,  1870.  The  Bill  would  reverse  the  present  presumption 
of  law,  he  explained,  and  would  presume  all  improvements  to  be 
the  property  of  the  tenant,  and  it  would  be  for  the  landlord  to 
prove  the  contrary.  Retrospective  improvements  would  be 
included,  but  only  so  far  back  as  twenty  years,  except  in  the 
case  of  permanent  buildings  and  reclamations  of  lands.  As  to 
holdings  under  lease,  any  owner  might  exempt  his  lands  from 
the  custom,  always  excepting  the  Ulster  custom,  which  would  be 
legalised,  and  from  the  scale  of  damages,  by  giving  to  his 
tenants  a  lease  for  thirty-one  years,  provided  that  the  lease  were 
approved  by  the  Court,  and  gave  the  tenant  at  the  close  of  it  a 
right  to  compensation  for  manures,  permanent  buildings,  and 
reclamation  of  land.  After  several  amendments  by  the  House 
of  Lords  it  received  the  Royal  assent  on  the  1st  of  August. 


468  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1872. 

The  "  Purchase  clause "  of  this  Act  was  suggested  by  Mr. 
Bright  to  the  Cabinet;  but  the  Irish  executive's  suggestions 
were  chiefly  adopted  in  framing  the  measure,  which  made  the 
"  Bright  clauses  "  only  partially  successful,  and  delayed  desired 
improvements  in  the  land  laws  of  Ireland. 

In  January,  1872,  at  his  residence  in  Rochdale,  Mr.  Bright 
wrote  the  following  letter  to  The  O'Donoghue  : — 

"  It  is  said  that  some  persons  engaged  in  the  canvass  of  the  county  of  Kerry 
have  spoken  of  me  as  an  advocate  of  what  is  termed  Home  Rule  in  Ireland.  I  hope 
no  one  has  ventured  to  say  anything  so  absurd  and  untrue.  If  it  has  been  said  Ly 
any  one  of  any  authority  in  the  county  I  shall  be  glad  if  you  will  contradict  it.  To 
have  two  representative  legislative  assemblies  or  Parliaments  in  the  United  Kingdom 
would,  in  my  opinion,  be  an  intolerable  mischief ;  and  I  think  no  sensible  man  can 
wish  for  two  within  the  limits  of  the  present  United  Kingdom  who  does  not  wish  the 
United  Kingdom  to  become  two  or  more  nations,  entirely  separated  from  each  other. 
Excuse  me  for  troubling  you  with  this.  It  is  no  duty  of  mine  to  interfere  in  your 
contest,  but  I  do  not  wish  to  be  misrepresented." 

A  meeting  of  leading  working  men  of  London  was  held  at 
Bolt  Court  on  the  13th  of  February  to  consider  the  propriety  of 
presenting  a  congratulatory  address  to  Mr.  John  Bright,  on  his 
restoration  to  health  and  return  to  public  life.  A  letter  was 
afterwards  addressed  to  the  right  hon.  gentleman,  asking  whether 
he  would  consent  to  receive  their  address,  and  to  fix  the  time  and 
mode  of  its  presentation.  Mr.  Bright  replied  from  Rochdale  on 
the  19th  February  : — 

' '  My  dear  Sir, — I  desire  to  thank  your  friends  and  yourself  for  the  resolution  of 
which  you  have  sent  me  a  copy ;  but  I  am  puzzled  as  to  the  reply  I  should  make  to 
your  kind  and  flattering  proposal.  I  am  not  going  up  to  London  to  attend  Parlia- 
ment immediately,  although  it  is  a  great  disappointment  to  me  to  be  so  long  absent 
from  the  duties  which  I  owe  to  my  constituents  ;  but  I  know  well  that  it  is  far  better 
for  me  to  give  myself  a  little  more  time  than  to  plunge  into  the  turmoil  of  public 
life  before  I  am  well  enough  to  encounter  it.  I  must  ask  you  to  let  the  matter  rest  for 
a  time.  I  cannot  object  to  receive  your  address,  so  kindly  intended  and  so  compli- 
mentary ;  but  I  should  prefer  a  postponement  of  it  to  some  period  which  may  be 
better  for  me,  and  perhaps  not  less  convenient  for  those  who  may  wish  to  see  me  in 
connection  with  it.  I  beg  you  will  convey  my  thanks  to  those  with  whom  you  are 
associated  for  the  kindness  they  intend  to  show  me.  I  am  very  sensible  of  the  value 
of  their  goodwill  and  friendship." 

Mr.  Bright  left  Rochdale  for  London  on  the  9th  of  April, 
and  the  following  day  he  ha,d  a  long  interview  with  Mr.  Glad- 
stone. On  the  llth  of  the  same  month  he  entered  the  House  of 
Commons  for  the  first  time  after  his  illness,  and  with  the  view 
of  avoiding  any  public  demonstration,  he  attended  before  the 
commencement  of  the  sitting  and  the  arrival  of  the  Speaker  for 
prayers.  As  members  came  in  they,  without  distinction  of  party, 
gathered  round  the  right  hon.  gentleman,  and  greeted  him  with 
great  cordiality.  For  some  time  Mr.  Bright  held  a  kind  of  levee, 
group  after  group  forming  about  him.  The  right  hon.  gentle- 


1872.]  PRESENTATION   FROM   THE   POTTERIES.  469 

man  afterwards  took  his  old  place  at  the  upper  corner  of  the 
second  bench  below  the  gangway,  and  remained  there  until 
prayers  had  been  said.  After  a  short  conversation  with  the 
Speaker  he  left  the  House.  He  also  visited  the  Reform  Club, 
where  he  was  most  heartily  received.  Traces  of  the  trying 
illness  through  which  he  had  passed  were  noticeable.  His  hair, 
which  before  his  illness  was  dark  or  grizzled,  and  abundant,  had 
become  perfectly  white,  imparting,  together  with  his  florid  com- 
plexion, a  venerable  appearance. 

A  gentleman  who  had  been  told  that  the  English  Re- 
publicans would  select  Mr.  Bright  as  their  first  president,  wrote 
to  ask  the  right  hon.  gentleman  if  he  would  accept  the  post,  and 
received  the  following  reply : — 

"  Rochdale,  April  7th,  1872.  Dear  Sir, — Your  Republican  friend  must  not  be  a 
very  desperate  character  if  he  proposes  to  make  me  his  first  president,  though  I 
doubt  if  he  can  be  a  friend  of  mine.  As  to  opinions  on  the  question  of  Monarchy  or 
Republicanism,  I  hope  and  believe  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  we  are  wsked  to  give 
our  opinion ;  our  ancestors  decided  the  matter  a  good  while  since,  a  ad  I  would 
suggest  that  you  and  I  should  leave  any  further  decision  to  our  posterity.  Now, 
from  your  letter  I  conclude  you  are  willing  to  do  this ;  and  I  can  assure  you  I  am 
not  less  willing." 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Potteries  conceived  of  a  local  presen- 
tation to  Mr.  Bright,  and  delicately  carried  it  out.  It  took  the 
form  of  a  cabinet  and  collection  of  ceramic  art.  The  cabinet 
was  designed  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Moody,  of  South  Kensington,  in 
the  style  of  the  time  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  was  made  of  walnut. 
It  is  divided  into  two  compartments,  the  upper,  which  is 
enclosed,  being  filled  with  vases  and  other  examples  of  the  art  of 
industry  of  the  district  in  its  highest  form — the  productions  of 
the  eminent  firms  of  Wedgwood,  Minton,  and  Copeland.  On 
the  outer  leaf  of  the  cabinet  are  two  of  Copeland's  finest 
statuettes  in  Parian,  "  Chastity "  and  "  St.  Filomena  ; "  and 
three  large  majolica  vases,  by  Wedgwood,  occupy  the  lower 
compartment,  which  is  open.  Several  of  the  objects  had  been 
manufactured  specially  for  the  testimonial,  and  the  decorations 
of  one  of  the  choicest  pieces  are  emblematic  of  Mr.  Bright's 
career  and  services.  There  is  an  inscription  on  the  top  of  the 
cabinet  as  follows: — "To  the  Right  Hon.  John  Bright,  M.P., 
whose  foresight,  eloquence,  and  faithful  character,  have  greatly 
contributed  to  his  country's  prosperity,  these  specimens  of 
ceramic  art  are  presented  by  admirers  in  the  Staffordshire 
Potteries/'  A  deputation  of  ten  gentlemen  was  entrusted  with 
the  presentation  of  the  cabinet  and  its  valuable  contents.  These 
were  Mr.  Thomas  Pidduck  (ex-Mayor  of  Hanley,  and  chairman 
of  the  central  committee) ;  Mr.  W.  Furnival,  Hanley,  treasurer; 


470  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1872. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Cooke,  Hanley,  honorary  secretary ;  Mr.  Taylor  Ash- 
worth  and  Mr.  J.  L.  Cherry,  Hanley ;  Mr.  W.  Woodall,  chief 
bailiff  of  Burslem ;  Mr.  Mayor,  Longton  ;  Mr.  J.  Clark  and 
Mr.  John  Peak,  Tunstall ;  and  Mr.  C.  Dickinson,  Stoke.  The 
deputation  reached  Mr.  Bright' s  residence  about  half-past  twelve 
on  the  12th  of  July,  1872,  and  was  conducted  to  the  drawing- 
room,  where  the  cabinet  had  previously  been  set  up  and  its 
contents  displayed.  There  were  also  present  in  the  room  the 
Mayor  of  Rochdale  (Mr.  Alderman  Shawcross),  the  ex-Mayor 
(Mr.  Alderman  Ash  worth),  Mr.  Thomas  Bright,  Mr.  Alderman 
Heape,  Mr.  Oliver  Ormerod,  Mr.  Frank  Bright  (nephew  of  Mr. 
Bright),  and  Mr.  William  Bright  (his  son).  Mrs.  Bright  and 
several  other  ladies  were  also  present.  Mr.  Bright  on  entering 
the  room  was  cordially  welcomed,  and  privately  introduced  to 
several  members  of  the  deputation  by  Mr.  Alderman  G.  L.  Ash- 
worth,  of  Rochdale. 

Mr.  Pidduek  made  the  presentation,  and  Mr.  Bright,  in  the 
course  of  his  speech,  in  reply,  said  : — 

"  I  assume,  therefore,  as  I  may  assume  from  your  kind  address,  that  my  public 
course  and  labours  have  met  generally — not  minutely  in  all  cases,  probably,  but 
generally — with  the  consent  and  approval  of  those  whom  you  represent.  (Hear, 
hear.)  At  the  same  time  I  am  deeply  touched  with  the  consideration  of  the  circum- 
stances under  which,  and  the  time  when,  this  gift  is  made.  The  idea  was  not 
formed  when  I  was  actively  engaged  before  the  public,  either  as  a  member  of 
Parliament  or  as  a  member  of  an  Administration.  I  had  not  returned  with  friends  and 
associates  from  any  fresh  political  success.  On  the  contrary,  I  was  suffering  from 
severe  and  protracted  illness.  It  was  at  a  time  when  it  was  not  unlikely  that  I 
should  never  again  return  to  public  life.  I  was  enfeebled  and  prostrated  to  an 
extent  known  only  to  my  own  family,  and  at  that  time  your  kindness  and  friend- 
ship were  awakened,  and  you  conceived  the  idea  of  doing  me  this  honour,  and  mark- 

•e,  that  more  than  on  ordinary 
for  the  kindness  you  have  mani- 
and  only  for  a  moment,  at  the  great 
change  which  thirty  years  have  made.  There  are  countries  which  have  gone  through 
strange  and  sanguinary  revolutions,  and  have  not  been  able  to  make  changes  so  wise 
and  so  wholly  satisfactory.  If  those  changes  had  not  been  made — I  will  undertake 
to  say  that  if  the  Corn  Laws  had  been  maintained,  if  there  had  been  a  power  which 
could  have  maintained  them  in  their  unrestricted  and  cruel  character,  nothing  less 
than  anarchy  and  insuriection  could  have  followed : — 

'  For  men  will  break  in  their  sublime  despair 
The  bonds  which  nature  can  no  longer  bear.' 

Yet  all  this  has  been  done  in  this  country  with  scarcely  a  single  hour's  riot,  and 
without,  so  far  as  I  remember,  the  sacrifice  of  a  single  drop  of  blood.  I  suppose  there 
is  yet  a  party  in  this  country  which  complains  of  everything  that  we  have  said,  and 
nearly  everything  that  we  have  done.  They  have  obstructed  everything,  they  have 
contested  every  point,  and  they  appear  to  be  so  ignorant  and  incapable  of  discussing 
these  questions  and  considering  them,  that  they  may  be  said  to  be  absolutely 
incurable.  That  party  still  appeals,  in  all  its  ancient  audacity,  to  the  support  of  the 
people.  I  think  about  the  only  consolation  we  have — and  it  is  one  dictated  by 
Christian  charity — is  that  they  may  partake,  opponents  though  they  have  been—- 
partake fully  of  the  good  things  which  we  have  provided  for  them  ;  for  as  the  sun 
shines  and  the  rain  descends  alike  on  just  and  unjust,  so  the  blessings  of  a  wise  and 
beneficent  legislation  are  participated  in,  not  more  f  ully  by  those  who  have  promoted 
it  than  by  those  who  brave  pei-tinaciously  obstructed  it." 


1873.]  IN    BINGLEY    HAT.L.  471 

Mr.  Gladstone  reconstructed  his  Cabinet  in  August,  1873, 
and  Mr.  Bright  consented  to  succeed  Mr.  Childers  as  Chancellor 
of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.  He  submitted  himself  to  his  con- 
stituents for  re-election,  and  was  returned  unopposed. 

On  the  evening  of  the  22nd  of  October,  1873,  Mr.  Bright 
met  his  constituents  in  Bingley  Hall,  Birmingham,  which  has 
an  immense  breadth  of  floor  space,  covering  about  an  acre  of 
ground,  as  the  Town  Hall  was  not  large  enough  for  the  im- 
mense gathering.  Galleries  had  been  erected  on  each  side,  and  in 
the  dim  distance,  at  the  farther  end  of  the  immense  hall,  a 
gallery  was  devoted  to  the  ladies.  Early  in  the  day  the  apart- 
ments in  the  hotels  were  engaged  by  strangers,  many  of  whom 
had  travelled  hundreds  of  miles,  and  later  comers  had  great 
difficulty  in  procuring  accommodation  for  the  night.  The 
gathering  was  not  purely  political,  for  Mr.  Bright  was  regarded 
as  a  friend  by  politicians  of  all  shades.  Four  years'  silence  and 
almost  complete  retirement  from  public  life  had  increased  the 
anxiety  to  listen  to  his  eloquence  once  more,  and  receive  instruc- 
tion. The  hall  was  quite  full  at  seven  o'clock,  and  the  turned - 
up  faces  of  the  mass  of  people  in  the  body  of  the  hall  looked 
somewhat  terrible,  on  account  of  their  numbers,  there  being 
present  about  15,000  persons.  The  presence  of  sixty  representa- 
tives of  the  press  of  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  the  United 
States,  testified  to  the  interest  that  was  taken  in  the  event. 
Among  those  on  the  platform  were  the  Right  Hon.  H. 
Childers,  M.P.,  Mr.  G.  Dixon,  M.P.,  Mr.  Watkin  Williams, 
M.P.,  Mr.  Shaw  Lefevre,  M.P.,  Mr.  James  Howard,  M.P.,  Mr. 
Duncan  M'Laren,  M.P.,  and  Mrs.  M'Laren,  Hon.  G.  C.  Lyttel- 
ton.  M.P.,  Mr.  Charles  Reed,  M.P.,  Mr.  E.  M.  Richards,  M.P., 
Mr.'  J.  J.  Colman,  M.P.,  Mr.  A.  Brogden,  M.P.,  Mr.  D.  C. 
Heron,  M.P.,  Sir  Thomas  Bazley,  Bart.,  M.P.,  Mr.  Alderman 
Carter,  M.P.,  Mr.  H.  B.  Samuelson,  MR,  the  Town  Clerk  of 
Birmingham,  the  Recorder  of  Birmingham,  Mr.  J.  Albert 
Bright  (Mr.  John  Bright's  eldest  son),  Hon.  Chandos  Leigh, 
Hon.  Lyulph  Stanley,  Rev.  W.  H.  Blamire,  vicar  of  St.  James's, 
Over  Darwen,  and  representatives  from  the  following  and 
numerous  other  associations  : — The  Blackburn  Reform  Club, 
West  Cheshire  Liberal  Association,  National  Reform  Union 
(Manchester),  Leeds  Liberal  Association,  Salford  Liberal  Asso- 
ciation (Pendleton  branch),  Cavendish  Reform  Club  (Blackburn), 
National  Amalgamated  Society  of  Brassvvorkers  (Birmingham), 
Birmingham  Law  Society,  Liberal  Registration  Association 
(East  Worcestershire),  Leigh  Reform  Union,  Bury  Liberal 
Association,  Wolverhampton  Liberal  Association,  Burnley  (Lan- 


472  LIFE  AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1873. 

casliire)  Liberal  Association,  Wrexham  and  Denbigh  (North 
Wales)  Liberal  Association,  Ledbury  Liberal  Association 
Reform  Club,  Todmorden  Reform  Club,  London  Reform  Club, 
Mancbester  Society  for  the  Liberation  of  Religion  from  State 
Patronage  and  Control,  Liberal  Club  (Coventry),  Marsden 
Liberal  Association  (near  Huddersfield) ,  Huddersfield  Liberal 
Association,  Manchester  and  Burnley  Liberal  Club,  Kendal 
Liberal  Reform  Association,  National  Agricultural  Labourers' 
Union. 

At  twenty  five  minutes  past  seven  Mr.  Bright  appeared,  and 
every  man  rose  and  gave  him  a  hearty  welcome,  for  the  cheering 
that  burst  forth  made  the  roof  of  the  hall  ring  again  ;  the 
audience  could  scarcely  be  seen  from  the  platform  for  the  waving 
of  hats  and  handkerchiefs.  Mr.  Bright' s  lips  quivered,  his  cheek 
flushed,  yet  he  did  not,  even  by  the  slightest  bow,  acknowledge 
the  enthusiastic  greeting ;  but  it  could  be  plainly  seen  that  he 
was  overjoyed  by  the  reception. 

The  Mayor  presided,  and  Mr.  J.  S.  Wright  moved  a  resolu- 
tion of  congratulation  to  Mr.  Bright  on  the  recovery  of  his 
health,  and  his  ability  to  resume  the  labours  of  statesmanship. 
Mr.  J.  Chamberlain  seconded  the  resolution,  which  was  carried 
unanimously.  When  Mr.  Bright  rose  to  speak,  the  hearty 
cheering  was  renewed  and  prolonged. 

Silence  being  restored,  every  face  was  turned  to  the  spot 
where  Mr.  Bright  stood  alone,  and  the  vast  crowd  waited  ex- 
pectantly. There  was  some  fear  that  he  was  about  to  be  inau- 
dible to  all  but  those  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
platform ;  but  as  he  proceeded  he  gained  power,  and  ere  long  his 
voice  had  all  its  wonted  volume  and  richness,  and 

'  There  was  a  melody  in  every  tone.' 

He  spoke  for  one  hour  and  a  quarter.     His  allusion  to  his  illness 
was  received  with  the  warmth  of  sympathy. 

"  Standing  here,  after  these  five  years,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  "  it  is  impossible 
that  one  should  not  look  back  a  little  at  what  has  happened — not  with  the  view  of 
reading  or  speaking  of  a  catalogue  of  measures  that  have  been  passed,  or  with  the 
view  of  entering  into  enthusiastic  laudation  of  the  Administration  which  has  existed, 
but  it  is  worth  our  while  to  observe  what  are  the  great  principles  that  during  the 
last  five  years  have  been  adopted  and  fixed  irrevocably  in  the  policy  and  legislation 
of  England  by  consent  of  Parliament  and  by  the  acknowledged  consent  of  the 
country.  I  say  that  the  five  years  are  five  memorable  years ;  and  if  the  Administra- 
tion were  to  perish  to-day  the  works  of  the  Administration  would  live,  and  they 
would  bear  comparison  with  those  of  any  Government  which  has  ever  preceded  it. 
(Cheers.)  The  policy  of  the  Liberal  party  is  known.  It  is  before  the  public ;  it  is 
not  concealed ;  it  is  no  mystery.  What  is  the  policy  of  the  opposition  ?  (Laughter, 
and  cries  of  '  None.')  We  were  told  the  other  day  that  the  leader  of  the  Opposition 
was  in  '  a  state  of  strict  seclusion,'  and  but  for  that  strange  and  unfortunate  epis- 
tolary outburst  we  should  have  had  no  idea  of  the  desperate  state  of  mind  in  which 
h  i:.;s  been.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  But  still,  if  we  ask  for  the  policy  of  the  Oppo-» 


1873.]  THE    CONSERVATIVE   POLICY.  473 

sition,  all  is  impenetrably  dark,  and  all  that  we  know  is  that  nothing  can  be  known. 
(Laughter.)  No,  I  beg  pardon,  I  am  wrong  in  that — we  know  this,  that,  according 
to  the  Opposition,  all  the  past  twenty,  and,  if  you  like,  all  the  past  forty,  years,  are 
evil ;  but  as  to  the  future,  you  will  see  it  when  it  comes.  (Cheers.)  But  let  me  tell 
you  this — that  the  great  statesmanship  which  consists  in  silence  and  secrecy  is  not 
original ;  it  is  a  mere  copy.  Thirty  or  forty  years  ago — I  recollect  the  time  very 
well — there  was  a  great  fever  and  mania  for  speculation.  Everybody  went  into  every- 
thing, and  they  generally  came  out  with  nothing.  I  recollect  quite  well  an  ad- 
vertisement of  a  Great  Sunflower  Company — (laughter) — and  if  anybody  had  pro- 
posed so  unsubstantial  a  speculation  as  the  equinoctial  line,  people  would  have  taken 
shares  in  it.  Now  at  that  time  there  was  a  very  ingenious  fellow — if  I  could  remem- 
ber his  name  I  would  try  to  immortalise  him.  He  put  out  a  prospectus.  He  was 
what  they  call  a  '  promoter '  of  a  great  company.  It  was  to  nave  great  capital,  a 
great  number  of  shares,  and  great  profits.  Everything  was  great  about  it.  It  was  to 
work  a  great  invention.  It  was  a  great  secret— so  profound  a  secret  that,  until  all 
the  money  was  paid  in,  nobody  was  to  know  what  it  was.  (Laughter.)  Now,  that 
is  the  Conservative  policy  at  this  moment.  (Cheers.)  They  have  a  policy  which 
they  offer  for  the  coming  elections.  It  is  a  profound  secret.  When  you  have  all 
given  your  votes,  and  returned  a  Conservative  majority,  perhaps  then  they  will  tell 
you  what  it  is.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  ....  Mr.  Cobden  had  to  try  to  per- 
suade the  Emperor  Napoleon  to  follow  the  example  of  this  country  with  regard  to  a 
reduction  of  import  dutes,  and  to  the  establishment  of  something  like  freedom  of 
trade.  He  told  the  Emperor  how  great  the  benefits  had  been  of  the  policy  of  Sir 
Robert  Peel — how  great  was  the  regard  and  reverence  for  the  name  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel.  The  Emperor  said  he  should  be  charmed  and  flattered  if  he  could  think  it  pos- 
sible to  do  tilings  of  that  kind  so  good  for  his  country,  but  he  added,  '  It  is  very 
difficult  in  France  to  make  reforms  in  France.  In  England  you  make  ref orms,  in 
France  we  make  revolutions.'  Now  observe,  the  Emperor  was  a  man  who  had  lived 
in  this  country  for  years ;  he  had  watched  the  workings  of  public  opinion,  and  of 
our  institutions  from  his  retirement  to  his  exile,  and  afterwards,  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  he  observed  them  from  the  lofty  stage  of  the  Imperial  throne,  and  that  was 
his  judgment,  that  was  the  statement  which  he  made  to  one  of  the  foremost  English- 
men representing  much  of  the  English  opinion,  sent  by  the  English  Government  to 
negotiate  with  him  a  great  treaty  of  commerce  ;  but  I  believe  there  is  not  a  thoughtful 
statesman  in  any  civilised  country  in  the  world  who  would  not  join  with  the  Emperor 
in  expressing  his  admiration  of  the  manner  in  which  the  people  of  this  country,  for 
the  last  forty  years,  have  worked  out  such  beneficial  reforms  in  legislation.  Our  own 
experience  brings  us  to  the  same  conclusion.  These  men  are  in  error  who  tell  you 
that  nothing  has  been  done,  and  that  all  remains  to  be  done.  These  men  are  not  less 
in  error  who  tell  you  that  what  has  been  done  is  evil,  and  that  it  is  evil  to  do  any 
more.  What  you  should  do  is,  to  act  on  the  principles  and  the  rule  of  the  past  years, 
still  advancing  in  favour  of  questions  which  the  public  has  thoroughly  discussed, 
which  it  thoroughly  comprehends,  and  which  Parliament  can  honestly  and  conscien- 
tiously put  into  law.  Looking  back  these  forty  years,  I  feel  some  sense  of  content, 
but  it  does  not  in  the  least  lessen,  it  rather  adds  to  and  strengthens  my  hope  for  the 
future.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  The  history  of  the  last  forty  years  in  this  country 
— judge  it  fairly,  and  speak  of  its  legislation— is  mainly  the  history  of  the  conquest 
of  freedom.  It  will  be  a  grand  volume  that  tells  the  story.  Your  name  and  mine, 
if  I  mistake  not,  will  be  found  in  some  of  its  pages.  (Hear,  hear.)  For  me  the 
final  chapter  is  now  writing.  It  may  be  already  written.  ('  No.')  But  for  you,  this 
great  constituency,  you  have  a  perpetual  youth  and  a  perpetual  future.  I  pray 
Heaven  that  in  the  years  to  come,  and  when  my  voice  is  hushed,  you  may  be  granted 
strength  and  moderation,  and  wisdom  to  influence  the  councils  of  your  country  by 
righteous  means  to  none  other  than  noble  and  righteous  ends."  (Great  cheering.) 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

THE   CONSERVATIVE   POLICY. 

Past  Legislation — The  Conservative  Party  in  Power — The  Clerical  Title  of  Reverend 
— The  Cause  of  the  Defeat  of  the  Liberals — The  Eastern  Question — Speeches 
on  the  Burials  Bill — Women's  Disabilities  Removal  Bill — His  Condemnation 
of  the  Foreign  Policy  of  the  Government — The  Legislation  of  the  last  Forty 
Years — At  Bradford  and  Birmingham— The  Opening  of  the  Manchester  Town 
Hall — Famines  in  India  and  the  Remedy — A  Sunday- School  Conference. 

ON  the  Sb'th  of  January,  1874,  Parliament  was  dissolved, 
and  the  election  proceeded  without  any  delay.  Messrs.  Bright, 
Dixon,  and  Muntz,  were  elected  without  opposition  on  the 
30th  of  January.  Next  day  Mr.  Bright  addressed  his  con- 
stituents, remarking : — 

"As  you  stand  by  the  grave  of  the  dead  Parliament,  I  am  sure,  whether  you 
speak  its  funeral  oration  or  you  write  its  epitaph,  you  will  be  wining  to  say  that  it 
is  one  of  the  best  and  the  noblest  of  the  Parliaments  whose  doings  have  made  the 
story  of  English  history  during  many  centuries  past."  This  observation  was 
received  with  loud  applause ;  and  the  speaker,  eliciting  in  turn  the  cheers  and 
laughter  of  his  audience,  continued  as  follows :  "  But  our  opponents  do  not  agree 
with  us ;  they  are  an  unhappy  party.  Whether  in  or  out,  they  seem  to  me  alike 
unfortunate.  I  have  watched  their  agonies  for  thirty  years.  During  that  time, 
according  to  them,  the  constitution  has  received  some  scores  of  serious  wounds,  and 
several  of  those  wounds,  though  it  is  curious  to  say  so,  have  been  pronounced  fatal. 
They  say  that  we — that  is,  the  Liberal  party — have  disturbed  classes  and  interests 
unnecessarily,  that  we  have  harassed  almost  all  sorts  of  people,  and  have  made  our- 
selves very  unpopular  thereby.  I  doubt  not  that  if  they  had  been  in  the  Wilderness, 
they  would  have  condemned  the  Ten  Commandments  as  a  harassing  piece  of 
legislation,  though  it  does  happen  that  we  have  the  evidence  of  more  than  thirty 
centuries  to  the  wisdom  and  usefulness  of  those  Commandments.  Well,  I  plead 
guilty  to  the  charge  that  we  have  disturbed  a  good  many  classes  and  a  good  many 
interests ;  but  then,  in  pleading  that,  I  offer  as  the  justification  that  in  no  single  case 
have  we  injured  a  class  or  interest,  and  in  every  case  we  have  greatly  benefited  the 
country.  It  was  my  expectation  within  the  last  year  that,  when  there  came  this 
dissolution — and  it  was  not  expected  so  soon — it  was  my  expectation  that  I  should 
have  at  that  time  to  write,  not  an  address  offering  myself  as  a  candidate,  but  an 
address  of  farewell  and  final  thanks.  I  did  not  think  it  was  likely  that  I  should  ever 
again  be  able  to  take  my  place  upon  this  platform  to  address  you  thus,  or  to  speak 
in  the  House  of  Commons.  But  I  could  not  at  this  moment— it  was  impossible  at 
this  juncture  that  I  could  take  any  other  course  than  that  which  I  have  taken  in 
offering  myself  again  to  you,  if  you  choose  to  elect  me.  And  though  I  am  not  strong 
to  labour  as  I  have  been  in  the  past  years,  yet  still  possibly  I  may  do  something  to 
promote  the  great  interests  of  our  country  and  to  guard  the  precious  fruits  of  the 
many  victories  that  we  have  won."  (Cheers.) 

The  election  throughout  the  land  resulted  in  favour  of  the 
Conservative  party,  for  they  had  a  majority  of  about  fifty.  Mr. 
Gladstone  tendered  his  resignation  on  the  17th  of  February,  and 


1875.]  A    LEARNED    SIMPLETON.  475 

Mr.  Disraeli  became  Premier,  and  an  uneventful  year  followed, 
with  the  exception  of  the  wane  of  trade. 

Mr.  Bright,  in  addressing  his  constituents  on  25th  of  January, 
1875,  remarked : — 

"  It  has  been  said  very  often  within  the  last  year  that  the  people — not  the  people 
of  Birmingham,  but  the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom — were  a  little  tired  of  the 
legislature  and  of  great  measures,  and  that  they  preferred,  at  least  for  a  time,  to  have 
rest  and  quiet.  If  too  much  has  been  done,  and  if  nothing  more  was  to  be  done, 
there  has  been  a  wonderful  consistency  in  the  action  of  the  constituencies,  because 
they  have  discovered  twelve  gentlemen  whom  they  have  placed  on  the  Treasury 
Bench — whose  special  recommendation  is  that  they  never  did  anything — or  at  least 
if  they  attempted  to  do  anything,  it  was  merely  to  prevent  their  opponents  from 
doing  something.  .  .  .  Last  July  I  was  spending  some  time  in  the  extreme 
north,  on  the  shores  of  the  Pentland  Frith.  It  was  a  much  pleasanter  atmosphere 
than  that  of  the  House  of  Commons.  But  I  was  obliged  to  pick  up  my  information 
from  the  papers  that  came  down  twice,  or  at  most  three  times,  in  the  week.  I 
pictured  to  myself  what  must  be  going  on  in  Westminster,  and  it  was  a  surprising 
picture.  There  was  the  Duke  of  Richmond — a  solemn  Scotch  proprietor,  though  not 
a  Scotchman — a  man,  I  should  say,  incapable  of  recklessness  and  enthusiasm.  There 
was  the  Lord  Chancellor,  with  his  wig  on,  and  his  wisdom  under  it,  importing,  as  I 
thought,  some  Orange  and  North  of  Ireland  notions  into  the  affairs  of  the  Established 
Church.  I  saw  these  two  in  one  House,  and  the  Prime  Minister  in  another,' engaged 
in  applying  a  match  to  every  bit  of  gunpowder  they  found  in  their  way.  (Laughter.) 
.  .  .  .  You  recollect  that  a  short  time  ago  a  bishop  made  an  exhibition  of  him- 
self, not  favourable,  as  I  should  say,  in  connection  with  the  question,  whether  a 
respectable  and  worthy  Wesleyan  minister  should  have  his  name  on  a  tombstone 
with  the  word  '  reverend '  before  it.  I  told  you  that  I  do  not  speak  strongly,  and  I 
hope  I  never  speak  evil  of  dignities ;  but  my  learned  friend,  Sir  William  Harcourt, 
in  his  public  speech,  alluding,  I  suppose,  to  this  bishop,  speaks  of  him  as  a  learned 
simpleton.  Now,  I  would  not  use  such  language ;  I  think  what  the  bishop  did 
appears  to  me  almost  the  natural  outcome  of  his  position  and  the  pretensions  of  his 
order.  He  calls  himself,  or  allows  himself  to  be  called,  the  right  reverend  father, 
and  yet,  as  for  this  Wesleyan  minister,  though  he  assumes  to  be  called  so,  he  shall 
not  have  the  word  '  reverend '  prefixed  to  his  name  on  any  tombstone  in  any  church- 
yard over  which  he  has  control.  You  read  now  and  then  some  of  those  beautiful 
epistles  that  are  found  in  the  New  Testament.  You  will  find  that  St.  Peter  in 
speaking  of  St.  Paul  speaks  of  him  as  our  beloved  brother  Paul.  He  never  once,  to 
my  knowledge,  uses  the  term  'right  reverend  father.'  Now,  if  the  bishops — if  this 
very  bishop,  who,  being  learned,  must  know  something,  we  may  hope,  of  the  epistles, 
if  he  were  moved  by  the  same  spirit  by  which  Peter  and  Paul  were  moved,  is  it  not 
reasonable  to  think  that  he  would  not,  at  least,  object  to  give  this  Wesleyan  minister 
any  title  which  he  thought  it  proper  to  assume  for  himself  ?  But  I  take  this  to  be 
the  case — I  believe  no  harm  of  the  bishop,  I  know  nothing  of  him — bishops  are 
generally,  so  far  as  I  believe,  excellent  men,  and  are  generally  anxious  to  do  their 
duty  in  the  best  way  that  is  open  to  them — but  it  is  an  instance  of  that  kind  of 
arrogance  which  comes  from  the  sacerdotal  spirit  within  the  Church.  It  is  a  form 
of  presumption  which  is  born  of  privilege,  that  which  does  not  come  from  the  pride 
of  man,  or  from  his  dislike  for  his  fellow-man,  but  from  the  unfortunate  circum- 
stances in  which  he  is  placed,  and  which  breathe  into  him  a  mind  and  spirit,  so  far 
a3  I  can  judge,  which  is  wholly  contrary  to  the  mind  and  spirit  that  was  in  the 
Apostle  from  whom  I  quoted.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  when,  as  one  of  your  poets 
says,  your  priests  assume  to  be  '  sole  vendors  of  the  law  that  works  salvation  ' — it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that,  with  these  privileges,  with  these  endowments,  these 
preferments,  this  constantly  proclaimed  superiority — it  is  not  unreasonable  to  expect 
that  such  things  as  this  should  happen,  and  that  they  should  despise  men — humble 
and  hard-working  men — whose  labours  have  been  abundantly  blessed  by  Heaven, 
but  who  seem  to  intrude  into  their  privileged  field." 

Mr.  Bright  was  one  of  the  invited  guests  to  a  conversazione 
which  was  got  up  by  the  Birmingham  Liberal  Association  in 
their  Town  Hall  on  the  28th  of  January,  1875,  and  in  com- 


476  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1876. 

meriting  on  some  of  the  causes  of  the  defeat  of  the  Liberals  at 
the  late  general  election,  said  : — 

"Amongst  the  many  thousands  of  publicans  there  are  a  great  number  of 
respectable  and  honourable  men;  and  there  are  many  more  than  are  supposed 
to  be  by  those  who  sometimes  too  fiercely  assail  them.  But  there  is  another  and 
lower  class  of  whom  one  can  scarcely  say  this,  and  I  am  afraid  that,  as  in 
many  other  things,  so  in  this  combination  of  the  publicans  against  the  public 
interest,  the  head  of  the  great  body  is  moved  by  the  tail.  (Laughter.)  ....  Then 
I  come  to  another  cause  of  defeat,  which  is  one  of  a  wholly  different  character, 
and  that  is  the  divisions  which  existed  —  the  absolutely  childish  policy  that 
was  pursued — in  many  parts  of  the  country,  in  many  constituencies,  by  sections 
or  fragments  of  the  Liberal  party.  ...  If  you  look  over  the  boroughs  of  the 
country  at  the  last  election,  you  will  find  that  at  least  a  dozen  of  them, 
possessing  twenty-four  or  twenty-five  votes,  were  lost  by  the  mode  of  conduct 
which  I  nave  been  exposing  and  condemning ;  and  if  you  will  suppose  that  the 
publicans,  with  a  want  of  patriotism  shocking  to  think  of,  were  the  cause  of 
losing  an  equal  number  of  votes,  you  will  find  whence  comes  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  majority  of  the  present  Government.  Then  there  is  another  great 
cause,  as  I  think,  of  loss.  In  1867  the  election  went  with  a  great  sweep  all  over 
the  country  iu  favour  of  a  Liberal  policy  and  of  the  Liberal  party.  The  new 
franchise  had  come  into  operation  for  the  first  time,  and  the  elections  were  so 
decided  and  so  decisive  that  it  was  common  to  hear  men  say,  '  The  Tories_  are 
done  for  ever;  here  is  a  majority  of  a  hundred  or  more.  The  matter  is  so 
much  decided  now  that  really  after  all  we  need  have  no  apprehension  agaia-  that 
the  Liberal  party  will  ever  be  in  jeonardy.'  They  forgot  then,  and  they  forgot 
now,  what  are  the  permanent  conditions,  at  least  for  the  present  and  for  some 
time  to  come,  of  politics  in  this  country.  They  forget  the  solid  power  that  is 
always  opposed  to  the  Liberal  party  and  to  Liberal  principles.  They  forget 
that  almost  all  the  land  of  the  country  is  in  the  hands  of  persons  whose  interests 
are  different  from  ours.  They  forget  that  the  Church,  which  is  established,  as 
you  know,  in  every  parish,  is  nearly  always  on  the  side  of  the  Tory  party; 
and  that  wherever  a  new  church  is  built,  be  it  in  town  or  be  it  in  country, 
be  it  in  any  county  in  England  or  Wales,  you  will  find  that  that  Church  is  not  a 
centre  of  political  light,  but  of  political  darkness,  and  from  it  there  comes  no  trace 
of  anything  that  is  found  to  be  Liberal  in  representation  or  Parliamentary  action, 
but  entirely  on  the  contrary ;  and  the  Church  is  now  as  certain  to  be  the  centre 
of  the  propagation  of  Tory  principles  as  the  public  house  itself.  (Hear,  hear, 
and  laughter.)  In  addition  to  this,  you  have  another  cause  (which  I  am  not 
about  to  complain  of,  because  I  believe  it  is  in  the  nature  of  things),  that  is,  that 
some  men  become  rich,  and  many  become  what  is  called  very  comfortably  off, 
and  generally  the  more  wealthy  a  man  is,  with  a  balance  at  his  banker's,  ami 
investments  everywhere,  the  more  timid  he  becomes  in  all  his  political  actions. 
Well,  then,  with  this  timidity  on  high,  and  unhappily  profound  ignorance  below, 
you  may  fancy,  to  a  certain  extent,  what  a  vast  amount  of  solid  resistance  there 
is  to  any  proposition  for  any  political  progress ;  and  then  you  should  add  to  all 
this  that  which  I  must  mention,  though  one  does  not  like  to  treat  of  it,  the 
enormous  lying  in  which  our  opponents,  from  top  to  bottom  of  their  organisation, 
throughout  their  political  speeches,  and  throughout  their  press,  indulged  against 
Mr.  Gladstone  and  his  colleagues  during  the  whole  time  they  were  in  office." 

Mr.  Bright  was  again  with  his  constituents  in  their  Town 
Hall  on  the  22nd  of  January,  1876,  and  delivered  his  annual 
address.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  colleagues.  In  con- 
cluding a  lengthy  speech,  Mr.  Bright  said  : — 

"  I  think  the  Liberals  and  the  Liberal  party,  whether  you  take  its  history  from  the 
Kevolution,  or  whether  you  take  a  shorter  period — within  the  memory  of  many  of  us — 
since  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  first  Reform  Bill,  have  shown  a  sense  of  justice  and 
unselfishness  in  their  policy  which  has  never  been  shown  by  what  is  called  the  Con- 
servative party.  I  ask  any  man  to  show  one  measure  that  we,  as  a  Liberal  party, 
have  ever  advocated  or  have  succeeded  in  carrying  whose  object  or  effect  has  been 


1875.]  THE   EASTERN   QUESTION.  477 

private  or  class  gain,  as  opposed  to  the  public  interest.  And  now,  if  I  propose  to  you 
to  move  forward,  having  done  what  you  have  done  for  the  towns,  with  a  view  of 
doing  something  more  for  the  counties,  what  we  ask  of  you  is  that  you  shall  free  the 
counties  as  you  have  freed  the  towns ;  that  you  shall  free  the  men,  and  the  soil  that 
they  cultivate.  Here  is  a  policy  consistent  with  everything  that  we  have  done  in  the 
past.  It  is  a  policy  worthy  of  all  the  hopes,  and  the  high  hopes,  of  a  great  party  for 
the  future."  (Cheers.) 

An  insurrectionary  movement  broke  out  in  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina  in  May,  1875,  and  the  Eastern  question  once  more 
troubled  the  English  Government.  The  Bulgarian  horrors  next 
startled  Europe,  and  Servia  and  Montenegro  declared  war  against 
Turkey. 

The  members  of  the  Manchester  Refdrm  Club  wished  to  hear 
Mr.  Brighfs  opinion  on  recent  events,  and  on  the  2nd  of 
October,  1876,  he  paid  them  a  visit,  and  in  his  speech  said : — 

"  I  have  no  objection  if  we  can  lead  in  a  policy  of  mercy  and  freedom.  Let  us 
dissolve  partnership  with  a  power  which  curses  e\sery  land  that  is  subject  to  it.  One 
of  our  poets  has  said,  and  said  truly — 

1  Byzantines  boast  that  on  the  clod, 
Where  once  their  Sultan's  horse  has  trod, 
Grows  neither  grass,  nor  shrub,  nor  tree.' 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  desolation  and  ruin  are  lasting  memorials  of 
the  Moslem  power  jn  the  once  fertile  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  ...  I  say 
that  the  speech  delivsred  the  other  day  at  Aylesbury  was  a  speech  of  defiance  to  the 
people  of  England,  a  speech  heartless  and  cruel  as  respects  Servia  and  Bulgaria. 
(Hear,  hear.)  There  is  a  demand  for  an  autumn  Session.  I  believe  nobody  is  more 
opposed  to  an  autumn  Session  than  a  member  of  Parliament  is — (laughter) — but 
though  it  is  full  of  inconvenience,  still  the  demand  for  it  seems  to  me  at  this  time 
constitutional  and  wise.  Ministers  are  at  variance,  and  the  Prime  Minister  in  his 
speech  defies  the  country.  If  there  was  a  dissolution  now,  what  would  happen  ? 
I  suspect  the  Ministers  would  fear  it  greatly.  They  would  be  swept  off  the  boards, 
and  in  their  place  a  new  policy  and  a  new  Ministry  would  be  installed.  I  think  the 
chief  who  made  that  speech — a  speech  which  I  deeply  regret,  and  I  think  by  this 
time  he  must  also  have  regretted  it — would  by  that  public  opinion  be  swept  from  his 
pride  of  place  and  from  his  place  of  power.  Let  hum  meet  Parliament,  or  let  him 
meet  the  constituencies ;  I  am  not  afraid  of  what  would  be  the  decision  of  the 
country.  (Cheers.)  We  regret,  the  country  regrets,  our  past  policy  with  regard  to 
the  Turkish  question.  "We  regret,  the  country  regrets,  the  sacrifices  of  the  Crimean 
war.  We  are  not  now  anxious  to  go  to  war  to  defend  the  Turk,  and  we  are  not 
called  upon  and  do  not  intend  to  go  to  war  to  defend  the  enemies  of  the  Turk.  We 
are  at  a  long  distance  from  that  part  of  the  world.  It  is  no  business  of  ours  to  be 
sending  ships  and  troops  nearly  three  thousand  miles  to  effect  territorial  changes  in 
which  we  have  no  real  and  no  direct  interest.  If  we  left  it  to  the  course  of  nature — 
nature  as  explained  to  us  by  historic  facts — the  question  would  no  doubt  some  way 
settle  itself.  But  if  we  had  a  Parliament,  or  a  dissolution  and  a  general  election,  the 
policy  of  England  would  in  my  opinion  be  declared ;  and  I  freely  state  to  you  my 
judgment  that  we  should  have  this  solemn  and  irrevocable  decision  on  the  part  of 
the  people  of  this  country — that  the  blood  and  the  treasure  of  England  shall  never 
again  be  wasted  on  behalf  of  the  Turk — (cheers) — that  the  vote  of  our  Government, 
the  vote  of  England,  in  the  Parliament  of  Europe,  shall  be  given  in  favour  of 
justice  and  freedom  to  Christian  and  Moslem  alike — (cheers) — and  that  the  Ottoman 
power  shall  be  left  hereafter  to  the  fate  which  Providence  has  decreed  to  corruption, 
tyranny,  and  wrong."  (Great  cheering.) 

In  the  Session  of  1875  Dr.  Kenealy  introduced  a  petition 
into  the  House  of  Commons,  praying  fora  free  pardon  for  "that 
unhappy  nobleman  (the  notorious  Tichborne  claimant)  now 


478  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF  .TORN   BRIGHT.  [1875. 

languishing  in  prison/'  and  the  three  judges  were  charged  with 
acting  unfairly  in  adjudicating  on  the  case.  On  the  23rd  of 
April  the  Doctor  moved  that  a  Royal  Commission  be  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  the  trial.  Mr.  Bright,  speaking 
on  the  motion,  said  : — 

"  It  is  a  great  public  injury,  it  is  a  great  wrong,  that  gentlemen  of  education, 
and  occupying  the  position  of  members  of  this  House,  should  seek  to  convince 
persons  who  could  not  by  any  possibility  have  had  so  good  an  opportunity  of 
judging  of  the  matter  as  the  judges  and  jury  whose  conduct  is  condemned — I  suy  it 
is  a  great  evil  to  teach  such  persons  what  I  believe  to  be  utterly  untrue,  that  the 
judges  were  partial  and  corrupt,  and  that  the  jury  were  mistaken  in  the  view  which 
they  took.  Sir,  I  can  take  no  such  view.  I  can  take  no  part  in  such  conduct.  I 
would  uphold  the  institutions  of  this  country,  in  the  main,  as  they  exist  with  regard 
to  the  administration  of  justice ;  I  think  the  poorest  in  the  land  has  at  least  as  great 
an  interest  in  that  being  done  as  the  richest  in  the  land ;  and  it  is  because  I  think 
this,  that  I  cannot  for  a  moment  think  of  giving  my  vote  in  favour  of  the  proposi- 
tion of  the  hon.  member  for  Stoke." 

The  motion  was  rejected  by  433  votes  against  one. 

Mr.  O.  Morgan,  on  the  21st  of  April,  1875,  again  introduced 
the  second  reading  of  his  ' '  Burial  Bill/'  Messrs.  Gladstone,  Roe- 
buck, Newdegate,  Forster,  Cross,  and  other  gentlemen,  took  part 
in  the  debate,  which,  as  it  proceeded,  became  threadbare  and 
uninteresting,  and  gradually  the  presence  of  the  members 
decreased.  While  Mr.  Cross  was  speaking,  Mr.  Bright  was 
observed  to  take  his  pencil  out  of  his  pocket  and  make  a  few 
notes.  This  little  incident  was  soon  communicated  to  the  mem- 
bers in  the  ante-rooms,  who  began  to  flock  in ;  and  as  soon  as 
Mr.  Bright  rose  to  speak  the  House  filled  rapidly,  until  every 
seat  was  taken  up. 

"Assume  that  all  the  burial-grounds  that  were  in  existence  before  the  passing  of 
the  Church-rates  Abolition  Act  were  established  at  the  cost  of  the  parish,  and,  there- 
fore, now  are — as  they  are  indeed  all  established  by  law — the  property  of  the  parish," 
said  Mr.  Bright,  "  I  am  sure  honourable  gentlemen  opposite  know,  notwithstanding 
the  repeal  of  the  church  rates,  there  were  thousands  of  Dissenters  in  this  country 
who  contribute  voluntarily  and  constantly  to  the  support  both  of  church  and  the 
parochial  graveyards.  (Hear,  hear.)  Therefore,  I  have  a  right  to  say  that  the 
graveyards,  for  the  most  part — I  believe  almost  universally — were  plots  of  ground 
in  which  the  parishioners  generally  have  a  peculiar  interest.  Well,  it  will  be  said 
that  every  person  has  a  right  to  be  buried  there,  but  only  on  a  certain  condition : 
that  either  he' must  have  the  service  of  the  Established  Church,  or  have  no  service  at 
all ;  for  that,  I  think,  is  the  argument  of  right  honourable  gentlemen  opposite. 
Now,  it  is  quite  open  for  persons  to  dissent,  if  they  like,  from  the  services  of  the 
Church  of  England.  About  one -half  of  the  population  of  England  and  Wales  have 
dissented.  That,  I  think,  is  a  considerable  matter  when  you  are  considering  this 
question.  There  are  many  grounds  on  which  men  have  dissented  from  the  Church 
of  England ;  but  having  been  brought  up  in  circumstances  of  Nonconformity  in  their 
families,  and  in  all  their  asssociations,  it  is  quite  reasonable  to  expect,  and  easy  to 
understand,  that  they  should  prefer  that  at  a  time  like  this,  and  for  a  service  of  this 
nature,  some  other  service  or  some  other  ceremony  should  be  adopted  in  their  case. 
If  that  be  so,  I  should  like  to  have  some  reasonable  ground  stated  why  their  wish 
should  not  be  complied  with.  (Hear,  Bear.)  You  say  they  shall  have  no  service  at 
all.  But  there  must  be  those  who,  although,  for  some  cause  or  other,  they  dislike 
the  Church  service,  still  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  better  to  have  some  service,  not  for 
the  sake  of  the  dead — I  hope,  indeed  I  believe,  that  no  Nonconformist  in  this 


1876.]  A   QUAKER    BFRIAL.  479 

country  is  so  superstitious  as  to  believe  that — but  for  the  sake  of  the  living,  and  those 
who  surround  the  grave.  Why  do  you  impose  this  test?  You  say  the  grave- 
yard is  the  graveyard  of  the  parish.  The  body  which  is  brought  to  the  parish 
graveyard  is  that  of  a  parishioner  whom  only  last  week  you  held  as  a  fellow- 
parishioner,  and  whom  you  met  in  your  street,  on  his  farm,  or  in  his  garden. 
He  dies,  and  his  friends  propose  to  bury  him  there.  You  say  'No,'  he  shall 
not  come  at  all,  except  on  certain  conditions.  First  of  all,  he  shall  have  read 
over  him  a  service  arranged  some  200  or  300  years  ago — which  I  am  willing  to  admit 
is  very  impressive  and  very  beautiful ;  nobody  I  think  denies  that — but  '  he  shall 
have  this  read  over  him  and  nothing  else.  If  he  does  not  have  this,  he  shall  have 
nothing  at  all.'  I  won't  say  that  he  is  to  be  buried  like  a  dog,  because  that  is  an 
expression  founded  on  a  miserable  superstition.  I  shall  be  buried  like  a  dog  on  that 
argument,  and  all  those  with  whom  I  am  most  connected  and  whom  I  mostlove,  and 
the  society  for  which  in  past  times  my  ancestors  suffered  persecution,  they  have  all 
been  'buried  like  dogs'  if  that  phrase  be  a  just  one.  (Cheers.)  But  I  ask  if  half 
the  population  hold  this  opinion,  why  is  it  that  they  should  have  this  test  imposed 
upon  them  ?  (Hear,  hear.)  You  have  abolished  the  test  for  offices ;  it  is  not  now 
necessary  that  a  man  should  take  the  Sacrament  according  to  the  practice  of  the 
Church  of  England  before  he  undertakes  any  office  under  the  Crown.  That  test  has 
been  swept  away.  Why  is  it  when  a  man  or  a  body  of  a  man,  or  one  of  the 
parishioners,  is  brought  to  your  graveyard  gate,  and  his  friends  ask  that  he  may  be 
there  interred  with  decency  and  solemnity,  that  you  say  '  No,  I  shall  not  inter  him 
here,  he  is  not  to  be  buried  here ' — even  although  his  family,  his  friends,  who  have 
gone  before  him,  and  his  children  who  have  prematurely  died,  lie  there — '  unless  that 
he  has  the  service  that  we  prescribe,  or  unless  that  he  has  no  service  at  all,'  and 
shall  thus  be  buried  in  a  manner  of  which  his  friends  may  not  approve  ?  (Cheers.) 
....  I  will  take  a  case  of  my  own  sect,  and  try  to  draw  an  argument  from  that. 
We  have  no  baptism ;  we  do  not  think  it  necessary.  We  have  no  service — no 
ordered  or  stated  service — over  the  dead.  We  don't  think  ttjat  necessary.  But 
when  a  funeral  occurs  in  my  sect,  the  body  is  borne  with  as  much  decency  and 
solemnity  as  in  any  other  sect  or  in  any  other  case  to  the  grave  side.  The  coffin  is 
laid  by  the  side  of  the  grave.  The  family  and  friends  and  the  mourners  stand  round, 
and  they  are  given  some  time-^no  fixed  time,  it  may  be  five  minutes,  or  ten,  or  even 
longer — for  that  private  and  "solemn  meditation  which  the  grave  invites,  even 
to  the  most  unthinking  and  the  most  frivolous.  If  any  one  there  feels  it  his  duty  to 
offer  any  word  of  exhortation,  he  is  at  liberty  to  offer  it.  If  he  feels  that  he  can 
bow  the  knee  and  offer  a  prayer  to  Heaven,  not  for  the  dead,  but  for  those  who 
stand  round  the  grave,  for  the  comfort  of  the  widow,  or  for  succour  and  fatherly  care 
for  the  fatherless  children,  that  prayer  is  offered.  (Cheers.)  But  if  this  were  done 
in  one  of  your  graveyards,  if,  for  example,  such  a  thing  were  done  there,  and  a 
member  of  my  sect,  or  a  Baptist,  an  Independent,  or  a  Wesleyan,  came  to  be 
interred  in  one  of  your  graveyards,  and  if  some  God-fearing  and  good  man  there 
spoke  some  words  of  exhortation,  or  on  his  knees  offered  a  prayer  to  God,  is  there 
one  of  you  on  this  side  of  the  house  or  on  that,  or  one  of  your  clergymen,  or  any 
thoughtful  and  Christian  man  connected  with  your  Church,  who  would  dare,  in  the 
sight  of  Heaven,  to  condemn  that,  or  to  interfere  with  it  by  force  of  law  ?  (Cheers.) 
The  proposition  as  reduced  to  a  simple  case  like  that  is  monstrous  and  intolerable, 
and  I  believe  the  time  will  come  when  men  will  never  believe  that  such  a  thing 
could  have  been  seriously  discussed  in  the  English  House  of  Commons." 

This  eloquent  speech  lifted  the  question  above  the  level  of 
either  politics  or  legal  controversy,  and  placing  it  on  higher 
grounds,  increased  the  number  in  favour  of  the  Bill  to  234,  but 
the  majority  yet  against  it  was  14. 

Mr.  Meldon,  on  the  25th  of  March,  1876,  introduced  into 
the  House  of  Commons  the  subject  of  Reform  for  Ireland,  on  a 
motion  for  the  assimilation  of  the  borough  franchise  in  England 
and  Ireland : — 

"  I  believe,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  in  concluding  the  debate,  "  that  if  a  measure 
of  this  kind  were  passed  it  would  have  the  effect  in  Ireland — it  must  inevitably  have 


480  LIFE    AND    TIMES    OK   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1976. 

the  effect  of  teaching  the  Irish  pnople  that  the  Imperial  Parliament  is  not  only  not 
afraid  of  them,  but  actually  invites  their  co-operation.  It  invites  every  man  of 
them,  every  householder  in  boroughs,  to  take  an  interest  in  the  political  questions 
which  are  constantly  debated  in  this  House ;  and  I  am  satisfied  that,  if  you  ask 
them  to  become  partners  in  the  discussions  and  deliberations  of  this  assembly,  it 
would  make  them  think  that  it  will  not  be  necessary  for  them  to  have  a  small  Par- 
liament of  their  own  in  Ireland,  seeing  that  this  greater  Parliament  is  willing  to  do 
them  speedy  and  substantial  justice.  It  still  remains  true — though  all  the  officials 
in  the  world  think  it  worth  while  to  call  it  in  question — that  justice  done  by  tho 
Government  and 'Parliament,  to  any  portion  of  the  population,  be  it  the  most  remote, 
be  it  the  most  abject,  still  that  measure  of  justice  is  never  lost.  It  is  compensated  to 
the  power  that  grants  it,  be  it  monarch  or  be  it  Parliament,  by  greater  affection,  by 
greater  and  firmer  allegiance  to  the  law,  and  by  the  growth  of  all  those  qualities  and 
virtues  by  which  a  great  and  durable  nation  is  distinguished." 

The  majority  against  the  motion  only  numbered  thirteen. 
Mr.  Forsyth,  on  the  26th  of  April,  introduced  into  the  House 
of  Commons  his  "  Women's  Disabilities  Removal  Bill " : — 

"  My  sympathies  have  always  been  in  favour  of  a  wide  suffrage,"  said  Mr.  Bright, 
in  his  speech  upon  this  subject.  "They  are  so  at  this  moment,  and  I  grieve  very 
much  that  a  measure  should  be  submitted  to  this  House  in  favour  of  the  extension 
of  the  suffrage  to  which  I  cannot  give  my  support.  But  I  confess  I  am  unwilling,  for 
the  sake  of  women  themselves,  to  introduce  them  into  the  contest  of  our  Parliamen- 
tary system,  to  bring  them  under  the  necessity  of  canvassing  themselves  or  being 
canvassed  by  others.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  think  they  would  lose  much  of  that,  or  some 
of  that,  which  is  best  that  they  now  possess,  and  that  they  would  gain  no  good  of  any 
kind  from  being  mingled  or  mixed  with  Parliamentary  contests  and  the  polling- 
booth.  I  should  not  vote  for  this  measure  if  I  were  voting  solely  in  the  interests 
of  the  men ;  I  shall  vote  against  it,  I  believe  with  perfect  honesty,  believing  that  in 
doing  so  I  am  serving  the  interests  of  women  themselves.  (Cheers.)  I  recollect  that 
an  hon.  member  who  voted  for  this  Bill  last  year,  in  conversation  with  me  next  day 
said  he  had  very  great  doubts  upon  the  matter,  because  he  believed  that  the  best 
women  were  against  it.  Well,  I  find  wherever  I  go  that  all  the  best  women  seem  to 
be  against  this  Bill.  If  the  House  believes  that  it  cannot  vote  justly  for  our  mothers, 
our  sisters,  our  wives,  and  our  daughters,  the  House  may  abdicate,  and  pass  this 
Bill ;  but  I  believe  that  Parliament  cannot  be  otherwise — unless  it  be  in  ignorance — 
than  just  to  the  women  of  this  country,  with  whom  we  are  so  intimately  allied. 
Believing  that,  and  having  these  doubts — doubts  which  are  stronger  even  than  I  have 
been  able  to  express,  and  doubts  which  have  come  upon  me  stronger  and  stronger 
the  more  I  have  considered  this  question — I  am  obliged,  differing  from  many  of  those 
whom  I  care  for,  and  whom  I  love,  to  give  my  vote  in  opposition  to  this  measure." 
(Cheers). 

The  majority  against  the  Bill  was  eighty-seven. 

Mr.  Bright  next  addressed  his  constituents  at  a  meeting 
held  in  the  Birmingham  Town  Hall  on  the  4th  December,  1876, 
which  had  been  called  to  consider  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
Government : — 

"  About  seven  hundred  years  ago,"  said  Mr.  Bright  in  his  lengthy  speech,  "the 
people  of  this  country,  as  history  tells  us,  joined  the  Crusaders,  and  went  to  Palestine, 
for  the  purpose  of  liberating  the  holy  places  from  the  possession  of  the  infidel  and 
the  Mahometan.  And  now  what  do  we  do?  "We  give  the  blood  and  treasure  of 
England  to  support  the  Turkish  Government.  We  give  Bethlehem,  Olivet,  and 
Calvary  to  the  Turk.  We  condemn  to  perpetual  ruin  those  vast  regions  which  have 
become  a  wilderness  and  a  desert  under  the  Turkish  sceptre.  We  do  all  this  for  the 
simple  purpose  of  preventing  the  Russians  from  passing  any  ships  of  war  from  the 
Black  Sea  mto  the  Mediterranean.  Now  that  was  the  policy  which  brought  about 
the  Crimean  war  in  1854.  ...  I  do  not  in  any  case,  as  you  know,  stand  forward  as 
a  defender  of  those  sanguinary  struggles  which  continually,  or  at  times,  take  place 
amongst  the  nations ;  but  I  know  not  how  in  some  cases  they  are  to  be  avoided. 


1877.]  TURKISH    TYRANNY.  481 

There  can  be  no  arbitration  unless  the  parties  to  the  dispute  are  willing.    There  can 
be  no  arbitration  between  such  a  Government  as  that  which  reigns  at  Constantinople 
and  the  suffering  people  of  whom  we  have  lately  heard  so  much.    I  only  take  con 
•olation  in  the  fact,  viewing  all  these  tremendous  scenes  and  frightful  sufferings — 

'  That  God  from  evil  still  educes  good ; 
Sublime  events  are  rushing  to  their  birth. 
Lo!  tyrants  by  their  victims  are  withstood, 
And  freedom's  seed  still  grows,  though  steeped  in  blood.' 

(Cheers.)  Let  us  hope,  let  us  pray,  that  the  efforts  that  are  being  made,  efforts 
that  I  believe  are  being  made  as  sincerely  by  the  Emperor  of  Russia  as  by  the 
Government  of  this  country — let  us  hope  that  these  efforts  may  be  crowned  with 
success,  and  that  the  storm  which  has  been  created,  and  which  threatens  to 
rage  around  us,  may  be  put  an  end  to,  and  that  tranquillity  may  again  speedily 
prevail.  (Cheers.)  ....  The  late  Lord  Aberdeen  was  Prime  Minister  when 
the  Crimean  war  was  undertaken,  a.nd  to  the  last  hour  of  his  life  probably 
there  was  no  one  event  of  his  life  which  he  so  greatly  regretted.  Sir  James 
Graham,  one  of  the  most  capable  men  in  the  ministry,  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty  during  the  war,  said  to  me,  in  the  most  frank  manner,  'You  were 
entirely  right,  and  we  were  entirely  wrong.'  I  might  quote  you  the  opinions, 
in  his  later  years,  of  Lord  John  Russell,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Government, 
and  who,  in  writing  since,  has  endeavoured  to  show  how  impolitic  the  war  was, 
and  how  it  might  have  been  avoided.  (Cheers.)  ....  In  this  country — thanks 
to  what  our  forefathers  have  done,  and  thanks  to  some  things  which  we  have  done — 
we  enjoy  a  large  measure  of  freedom  :  there  is  room  for  it  to  grow  and  become  still 
larger;  but  it  is  large,  and  we  enjoy  it,  and  I  trust  we  are  thankful  for  it.  We 
are  also,  as  I  have  aforetime  said,  in  some  sense  the  mother  of  free  nations.  We 
have  planted  great  nations,  free  as  ourselves,  on  the  continent  of  America,  where 
they  have  grown  and  become  great;  we  have  planted  them  in  Australia,  and 
they  are  gradually  becoming  great ;  we  are  planting  them  in  South  Africa.  Our 
language,  which  has  become  the  language  of  freedom  in  all  the,  world,  is 
gradually  making  its  way  amongst  all  the  educated  class  of  India,  and  the  time 
will  come,  and  I  trust  it  is  not  very  remote,  when  there  may  be  some  kind 
of  free  institutions  established  in  the  country.  The  lovers  of  freedom  everywhere 
look  to  us ;  the  oppressed  everywhere  turn  their  eyes  to  us  and  ask  for  sympathy 
and  wish  for  help.  They  feel  that  they  may  make  this  claim  upon  us,  and 
•  we,  a  free  people,  not  only  do  not  deny  it,  but  w"e  freely  acknowledge  it.  Well,  I 
put  it  to  you  a  solemn  question,  a  question  which  you  must  answer  to  Heaven, 
and  to  your  children,  and  to  your  posterity :  shall  England,  shall  the  might  of 
England,  again  be  put  forth  to  sustain  so  foul  a  tyranny  as  that  which  rules  in 
Constantinople  ? — a  tyranny  which  is  drying  up  realms  to  deserts  ;  a  tyranny  which 
throughout  its  wide  range  of  influence  has  blasted  for  centuries  past,  with  its 
withering  breath,  all  that  is  lovely  and  beautiful  in  nature,  and  all  that  is  noble 
and  exalted  in  man.  I  ask  you.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  ask  this  meeting  of  my  fellow- 
countrymen,  I  ask  every  man  in  the  three  kingdoms — and  in  this  case  I  need  not 
ask  women — what  shall  be  the  answer  given  to  this  question  ?  And  I  dare  under- 
take to  say  there  can  be  only  one  unanimous  answer  from  the  generous  heart  <>1' 
the  English  people.  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the.  annual  meeting  of  the  Roch- 
dale Working  Men's  Club,  which  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall 
ef  that  town  on  the  2nd  of  January,  1877. 

"There  has  never  been,"  said  Mr.  Bright  on  this  occasion,  "during  the 
last  hundred  years,  a  period  when  the  farmers  of  this  country  have  made  less 
complaint  to  the  public  or  to  Parliament  than  they  have  during  the  last  thirty 
years,  since  the  law  for  their  protection  was  abolished.  And  what  happened  to 
the  labourer  ?  The  wages  of  farm  labourers  have  risen  on  the  whole  much 
more,  1  believe,  than  fifty  per  cent,  throughout  the  whole  country ;  and  in  some 
counties  and  districts,  I  believe,  the  farm  labourer  at  this  moment  is  receiving 
double  the  wages  he  was  when  the  Corn  Law  \v;is  in  existence.  We  ought  to 
learn  from  this  what  a  timid  thing  it  is  to  establish  our  laws  upon  a  basis  of 
freedom  and  justice.  It  blesses  him  who  gives  and  him  who  takes.  It  has 
Messed  all  our  manufacturing  districts  with  a  steadiness  of  employment  and  an 
F  F 


482  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1877. 

abundance  they  never  knew  before ;  and  it  has  blessed  not  less  the  very  class 
who  in  their  dark  error  and  blindness  thought  that  they  eould  profit  by  that 

which  was  so  unjust,  so   cruel  to  the  bulk  of  their  countrymen Is  it 

not  a  grand  history,  that  of  the  last  forty  years  ?  Are  not  the  changes  such  as 
all  of  us  may  be  proud  of,  that  they  have  been  effected  with  so  little,  in  fact 
with  no  disturbance?  You  cannot  point,  probably,  to  a  revolution  of  violence 
in  any  country  of  late  times  where  there  has  been  so  much  done  of  permanent 
good  in  the  same  period  as  has  been  done  for  the  people  of  this  country 
by  the  wise  changes  in  our  law.  And  yet,  I  dare  say,  history  will  not  say 
very  much  of  these  changes.  The  fact  is,  history  busies  itself  with  other 
matters.  It  will  tell  our  children,  I  dare  say,  of  conquests  in  India,  of 
annexation,  it  may  be  in  the  Punjaub,  of  Chinese  wars — wars  which  were  as 
discreditable  to  us  as  they  have  been  unprofitable.  It  will  tell  your  children 
of  the  destruction  of  Sebastopol,  and  perhaps  it  may  tell  them  that  everything 
for  which  Sebastopol  was  destroyed  has  been  surrendered,  or  is  being  now 
surrendered,  by  an  English  minister  at  Constantinople.  But  of  all  these 
changes  which  have  saved  the  nation  from  anarchy,  and  an  English  monarchy 
from  ruin,  history  will  probably  say  but  little.  Blood  shines  more  upon  her 
pages,  and  the  grand  and  noiseless  triumphs  of  peace  and  of  wise  and  just 
legislation  too  often  find  but  scanty  memorial  from  her  hands.  (Cheers.)  .... 
You  know,  I  dare  say,  a  passage  which  is  one  of  the  many  striking  passages  that 
you  may  find  in  the  writings  of  Shakespeare,  where  he  says,  speaking  of  children 
that  are  rebellious  and  troublesome — 

'  How  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is 
To  have  a  thankless  child.' 

I  ask  working  men,  and  I  might  ask  it  of  every  class  to  a  certain  extent,  how 
much  of  the  unhappiness  of  families,  how  much  of  the  ^rief  and  gloom  which 
often  overshadow  the  later  years  of  parents,  come  from  what  I  may  call  the 
rebellion  of  children  against  their  parents'  authority,  and  against  the  moral  law. 
If  you  will  send  your  children  to  school,  encourage  them  in  their  learning,  make 
them  feel  that  this  is  a  great  thing  for  them  to  possess,  the  generation  to  come 
will  be  much  superior  to  the  generations  that  have  passed,  and  those  who  come 
after  us  will  see  that  prospering,  of  which  by  looking  forward  we  can  only  see  the 
beginnings  in  the  efforts  which  are  now  being  made.  And  more  than  this, 
besides  making  your  families  happier,  besides  doing  so  much  for  the  success  of^ 
your  children  in  life,  you  will  also  produce  this  great  result,  that  you  will  do* 
much  to  build  up  the  fabric  of  the  greatness  and  the  glory  of  your  country  upon 
the  sure  foundation  of  an  intelligent  and  a  Christian  people." 

Mr.  Bright,  on  the  morning  of  the  25th  of  July,  1877, 
performed  the  ceremony  of  unveiling  a  statue  of  Richard 
Cobden  at  Bradford.  An  address  was  presented  to  him  in 
St.  George's  Hall  in  the  evening,  and  in  his  speech  he  said 
that  neutrality  was  the  true  and  wise  policy  of  England  in  the 
Eastern  dispute,  adding — 

"  Five  years  hence,  if  this  matter  be  settled,  and  we  do  not  interfere,  we  shall  all 
be  delighted  that  we  did  not  interfere.  Five  years  hence,  if  we  do  interfere,  we  shall 
lament  for  the  dead  whose  blood  has  been  sacrificed,  for  the  treasure  that  has  beeu 
wasted,  for  the  added  discord  which  we  have  brought  to  Europe,  and,  it  may  be,  for 
the  humiliation  of  our  statesmanship  and  our  military  operations  that  may  have  to 
be  undertaken.  Let  us  then,  I  say,  turning  to  our  foreign  policy,  be  as  wise  as  we  are 
endeavouring  to  be  with  our  home  policy.  Let  us  try  to  be  courteous  to  all  nations, 
just  to  all  nations — as  far  as  we  can,  getting  rid  of  the  jealousies  that  have  disturbed 
us ;  let  us  believe  that  whether  it  be  the  United  States  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, or  whether  it  be  the  great  Empire  of  Russia  in  the  east  of  Europe,  that  there  are 
good,  and  great,  and  noble  men  in  those  countries ;  that  there  is  no  disposition  what- 
ever— as  I  believe  there  is  none — to  make  quarrels  with  this  country,  and  to  do  evil 
of  any  kind  to  us.  Then,  great  as  our  nation  is,  with  its  power  apparent  in  every 
quarter  of  the  globe,  great  will  be  its  influence  for  good ;  and  though  the  world  moves 
on  slowly — far  too  slowly  for  our  ardent  hopes — to  its  brighter  day,  history  will 


1877.J  ME.    GLADSTONE   AT  BIRMINGHAM.  483 

declare  with  impartial  voice  that  Britain,  casting  off  her  ancient  errors,  led  the  grand 
procession  of  the  nations  in  the  path  of  civilisation  and  of  peace." 

The  same  day  Mr.  Bright  was  entertained  at  luncheon  at  the 
Victoria  Hotel  by  Mr.  Jacob  Behrens,  President  of  the  Bradford 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  with  a  large  number  of  other  guests. 
In  replying  to  the  toast  of  his  health,  he  said  : — 

"  The  fact  is,  the  world,  as  we  are  in  it  but  for  a  very  short  time,  does  not  seem 
to  go  on  very  fast,  and  we  must  be  satisfied  if  we  can  move  it  only  a  little ;  but  the 
interests  of  all  mankind  are  so  bound  up  in  this  question  that  it  only  wants  that  you 
should  dispel  the  sort  of  fog  which  intercepts  their  vision,  when  they  woxild  come  at 
once  to  see  a  promised  land  which  was  within  their  reach,  aud  a  fruit  such  as  they 
have  never  tasted  that  was  within  their  grasp  ;  and  if  this  view  could  once  be  opened 
up  to  the  intelligent  people  in  these  countries  of  a  constantly  growing  intelligence, 
I  have  a. confident  belief  that  the  time  will  come,  that  it  must  come,  that  it  is  in  the 
decrees  of  the  Supreme  that  it  shall  come,  when  these  vast  evils  shall  be  suppressed, 
and  men  shall  not  learn  war  any  more,  and  God's  earth  shall  not  be  made,  as  it  is, 
a  charnel-house  by  the  constant  murder  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  His  creatures." 

In  the  first  week  of  June,  1877,  Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone  visited 
Birmingham,  and  delivered  a  series  of  speeches  on  public 
questions.  On  the  first  of  June  the  Mayor  entertained  the 
distinguished  statesman  at  the  Queen's  Hotel.  Mr.  Bright,  who 
was  also  present,  in  responding  to  the  toast  of  the  borough 
members,  said  : — 

"  This  week  Birmingham  is  maintaining  its  ancient  character.  There  is  no  town 
in  England  at  this  moment  that  occupies  so  great,  and  so  proud,  and  at  the  same 
time  so  responsible  a  position  as  your  town.  You  are  foremost  in  good  works,  and 
have  been  for  many  years  past.  Your  Town  Hall  is  consecrated  to  freedom,  but 
your  Town  Hall  is  now  not  one-quarter  large  enough  for  all  those  who  would  come 
to  listen  to  a  great  speech  on  behalf  of  freedom.  You  now  call  upon  your  sister 
cities  and  towns  throughout  the  kingdom  to  come  forward  and  to  join  in  a  great 
association,  in  order  that  the  opinion  in  England  which  is  in  favour  of  freedom  may 
act  with  full  force  by  its  full  development ;  and  I  say,  then,  that  we  have  a  right  to 
hope  that  from  this  centre  and  heart  of  the  country,  as  you  are  geographically  and 
as  you  are  politically — I  say  from  this  centre  and  heart  of  the  country  there  should 
go  forth  light  and  warmth  and  heat,  which  should  be  seen  and  felt  in  every  borough 
in  the  kingdom.  And  if  it  be  so,  and  if  you  get  the  answer  which  I  anticipate  from 
those  sister  cities  and  towns,  there  is  no  measure  that  is  good  and  noble,  nothing 
that  is  a  measure  of  freedom  and  justice,  that  you  may  not  carry;  and  you  from 
this  centre  may  influence,  as  you  have  heretofore  influenced,  the  administration 
and  the  legislation  that  touches  every  portion  of  the  great  empire  of  which  we 
form  a  part." 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the  banquet  in  the  Manchester 
New  Town  Hall,  on  the  13th  September,  1877,  which  was  held 
to  celebrate  the  opening  of  this  magnificent  building,  and  in  the 
course  of  his  speech  he  said : — 

"  We  are  here  to-night  standing  in  the  centre  of  a  district  more  wonderful  in 
some  respects  than  is  to  be  traced  out  on  the  map  of  any  other  kingdom  in  the  world. 
The  population  is  extraordinary.  It  is  extraordinary  for  its  interests  and  its 
industries,  for  the  amount  of  its  wealth,  for  the  amount  of  its  wages,  and  for  the 
power  which  it  exercises  in  its  public  opinion  on  and  over  the  public  opinion  of  the 
nation.  But  still,  for  all  that,  although  the  present  and  the  past  nave  been  so 
brilliant,  I  cannot  help  thinking  in  all  conscience  of  the  fact  that  the  future  is  not 
without  anxiety.  Even,  I  may  say,  that  the  present  is  not  without  its  clouds.  Now, 

V   F   2 


484  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1877. 

I  have  an  anecdote  on  my  mind  with  regard  to  this  matter  which  I  may  relate  here, 
for  a  friend  of  many  years  was  concerned  in  it.  About  thirty- five  years  ago  my  late 
friend,  and  your  friend,  Mr.  Cobden,  and  my  friend  who  is  here  to  night,  Mr.  Henry 
Ashworth,  and  myself  were  in  Scotland  on  an  expedition  to  preach  the  doctrines  of 
the  Anti-Corn  Law  League — (hear,  hear)— and  in  the  course  of  our  journey  we 
stayed  for  a  night  or  two  with  the  late  Mr.  George  Hope,  of  Haddington,  who  was 
one  of  the  very  first  agriculturists  in  Scotland.  He  took  us  to  see  a  famous  ruin 
in  that  neighbourhood  which  my  right  hon.  friend  the  Lord  Provost  is  very  well 
acquainted  with,  the  ruins  of  Tantalfon  Castle.  This  castle  is  the  ruin  of  a  strong- 
hold that  one  time  belonged  to  the  famous  and  powerful  Douglas  family. 
As  I  walked  in  amongst  these  ruins  my  friend  Mr.  Ashworth  stopped  me,  turned 
round  with  a  look  of  sadness,  and  said,  '  How  long  will  it  be  before  our  great  ware- 
houses and  factories  in  Lancashire  are  as  complete  a  wreck  as  this  castle  ? '  I  have 
thought  of  that  several  times  since,  I  thought  of  it  then  with  sadness,  as  I  think 
of  it  now.  One  thing  is  certain,  if  ever  they  come  to  ruin  they  will  never  be  so  pic- 
turesque a  ruin  as  the  ruin  of  Tantallon  Castle.  (Hear,  hear.)  But  I  think  some- 
times that  we  are  not  always  aware  of  some  of  the  perils  which  beset  us.  We  import, 
as  you  know,  most  of  the  material  of  our  industry  from  the  distant  parts  of  the 
world — from  Egypt,  from  India,  from  South  America — but  mainly  from  the  United 
States  of  North  America,  and  bring  it  here,  and  we  work  it  up  here.  We  use  a  good 
deal  in  this  country  for  our  own  consumption.  We  export  a  great  portion  of  it  to 
other  countries,  some  of  it  to  almost  every  country  in  the  world,  and  we  have  to 
stand  in  every  country  the  competition  of  the  industries  of  all  their  people,  and  we 
have  also  to  overcome,  if  it  be  possible,  the  barriers  which  costly  tariffs  have  erected 
against  Free-trade.  We  are  pursuing  also  a  course  at  home  which  is  not  without  its 
danger.  We  have  been  for  many  years  past,  as  you  know,  gradually  diminishing 
the  period  of  time  during  which  our  machinery  can  work,  under  the  idea  that  the 
condition  of  the  people  would  be  improved  by  it.  We  are  surrounded  by  a  combina- 
tion whose  object  is  not  only  to  diminish  the  time  of  labour  and  the  product  of 
labour,  but  to  increase  the  remuneration  for  labour.  Every  half  hour  you  diminish 
the  time  of  labour,  and  every  farthing  you  raise  the  payment  of  labour  which  is  not 
raised  by  the  ordinary  economic  and  proper  causes,  everything  of  that  kind  has 
exactly  the  same  effect  upon  us  as  the  increase  of  the  tariffs  of  foreign  countries ; 
and  thus  we  often  find,  with  all  our  philanthropy  in  wishing  the  people  to  have  more 
recreation,  and  with  our  anxiety  that  the  workman  should  better  his  condition 
through  his  combinations,  that  we  are  ourselves  aiding,  it  may  be  inevitably  and 
necessarily,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  we  are  aiding,  to  increase  the  difficulties  under  which 
we  labour,  in  sending  foreign  countries  the  increased  products  of  the  industry  of 
these  districts.  And  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  great  cities  have  fallen  before  Man- 
chester and  Liverpool  were  known  ;  that  'there  have  been  great  cities,  great  mercan- 
tile cities,  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean — the  city  of  Phoenicia,  the  city  of 
Carthage,  the  city  of  Genoa,  and  the  city  of  Venice.  The  poet  says  of  the  people  of 
Venice : — 

'  Her  daughters  had  their  dowers 
From  spoils  of  nations,  and  the  exhaustless  East 
Poured  in  her  lap  all  gems  in  sparkling  showers.' 

But  what  are  the  lines  with  which  he  concludes  ? 

'  Venice  lost  and  won, 

Her  thirteen  hundred  years  of  freedom  done, 
Sinks  like  a  seaweed  into  whence  she  rose.' 

Therefore  when  we  are  met  in  this  magnificent  hall,  to  enjoy  the  profuse  and 
generous  hospitality  of  the  Mayor  and  his  friends,  and  surrounded  by  the  vast  indus- 
tries of  this  powerful  district,  let  us  not  for  a  moment  imagine  that  we  stand  on  a 
foundation  absolutely  sure  and  absolutely  immovable,  and  that  we  are  not  liable  to 
the  dangers  which  have  overthrown  and  overwhelmed  the  great  municipalities  and 
the  cities  and  the  prosperous  industries  of  other  countries  and  other  times."  (Hear, 
hear.) 

Probably  the  number  of  strikes  continually  taking  place  all 
over  the  country,  and  other  signs  of  the  times,  as  well  as  an 
occurrence  that  happened  at  Messrs.  Bright's  mills  some  years 
ago,  were  the  cause  of  Mr.  Bright's  taking  such  a  gloomy  view 


1877.]  SELF-IMPROVEMENT.  485 

of  affairs.  The  occurrence  is  well  worth  relating.  It  was  at 
the  time  when  Messrs.  Bright  were  having  a  large  mill  erected 
by  Mr.  Peters,  of  Rochdale,  who  had  undertaken  to  have  it 
completed  by  a  certain  date.  Mr.  Peters  found  at  last  that 
there  was  scarcely  sufficient  time  for  his  masons  to  prepare  the 
coping  stones,  but  ascertaining  that  there  were  some  on  sale  in 
Yorkshire  suitable,  which  had  been  made  for  a  new  mill  in 
course^of  erection  there,  he  purchased  them,  as  the  owner  had 
no  use  for  them  on  account  of  having  altered  the  designs  of 
his  building.  Accordingly  they  were  removed  to  Messrs. 
Bright's  mills,  but  Mr.  Peters's  masons  threatened  to  strike  if 
the  stones  were  used  for  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
purchased,  pointing  out  that  it  was  against  the  rules  of  their 
society  to  use  stones  in  a  different  county  from  that  in  which 
they  were  " dressed."  However,  the  workmen  said  there  was 
one  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  and  that  was  to  let  them  pretend 
to  chisel  the  stones.  Mr.  Peters,  rather  than  there  should  be  a 
strike,  consented  to  pay  the  masons  for  pretending  to  work,  and 
there  was  no  great  anxiety  on  the  part  of  the  employed  to  get 
through  their  laborious  work  speedily. 

Mr.  Bright,  on  the  25th  of  September,  distributed  the 
Queen's  prizes  and  the  certificates  of  merit  in  the  Rochdale 
Town  Hall  to  the  successful  students  of  the  Science  and  Art 
classes  of  the  town,  and  delivered  a  lengthy  speech  on  the 
progress  of  science  and  art  during  the  past  century. 

"I  believe  there  is  nothing  so  likely  to  guard  young  men,"  said  Mr.  Bright, 
"  from  temptations  and  to  make  their  homes  happy — happy  now  while  young,  and 
happy  hereafter,  if  they  should  become  heads  of  families— as  taking  this  very  com- 
mon advice  which  everybody  gives  you,  and  which  you  find  very  difficult  to  follow, 
"but  which  I  beseech  you  to  try  to  follow.  Look  at  the  heads  I  see  before  me, 
strong  heads  that  can  do  anything — stonemasons,  carpenters,  mechanics,  engineers, 
weavers,  spinners — every  occupation  there  is  in  the  neighbourhood.  I  see  men  who 
can  work  at  all  these  trades  so  well  that  nobody  in  the  world  can  do  them  better, 
and  if  they  were  to  give  a  little  of  the  energy  and  hard-headedness  which  they  give 
to  their  ordinary  work  to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  in  an  evening,  in  twelve  months' 
time  they  would  find  they  had  travelled  a  long  distance,  that  their  difficulties  had 
become  fewer,  and  what  had  been  hard  work  had  become  a  pleasure.  I  do  not  say 
from  Rochdale  we  should  have  many  great  inventors,  but  great  things  would  be 
done.  It  might  remain,  still,  that  you  would  never  be  rich,  that  you  would  always 
find  it  necessary  to  work  steadily  and  honestly  for  your  daily  bread  ;  but  you  would 
discover  that  God  has  given  many  of  his  best  gifts  so  freely  that  the  humblest  are  not 
shut  out  from  the  blessings  which  He  has  prepared  for  His  creatures."  (Cheers.) 

The  Right  Hon.  Joseph  Chamberlain,  M.P.,  visited  Rochdale 
on  the  7th  of  November,  and  delivered  a  speech  in  the  Town  Hall 
of  the  town  on  political  organisation.  Mr.  Bright  officiated  as 
the  chairman,  and,  in  opening  the  meeting,  contrasted  the  motives 
which  had  guided  the  two  great  political  parties  in  their  legisla- 
tive efforts,  remarking  that  to  the  Conservatives  belonged  shame 


486  LIFE  AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1877. 

and  humiliation,  and  to  the  Liberals  a  very  high  degree  of  satis- 
faction and  just  pride,  when  they  contemplated  the  results  of  the 
last  half-century  of  legislation  and  government  in  this  country. 
He  gave  the  Conservatives  credit  for  the  possession  of  a  solid  and 
permanent  organisation,  the  strength  of  which  was  to  be  found 
in  the  landed  interest,  the  Church,  the  military  and  legal  profes- 
sions, and  in  the  publicans ;  and  said  that  unless  the  Liberal  party 
organised  themselves  to  advance  their  own  cause  and  principles, 
the  country  would  go  back,  and  we  might  even  lose  some  of  the 
liberties  we  had  gained.  With  respect  to  the  landed  interest, 
he  did  not  advocate  any  system  of  legislation  which  would 
deprive  anybody  of  a  single  acre  of  land,  but  the  land  should 
be  divided  a  little  more  equally  among  the  great  body  of  the 
people ;  and  he  objected  to  laws  which  created  and  maintained 
a  monopoly  in  this  matter. 

On  the  llth  of  December,  1877,  Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  a 
meeting  in  the  Manchester  Town  Hall.  This  meeting  had  been 
convened  by  the  members  of  the  Manchester  India  Association 
to  discuss  how  the  famines  had  arisen,  and  how  to  put  an  end 
to  them.  Sir  Arthur  Cotton  took  part  in  the  proceedings. 

"What  are  these  famines?"  asked  Mr.  Bright,  adding;  "some  of  them  you 
have  never  heard  of,  or  if  you  have,  you  do  not  remember  them.  There  was  a 
famine  in  1837-8,  which  afflicted  8,000,000  of  people,  5,000,000  with  great  severity, 
during  which  no  less  than  800,000  persons  died  of  famine,  more  than  half  as  many 
again  as  all  the  men,  women,  and  children  of  this  great  city  in  which  we  are 
assembled,  and  the  people  of  England  scarcely  heard  anything  of  it,  excepting  now 
and  then  in  a  paragraph  extracted  from  an  Indian  paper.  In  1860-1  there  was 
another  famine.  There  were  13,000,000  affected ;  5,000,000  suffered  intensely.  The 
mortality,  as  far  as  I  have  searched  for  it,  is  not  on  record ;  but  I  do  not  think  there 
is  any  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  any  smaller  than  in  1 he  previous  famine.  In 
1 863  there  came  the  famine  in  Bengal  and  Orissa,  and  one  quarter  of  the  population 
died  in  some  of  the  districts.  The  total  amount  of  the  deaths  was  enormous. 
Nearly  the  whole  of  the  labouring  population  was  swept  away  over  large  districts 
of  the  country  during  the  pressure  of  that  calamity.  In.  1868-9  occurred  the  great 
famine  in  Rajpootana,  and  the  districts  around  it.  One  hundred  thousand  square 
miles,  or  one-sixth  of  the  whole  area  of  the  country,  were  more  or  less  affected  by 
this  famine,  and  1,250,000  persons  are  admitted  by  the  Government  estimates  to 
have  perished  of  hunger.  In  1877)  the  present  year,  it  is  estimated  that  more  than 
all  the  population  of  this  great  city  have  died,  and  those  who  die,  or  the  figures  of 
those  who  die,  do  not  represent  the  whole  calamity.  There  are  multitudes  who  die 
afterwards,  who  suffer  and  linger,  who  know  never  again  a  day's  good  health,  and 
whose  names  are  not  on  the  record  which  tells  us  of  the  mortality  of  the  famine. 
.  .  .  There  is  always  soil,  and  there  is  always  sun,  and  there  is  always  rain;  but 
the  rain  does  not  always  fall  when  you  want  it,  and  it  is  not  at  the  particular  time 
just  as  much  or  as  little  as  you  want.  But,  if  you  have  soil,  and  sun,  and  water, 
and  human  labour,  you  have  rich  harvests  throughout  a  great  portion  of  India. 
Now,  that  is  a  very  simple  doctrine  which  I  suppose  few  people  will  be  disposed  to 
dispute.  But  with  the  rain-fall  there  is  some  difficulty,  because  the  rain  comes  down 
there  sometimes  in  profuse  quantities.  ...  If  canals  for  navigation  or  irriga- 
tion were  made  upon  some  grand  scheme  determined  by  eminent  and  competent 
engineers,  you  would  find  the  produce  of  nearly  all  the  districts  of  India  greatly 
increased,  and  all  those  not  hitherto  irrigated  would  probably  be  doubled.  Produce 
would  be  carried  cheaply  to  the  coast,  and  it  would  be  distributed  in  the  interior  of 
of  the  country,  where  there  was  partial  scarcity,  from  where  there  was  great  abuud- 


1878.]  BRITISH    INTERESTS.  487 

ance,  and  the  surplus  would  come  to  this  country  and  help  to  feed  the  growing 
population  we  have  amongst  us."  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the  annual  meeting  of  his  con- 
stituents on  the  13th  of  January,  1878,  and  remarked  : — 

"It  is  a  painful  and  terrible  thing  to  think  how  easy  it  is  to  stir  up  a  nation  to 
war.  Take  up  any  decent  history  of  this  country  from  the  time  of  "William  III. 
until  now,  a  period  of  two  centuries  or  nearly  so,  and  you  will  And  that  wars  are 
always  supported  by  a  class  of  arguments  which,  after  the  war  is  over,  the  people 
find  were  arguments  they  should  not  have  listened  to.  It  is  just  so  now,  for 
unfortunately  there  still  remains  the  disposition  to  be  excited  on  these  questions. 
Some  poet,  I  forget  which  it  is,  has  said — 

'  Eeligion,  freedom,  vengeance,  -what  you  •will, 
A  word's  enough  to  raise  mankind  to  Trill ; 
Some  cunning  phrase  by  faction  caught  and  spread. 
That  guilt  may  reign,  and  wolves  and  worms  be  fed.' 

'  Some  conning  phrase  by  faction  caught  and  spread,'  like  the  cunning  phrase  of 
'  the  balance  of  power,'  which  has  been  described  as  the  ghastly  phantom  that  the 
Government  of  mis  country  has  been  pursuing  for  two  centuries,  and  has  not  yet 
overtaken.  (Hear,  hear.)  Some  cunning  phrase  like  that  we  have  now  of  '  British 
interests.'  Lord  Derby  said  the  wisest  tiling  that  has  been  uttered  by  any  member 
of  this  Administration  during  the  discussions  on  this  war,  when  he  said  'the 
greatest  of  British  interests  is  peace.'  (Cheers.)  And  a  hundred,  far  more  than  a 
hundred,  public  meetings  have  lately  said  the  same ;  and  millions  of  households  of 
men  and  women  have  thought  the  same.  To-night  we  shall  say  '  Amen '  to  this 
wise  declaration.  (Cheers.)  I  am  delighted  to  see  this  grand  meeting  in  this 
noble  Town  Hall.  This  building  is  consecrated  to  peace  and  to  freedom.  You  are 
here  in  your  thousands,  representing  the  countless  multitudes  outside.  May  we  not 
to-night  join  our  voices  in  this  resolution,  that,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  the 
sanguinary  record  of  the  history  of  our  country  shall  be  closed ;  that  we  will  open  a 
new  page  on  which  shall  henceforth  be  inscribed  only  the  blessed  message  of  mercy 
and  of  peace  ?  "  (Loud  cheers.) 

Lord  George  Hamilton,  the  Under  Secretary  of  State  for 
India,  early  in  1878,  introduced  a  motion  into  the  House  of 
Commons  with  respect  to  the  construction  of  public  works  in 
India. 

"  Talk  of  this  savage  and  destructive  war  now  waging  in  the  east  of  Europe," 
said  Mr.  Bright,  "we  hear  of  thousands  being  slaughtered;  but  all  that  war  has 
done,  and  all  that  the  wars  of  the  past  ten  years  have  done,  has  not  been  equal,  in 
the  destruction  of  human  lif e,  to  the  destruction  caused  by  the  famines  which  have 
occurred  in  the  great  dependency  of  the  English  Crown  in  India.  ...  If  famine 
comes  from  want  of  water,  clearly  to  get  rid  of  famine  you  must  have  water.  You 
cannot  have  water  except  by  works  of  irrigation.  You  have  the  rain  from  heaven ; 
you  have  the  great  rivers ;  and  you  have  a  great  Government,  which  has  conquered 
the  country,  and  which,  having  conquered  it,  at  least  ought  to  exercise  all  the  powers 
of  its  intellect  for  the  purpose  of  saving  its  people  from  this  suffering  and  this  ruin, 
and  ought  to  save  this  Parliament  and  this  country  from  the  degradation  and 
humiliation  of  allowing  it  to  be  known  throughout  the  world  that  millions  of  the 
subjects  of  the  Crown  in  India,  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  perish  by  famine,  which 
jfreat  engineers  and  men  of  character  and  experience  say  positively  might  altogether 
have  been  prevented." 

The  House  ultimately  adopted  the  following  resolution : — 

"That  a  Select  Committee  be  appointed  to  inquire  into  and  report  as  to  the 
expediency  of  constructing  public  works  in  India  with  money  raised  on  loan,  both 
as  regards  financial  results  and  the  prevention  of  famine." 


488  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1878 

The  Earl  of  Derby  and  the  Earl  of  Carnarvon,  finding  that  the 
Cabinet  were  drifting  into  a  war  policy,  resigned.  The  Govern- 
ment applied  to  the  House  of  Commons  in  January  for  a  vote 
of  credit,  in  order  to  be  prepared  if  England  was  forced  into  the 
war.  Mr.  Forster  moved  an  amendment : — 

"That  this  House,  having  been  informed  in  her  Majesty's  gracious  speech  that 
the  conditions  on  which  her  Majesty's  neutrality  is  founded  had  not  been  infringed 
by  either  belligerents  engaged  in  the  war  in  the  east  of  Europe,  aud  having  since 
received  no  information  sufficient  to  justify  a  departure  from  the  policy  of  neutrality 
and  peace,  sees  no  reason  for  adding  to  the  burdens  of  the  people  by  voting  unneces- 
sary supplies." 

Mr.  Bright,  in  his  speech,  which  was  listened  to  by  a  crowded 
House,  deprecated  the  unworthy  suspicion  of  Russia,  and  urged 
the  Government  not  to  throw  their  sword  into  the  scale  at  a 
time  when  the  combatants  appeared  to  be  about  to  sheathe  theirs, 
adding : — 

"I  would  declare  this — the  government  of  this  country  ought  to  declare  it — the 
time  is  not  far  distant,  I  believe,  when  they  will  declare  it— I  think  it  is  now  pretty 
much  the  mind  of  the  people  of  England— that  we  have  no  interest  in  any  longer 
taking  any  step_  whatever  to  maintain  the  Ottoman  rule  in  Europe,  that  we  have  no 
interest  in  cherishing  a  perpetual  animosity  against  Russia.  There  are  two  policies 
before  us — the  old  policy,  which,  if  we  leave  it  to  our  children,  will  be  a  legacy  of 
future  wars ;  the  new  policy,  which  I  contend  for,  and  which  I  preach,  and  which 
if  we  adopt  we  shall  leave  to  our  country,  not  a  legacy  of  war,  but  a  legacy  of  peace, 
and  a  growing  and  lasting  friendship  with  one  of  the  greatest  empires  of  the  globe." 

After  a  lengthy  debate,  Mr.  Forster  withdrew  his  amendment, 
and  the  vote  of  credit  waa  ultimately  agreed  to. 

A  treaty  of  peace  between  Russia  and  Turkey  was  signed  at 
San  Stefano  on  the  3rd  of  March,  and  was  ratified  on  the  17th 
of  the  same  month  at  St.  Petersburg.  Still  the  English 
Government  caused  great  uneasiness  by  the  removal  of  Indian 
troops  to  Malta.  An  address,  signed  by  400  Dissenting  minis- 
ters, deprecating  a  war  with  Russia,  was  presented  to  Mr.  TV.  E. 
Gladstone,  and  meetings  were  held  all  over  the  country,  at 
\\hieh  resolutions  were  passed  protesting  against  war  with 
Russia. 

Mr.  Bright,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1878,  was  the  chairman  of 
the  annual  conference  of  the  Sunday-school  teachers  of  the  Asso- 
ciation for  Lancashire,  Cheshire,  and  Derbyshire,  which  was 
held  in  the  United  Methodist  Free  Church,  Baillie  Street, 
Rochdale. 

"  Now,  take  the  present  time  in  which  we  are  living — the  present  hour,  the  pre- 
sent moment,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright  in  opening  the  proceedings  of  the  Conference. 
"We  have,  as  you  know — all  men  and  women  capable  of  thinking  must  have 
at  this  moment  a  subject  of  great  anxiety  pressing  upon  them.  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  discuss  it,  because  that  would  be  apart  from  the  business  of  a  meeting  like  this  ; 
but  I  want  to  ask  you  this.  Do  you  think,  looking  from  the  point  of  the  Christian 
work  in  which  you  are  engaged,  that  the  common  view  of  war  is  a  wise  or  a 


I87a]  PEACE   DEMONSTRATIONS.  489 

Christian  view  ?  How  is  it  regarded  ?  As  a  thing  that  is  frequent,  that  is  usual, 
that  is  useful,  and  that  is  necessary.  It  comes  as  heavy  rains  come,  as  a  bad  har- 
vest comes,  or  some  other  natural  calamity ;  and,  in  fact,  if  we  read  the  history  of 
this  country  or  of  any  country,  that  is  exactly  all  that  history  teaches  us  upon  this 
great  question.  History  often  forgets,  and  the  people  continually  forget,  how  trivial 
and  how  insufficient  is  generally  the  cause  of  war.  And  they  forget  also,  until  it  is 
past,  and  then  even  they  soon  forget,  its  terrible  results.  Now,  at  this  moment 
we  are  told  by  certain  newspaper  writers,  by  many  public  men,  arid  by  some  persons 
we  meet  in  the  streets,  that  a  great  portion,  or  a  considerable  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion of  Great  Britain  is  very  eager  for  war.  May  I  not  ask  you  if  persons  of  this  class, 
if  there  be  such,  are  not  in  almost  total  ignorance  of  what  it  is  they  propose  to  go  to 
war  for,  or  to  obtain  by  war  ?  They  have  some  vague  notion  of  national  interests  or 
national  honour,  which  are  phrases  that  they  have  heard  repeated  hundreds  of  times, 
but  never  once  have  known  to  be  satisfactorily  explained.  They  are  blind  to  its 
unspeakable  wickedness,  to  its  multitudinous  crimes,  to  its  horrors  and  its  sufferings. 
Now,  if  our  youth  were  instructed  in  these  things,  if  they  were  conscious  that  the 
carnage  of  war  sends  thousands  of  immortal  spirits  unbidden  to  the  unseen  world, 
surely  none,  in  such  ignorance  as  prevails,  would  urge  it  upon  a  Government.  They 
would  be,  in  point  of  fact,  so  enamoured  of  peace,  that  a  Government  seeking 
peace  would  be  able  to  secure  it.  They  would  be  so  much  against  war,  that  they 
would  be  enabled  to  restrain  any  Government  that,  step  by  step,  might  seek  to 

involve  the  country  in  the  calamity  of  war If  on  Sunday  last  it  had  been 

put,  or  if  on  Sunday  next  it  could  be  put,  to  all  the  Nonconformist  Free  Church  con- 
gregations throughout  Great  Britain,  whether  it  were  the  duty  or  the  interest  of  this 
country  to  be  involved  in  war  or  not,  I  have  no  doubt  whatsoever  that  throughout 
all  those  congregations,  from  Caithness  to  Cornwall,  there  would  have  been  a 
universal  and  unanimous  voice  in  favour  of  the  preservation  of  peace.  Lord  Derby 
said  not  long  ago  that  the  greatest  of  British  interests  was  peace.  Can  it  be  possible 
that  the  Christian  men  and  women  who  are  engaged  in  your  holy  work  should  not 
coincide  with  him  in  that  view  ?  You  are  yourselves  the  ministers,  humble  but 
earnest,  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  It  is,  therefore,  within  your  calling,  within  your 
solemn  duty — even  it  may  be  your  special  duty  on  an  occasion  like  this — that  you 
should  express  some  f eeliiig  on  this  question ;  and  if  there  ascends  from  your  heart  a 
prayer  to  the  throne  of  the  Most  High  on  behalf  of  your  children  and  on  behalf  of 
your  nation,  let  it  be  a  prayer  that  He  may  turn  the  hearts  of  your  rulers  from 
thoughts  of  war,  and  bring  them  to  sentiments  of  mercy  and  of  peace.  When  I 
think  of  the  illustrious  lady  who  sits  upon  the  throne  of  these  realms,  when  I  think 
how  bright  in  the  niaiu  are  the  annals  of  her  reign — the  one  greatest  blot  upon  them 
in  our  time,  and  until  now,  is  the  war  of  twenty-four  years  ago — let  us  hope  that 
our  hearts  may  be  spared  the  sorrow  that  must  afflict  us,  and  the  record  of  her  reign 
be  spared  the  additional  blot  which  would  be  cast  upon  it  if  again  the  blood  of  our 
countrymen  should  be  shed  in  favour  of  a  cause  which  no  man  can  distinctly  define 
or  describe,  and  in  pursuit  of  objects  which  no  rational  man  in  the  world  believes  it 
is  possible  for  arms  to  obtain." 

Mr.  Bi-ight,  on  the  evening  of  the  30th  of  April,  presided  at  a 
great  demonstration  in  the  Free-trade  Hall,  Manchester.  In  the 
morning  15,000  delegates  from  the  surrounding  towns  assembled 
in  conference,  to  protest  against  hostilities  with  Russia. 

"I  ask  you  here,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  opening  the  meeting,  "it  may  not  be 
worth  while  to  ask  any  Conservative  here  or  outside :  there  must  be  Conservatives 
so-called  who  vote  for  Conservative  candidates,  who  have,  I  trust,  some  idea  beyond 
that  of  the  mere  superiority  or  success  of  party — there  must  surety  be  Conservatives, 
as  there  are  any  number  ot  Liberals,  who  consider  great  national  interests  and  great 
truths  to  be  superior  to  the  demands  of  party ;  and  I  ask  them  whether  they  will  be 
led  in  this  career  and  to  this  terrible  catastrophe  by  a  Minister — for  I  hold  that  I  am 
not  describing  the  policy  of  the  country — I  am  not  even  describing  the  policy  of 
Parliament — I  may  not  even  be  describing  the  secret  wished-for  policy  of  the  whole 
of  the  Cabinet ;  I  am  describing,  as  far  as  I  can  gather  it,  the  policy  of  a  Minister 
—a  Minister  who  for  forty  years  has  never  yet  been  known  of  Ids  free-will,  or  from 
an  earnest  and  liberal  mind,  to  say  or  do  anything  for  the  advance  of  any  of  those 
great  measures  of  good  and  of  freedom  which  have  distinguished  the  legislation  of 


490  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [I87a 

this  country We  may  differ  upon  many  points  of  articles  in  Churches,  but 

we  are  all  agreed  on  this,  that  if  there  be  anything  definite  and  distinct  in  the  teach- 
ings of  the  New  Testament  it  is  that  which  would  lead  to  amity  amongst  peoples, 
and  to  love  and  justice  and  mercy  and  peace  on  the  whole  of  God's  earth  upon 
which  His  sun  shines.  (Cheers.)  If,  then,  we  are  agreed  upon  this,  let  us,  if  it  be 
possible  to  throw  off  the  hypocrite  in  this  matter — (hear,  hear)  —let  us  get  rid  of 
our  Christianity,  or  get  rid  of  our  tendency  and  willingness  to  go  to  war.  (Hear, 
hear.)  War  is  a  game  which,  if  their  subjects  were  wise,  kings  would  not  be  able 
to  play  at ;  and  be  they  kings  or  queens,  be  they  statesmen  of  this  or  that  colour  or 
party,  never  let  any  man  go  headlong  into  any  policy  that  directs  for  war  until  he 
has  thoroughly  examined  the  question  by  his  own  best  intellect,  brought  it  to  bear 
on  his  own  Christian  conscience,  and  decided  it  for  himself  as  if  he  were  asked  to 
pull  the  trigger  or  to  use  the  sword.  (Cheers.)  We  send  men  out  to  engage  in 
the  ravages  of  war  who  have  no  knowledge  whatever  of  the  question  for  which  they 
have  to  fight — (hear,  hear) — and  not  satisfied  now  with  taking  them  from  our  own 
midst,  we  who  have  been— not  we,_  but  some  amongst  us — (hear,  hear) — who  have 
been  menacing  India  with  an  invasion  from  Russia,  are  now  actually  apparently  on 
the  point  of  invading  Russia  by  troops  from  India ;  and  we  who  have  been  asking 
Russia  not  on  any  account  to  go  near  the  Suez  Canal  because  we  require  it  for  the 
traffic  of  our  trade  to  India,  are  now  employing  that  very  canal,  which  Russia  has 
not  approached,  in  bringing  troops — Mahometan  half-savage  troops — from  India  to 
make  war  upon  the  Christian  population  of  Russia.  (Cries  of  'Shame.')  I  think 
these  are  questions  which  we  are  bound  to  consider.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  say  without 
hesitation — and  I  speak  to  all  the  people  of  England — (cheers) — I  say  that  for  no 
such  cause  as  this  shall  the  torrents  of  English  blood  be  called  to  flow  which 
apparently  are  now  on  the  point  of  being  shed  at  the  command — I  will  say  to  the 
people  at  the  betrayal — of  a  Minister  who  has  not  one  single  drop  of  English  blood 
in  his  veins."  (Loud  cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  at  this  time  needed  the  assistance  of  his  old 
friend,  Mr.  Cobden,  to  oppose  the  embroilment  of  his  countrymen 
in  warfare,  for  the  Liberals  were  against  what  the  Conservatives 
termed  their  "  spirited  foreign  policy/' 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

THE  POLICY  OP  THE  CONSERVATIVE  GOVERNMENT  CONDEMNED. 

Death  of  Mrs.  Bright— Statue  of  Villiers — In  the  House  of  Commons  in  February, 
1879 — Annual  Address  to  his  Constituents — Explanation  of  the  Depression 
in  Trade — At  a  Liberal  Demonstration  at  Manchester — Visit  to  Birmingham, 
Rochdale,  and  Islington. 

THE  month  of  May  is  always  anticipated  with  bright  and  de- 
lightful aspirations,  for  all  nature  is  waking  by  this  time-  from 
her  winter's  slumber.  The  spring  of  1878  had  come  sooner  up 
than  usual  "  from  the  south. "  The  swallows  had  already  winged 
their  passage  from  the  south,  and  returned  to  the  roof  of 
"  One  Ash,"  when  Mr.  Bright  left  his  home  to  attend  his 
Parliamentary  duties  in  London.  His  eldest  daughter,  Mrs. 
Clark,  and  her  little  ones,  were  sojourning  at  "  One  Ash/; 
Mrs.  Bright  had  been  down  to  Ackworth  Schools,  in  which 
she  had  for  many  years  taken  a  deep  interest,  and  afterwards 
visited  the  school  connected  with  the  mills,  examined  the 
scholars,  spoke  words  of  encouragement  to  them,  and  before 
leaving  once  more  induced  them  to  sing  one  of  her  favourite 
hymns,  commencing  with  the  words,  "  Let  us  gather  up  the  sun- 
beams/' On  Sunday,  the  12th  of  May,  she  attended  the  service 
at  the  Friends'  Meeting  House  at  Rochdale,  and  at  the  conclusion 
conversed  cheerfully  with  her  fellow- worshippers ;  still  her  health 
was  impaired.  The  following  day  the  sun  bathed  the  earth  with 
joyous  splendour,  and 

"  The  solitary  primrose  on  the  bank 
Seemed  now  as  though  it  had  no  cause  to  mourn." 

Mrs.  Clark  and  her  children  that  morning  were  about  to  leave 
for  their  home  at  Street,  and  Mrs.  Bright,  whilst  affectionately 
taking  leave  of  them  in  their  nursery,  suddenly  fell  on  the  floor, 
in  a  fit  of  apoplexy,  and  died  in  a  few  minutes.  A  telegram  was 
immediately  forwarded  to  Mr.  Bright,  who  returned  in  the  evening 
to  his  home  of  sorrow.  The  next  day  Her  Majesty  the  Queen 
forwarded  a  telegram  from  Windsor  Castle  to  Mr.  Bright,  ex- 
pressing her  deep  sympathy  with  him  in  his  bereavement,  and 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  resolutions  from  Town  Council 
meetings  and  associations  of  warm-hearted  working  men,  who 
turned  from  the  contemplation  of  their  own  anguish  and  misery 


492  LIFE  AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   HEIGHT.  p87a 

to  express  their  thoughts  of  sympathy  with  Mr.  Bright,  as 
he  sat  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  In  reply  to  a 
resolution  of  condolence  from  the  Manchester  Town  Council,  he 
replied : — 

"  I  can  say  very  little  of  what  I  have  felt,  and  now  feel,  of  the  sympathy  which 
has  been  expressed  towards  my  family  and  myself.  So  far  as  sympathy  can  in  any 
degree  lessen  the  burden  of  affliction,  we  have  had  that  solace  to  its  widest  extent. 
I  am  specially  grateful  to  the  Town  Council  over  which  you  preside  for  their  remem- 
brance of  me  in  this  time  of  trial." 

On  the  16th  May  the  funeral  set  forth  from  "  One  Ash/'  and 
consisted  of  a  simple  hearse  without  its  usual  adornments,  and 
nine  plain  carriages,  followed  by  about  150  of  Messrs.  B  rights' 
workpeople.  Whitworth  Road,  and  the  other  line  of  route  along 
Yorkshire  Street,  and  down  George  Street,  to  the  Friends'  Meeting 
House,  was  thickly  lined  with  reverential  spectators.  The  grave- 
yard was  thronged  with  respectable  inhabitants  of  Rochdale.  At 
the  grave-side  Mr.  Bright  was  visibly  affected,  and  leaned  on  the 
shoulders  of  his  youngest  son,  Mr.  Philip  Bright.  Mr.  John  A. 
Bright,  and  Mr.  W.  L.  Bright,  Miss  A.  E.  Bright,  Miss  M.  S. 
Bright,  Mrs.  and  Mr.  Clark,  Mr.  Jacob  Bright,  M.P.,  Mr. 
Thomas  Bright,  Mrs.  and  Mr.  McLaren,  M.P.,  Mr.  E.  A. 
Leatham,  M.P.,  Mr.W.  H.  Leatham,  and  Dr.  Roth  were  present. 
There  was  an  utter  absence  of  ceremonial  parade,  which  dis- 
tinguishes this  homely,  steadfast,  and  humble  community.  Mr. 
J.  B.  Braithwaite,  barrister,  London,  and  Mr.  W.  G.  Turner, 
of  Liverpool,  spoke  words  of  consolation  and  Christian  resigna- 
tion. 

The  assemblage  round  the  grave  formed  a  memorable 
picture,  for  there  stood  a  venerable  central  historical  figure 
sorrowing,  who  had,  in  days  of  comparative  ignorance,  seen 
clearly  and  spoken  boldly  for  supreme  good,  and  who  pointed 
out  with  prophetic  foresight  the  only  true  policy  to  pursue 
in  relation  to  the  mainstay  of  his  country's  happiness  and 
greatness.  There  lay  before  him  the  lifeless  form  of  her  who 
had  solaced  his  bitter  moments  of  defeat,  and  graced  the 
bright  hours  of  triumph ;  who,  'mid  the  cares  and  disquietudes 
of  public  life,  had,  by  her  bright  augurs  of  the  future,  soothed, 
and,  in  the  hour  of  despondency  by  her  calm  confidence  in 
Heaven,  cheered  him. 

The  mourners  at  length  retired  into  the  chapel  for  devotion, 
and  an  incident  of  thoughtful  kindness  was  here  observed.  A 
poor  old  woman,  cleanly  and  humbly  attired,  and  with  snow- 
white  frilled  cap  and  old-fashioned  silk  bonnet  surrounding  her 
comely  features,  took  a  seat  opposite  to  Mr.  Bright,  and  as  he 


1879.]  VTT/TJERS'S    STATUE.  493 

noticed  that  there  was  no  footstool  for  her  use,  he  gave  her  the 
one  which  had  been  placed  for  his  special  accommodation.  The 
service  proceeded,  and  the  fervent  prayers  inculcated  amongst 
other  thoughts  that 

"  There  is  no  death !  What  seems  so  is  transition. 

This  life  of  mortal  breath 
Is  but  a  suburb  of  the  life  elysian, 
Whose  portals  we  call  death." 

In  June,  Earl  Granville  unveiled  a  statue  of  the  Right  Hon. 
C.  P.  Villiers,  M.P.,  which  had  been  erected  by  public  subscrip- 
tion in  Wolverhampton,  the  borough  of  which  he  has  represented 
in  Parliament  for  many  years. 

"Perhaps  you  will  bear  with  me,"  said  Earl  Granville,  "if  I  tell  you  that 
within  the  last  fortnight  Mr  Bright — (loud  cheers) — volunteered  to  me  an  expression 
of  his  extreme  regret  at  being  prevented  by  an  all -sufficient  reason  from  being  present 
here  on  this  occasion.  He  expressed  himself  as  warmly  as  Mr.  Cobden  had  done 
about  the  great  services  of  Mr.  Villiers.  He  said  that  while  Richard  Cobden,  George 
Wilson,  and  himself  and  others  had  worked  the  question  out  of  doors,  they  had 
always  considered  Mr.  Villiers  as  the  man  who  had  made  the  question  his  own  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  told  me  how  Mr.  Villiers  had  attended  many  of  their 
most  important  public  meetings,  and  how  he  was  ready  always  with  his  advice, 
which  Mr.  Bright  described  as  excellent,  practical,  shrewd,  and  useful  in  proportion 
to  its  fruits,  for  he  added  that  there  was  only  one  thing  on  which  Mr.  Villiers  was 
earnestly  intent,  which  was  that  the  thing  should  be  done."  (Cheers). 

In  July,  Mr.  Bright,  in  reply  to  a  request  from  the  Birming- 
ham agent  of  the  Alliance  that  he  would  support  the  Permissive 
Bill,  replied : — 

' '  Dear  Sir, — I  thank  you  for  your  letter,  and  for  the  kind  words  you  have  addressed 
to  me.  I  regret  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  vote  for  Sir  W.  Lawson's  Bill,  for 
reasons  which  I  have  already  explained  to  my  friends  in  Birmingh.-m.  I  am  in 
favour  of  legislation  to  promote  temperance,  but  it  must  be  legislation  that  is  prac- 
tical and  just,  and  which  offers  fair  ground  of  expectation  that  it  will  be  useful  and 
effective.  I  do  not  expect  temperance  legislation  to  make  progress  until  the  Per- 
missive Bill  is  abandoned,  and  a  more  practicable  and  reasonable  measure  is  offered 
in  its  place.  I  regret  to  differ  from  some  of  my  friends  in  Birmingham  and  elsewhere 
on  this  difficult  question." 

Mr.  Bright  did  not  again  address  the  House  of  Commons 
until  the  28th  of  February,  1879,  and  as  soon  as  he  rose  he  was 
welcomed  by  hearty  cheers  given  by  Conservatives  as  well  as 
Liberals,  and  they  were  glad  to  listen  once  more  to  the  accents 
too  long  missing  from  the  debates.  The  subject  he  spoke  upon 
was  in  favour  of  a  committee  of  inquiry  respecting  India. 

Mr.  J.  Bright  and  his  colleagues  delivered  their  annual 
addresses  to  their  constituents  in  the  Town  Hall,  Birmingham, 
on  the  16th  of  April,  1879.  The  hall  was  crowded  to  its 
utmost  capacity.  The  Mayor,  Mr.  Jesse  Collings,  presided,  and 
assured  Mr.  Bright  that  he  had  the  heartfelt  sympathy  of  his 
constituents- in  the  great  domestic  sorrow  which  had  so  recently 
befallen  him.  The  thoughts  and  the  affectionate  regard  of 


494  LIFE  AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  p879. 

the  best  and  truest  in  the  town  were  with  him  in  his  bereave- 
ment, and  they  heartily  rejoiced  that  the  craving  for  rest  and 
retirement,  which  in  the  dark  time  must  have  been  very  strong, 
had  given  way  to  the  claims  of  duty  and  the  need  which  the 
public  had  of  him  at  present.  At  a  time  when  we  were 
hovering  on  the  verge  of  national  disgrace  it  was  peculiarly 
necessary  that  we  should  have  his  council. 

"Since  I  have  been  in  Parliament  it  has  always  been  a  complaint  with  me, 
or  a  matter  of  regret,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "that  Cabinet  Ministers  spend  more 
time  in  discussing  foreign  politics  than  home  affairs.  (Hear,  hear.)  If  you 
go  back  a  hundred  years  from  now,  as  far  as  you  have  an  account  of  what  the 
Cabinet  was  doing,  you  will  find  it  was  discussing  how  it  could  force  the  colonies 
of  North  America  to  pay  English  taxes  without  being  represented  in  the  English 
Parliament.  That  was  a  great  policy  in  that  day,  but,  as  you  know,  it  entirely 
failed,  and  the  thirteen  little  colonies  of  that  time  have  now  grown  to  be  one  of 
the  most  powerful  nations  on  the  globe.  If  you  come  down  twenty  years  later, 
eighty  years  ago,  you  find  the  English  Cabinet  constantly  discussing  how  it  might 
be  able  with  the  help  of  the  resources  of  this  kingdom  to  suppress  the  Eepublic  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Channel.  Yet  now  you  see  that  the  whole  of  that  policy  was 
a  failure,  and  that  there  exists  at  this  moment,  with  the  consent  and  sympathy  of 
almost  all  classes  of  this  country,  that  once  dreaded  monster,  the  French  Republic. 
(Cheers.)  And  if  you  come  down  nearer  to  our  own  time,  to  twenty- five  years  ago, 
you  would  find  an  English  Cabinet  discussing  for  almost  two  years  nothing  but 
questions  connected  with  the  great  contest  with  Russia,  carried  on,  as  you  remember, 
in  that  part  of  the  Russian  Empire  which  is  called  the  Crimea.  Well,  there  was 
a  partial  success,  as  there  was  a  partial  success  in  the  suppression  of  the  French 
Republic  of  1789  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Napoleonic  Empire  in  1815.  There 
was  a  partial  success  in  the  Crimea,  yet  that  policy  was  rotten  from  the  beginning, 
and  it  has  been  followed,  as  you  know,  by  an  entire  failure.  There  is  not  a 
single  thing  that  was  obtained  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris  as  a  result  of  the  Crimean 
war  that  has  not  been  surrendered  and  entirely  given  up.  You  will  see,  then, 
from  these  examples — and  I  might  occupy  your  time  the  whole  evening  with  other 
examples  —  that  the  present,  almost  always,  with  regard  to  foreign  policy, 
condemns  the  past,  and  you  may  argue,  as  I  venture  to  predict  that  the  future 
will  likewise  condemn  the  present.  (Cheers.)  ....  I  believe  that  war  was  only 
avoided  last  year  from  two  causes.  One  was  the  moderation  of  Russia  im- 
mediately after  the  triumph  over  Turkey ;  the  other  was  the  cause  taken  by  the 
great  Liberal  party,  by  the  Nonconformists  especially,  as  a  great  portion  of  that 
party,  and  by  the  foremost  man  amongst  the  statesmen  of  this  country.  (Loud 
cheers.)  There  are  men  who  cavil  now  at  the  position  which  Mr.  Gladstone 
occupies.  I  shall  say  nothing  in  his  defence.  The  posterity  of  those  who  now 
slander  him  will  be  ashamed  of  the  opinions  and  of  the  council  of  their  fore- 
fathers. (Hear,  hear.)  But  though  we  have  escaped  war  we  have  had,  as  you 
know,  fleets  moving  in  between  the  Mediterranean  and  Black  Sea,  moving  and 
menacing  in  great  force,  and  we  have  had  the  reserves  called  out,  as  if 
something  dreadful  was  about  to  happen,  and  we  have  had  Indian  troops— 
a  thing  almost  unknown  in  our  history  —  brought  into  the  Mediterranean 
with  a  view  of  carrying  on  war  against  Russia,  and  we  have  had  votes  of 
money,  which,  it  was  said,  would  probably  not  be  spent  —  (laughter)  —  but 
which  were  very  suddenly  and  speedily  spent.  (Renewed  laughter.)  But  what  has 
been  the  actual  result  ?  The  result  of  the  Crimean  war,  of  the  American  and  of  the 
French  war,  was  not  more  absurd  or  more  discreditable.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.) 
The  result  was  this,  that  two  of  the  English  Ministers,  special  counsellors  of  the 
Queen,  went  to  Berlin.  They  agreed  to  everything,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  that  was 
of  any  importance,  to  everything  which  Russia  had  agreed  to  with  Turkey,  except  as 
regards  a  particular  province  which  Russia  proposed  to  make  wholly  free  from 
Turkish  rule,  but  which  the  English  Ministers,  acting  in  your  name,  objected  to. 
That  province  they  cut  in  two,  and  handed  over  half  of  it  to  the  Turk.  Now,  I 
believe  it  will  be  held  by  the  people  of  England,  when  they  consider  that  question 
fairly,  to  be  a  great  blot  upon  our  character  and  our  reputation.  .  .  .  Now,  the 
taxation,  as  I  have  said  (in  India),  is  oppressive,  and  oppressive  to  a  degree  that  all 


1879.]  THE   DEPRESSION  OP  TRADE.  495 

the  authorities  in  India  say  that  you  cannot  turn  the  screw  any  more,  and  that 
if  you  do  something  worse  than  a  deficient  revenue  may  follow.  Half,  nearly  half, 
of  the  whole  net  taxes  of  the  country  is  devoted  to  the  support  of  the  army. 
('  Shame.')  There  are  120,000  native  troops,  and  latterly,  owing  to  this  war  in  Afghan- 
istan, it  is  said  they  have  been  adding  15,000  more  to  their  numbers ;  and  there  are 
60,000  English  troops  who  are  said  to  be  mainly  kept  there  to  watch  the  120,000 
native  troops.  (Laughter.)  But  there  ia  a  large  Civil  Service — that  is,  gentlemen 
who  are  magistrates  in  the  various  districts,  and  who  collect  the  taxes.  There  are 
among  them  men  of  great  merit  and  of  great  service,  and  many  of  them  doubtless  labou  r 
hard ;  but  I  suspect  and  believe  that  if  an  accurate  account  were  taken  it  would  be 
found  that  the  payment  of  salaries  and  pensions  which  they  received  are  more  than 
double  the  amount  which  is  paid  to  any  equal  number  of  persons  similarly  occupied  in 
any  other  country  in  the  world.  To  supply  this  service  about  thirty  young  gentlemen 
from  this  country,  after  passing  through  a  collegiate  examination,  are  sent  out  to 
India,  to  take  places  at  salaries  of  £300  or  £400  a  year,  which  go  on  increasing,  many 
of  them  to  £1,000,  £2,000,  £3,000,  and  £4,000.  They  come  back  home  when  they 
are  middle-aged,  and  they  return  to  England  a  very  much  respected  class  of  men. 
(Laughter.)  ....  You  will  observe  that  I  have  not  assailed  the  Government ; 
I  leave  them  to  the  retribution  which  awaits  them.  They  have  played,  in  my 
view,  falsely  both  with  Parliament  and  with  the  country.  They  have  wasted,  and 
are  now  wasting,  the  blood  and  the  treasure  of  our  people.  They  have  tarnished  the 
mild  reign  of  the  Queen  by  needless  war  and  slaughter  on  two  continents,  and  by 
the  menace  of  needless  war  in  Europe ;  they  have  soiled  the  fair  name  of  England  by 
subjecting  and  handing  over  the  population  of  a  province  which  had  been  freed  by 
Russia,  through  war  and  treaty,  to  the  cruel  and  the  odious  government  of  the 
Turk.  And  beyond  this  they  have  shown,  in  my  view,  during  an  interval  of  five 
years  through  which  they  have  been  in  possession  of  office  and  power,  that  they 
are  imbecile  at  home  and  turbulent  and  wicked  abroad.  I  leave  them  to  the 
judgment  of  the  constituencies  of  the  United  Kingdom,  to  which  they  must  speedily 
appeal,  and  to  the  heavy  condemnation  which  impartial  history  will  pronounce  upon 
them." 

In  a  letter  Mr.  Bright  wrote  in  June  of  1879,  in  answer  to 
questions  asked  him  by  one  of  his  constituents,  he  referred  to  the 
depression  in  trade,  saying  : — 

"  As  to  the  present  depression  of  trade,  we  owe  some  of  it  to  the  bad  harvests, 
which  have  impoverished  many  farmers,  who  are  not  an  inconsiderable  portion  of 
our  home-trade  customers ;  we  owe  much  of  it  to  famines  in  India  and  China,  and 
to  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  distress  which  has  prevailed  in  almost  every 
country,  and  not  least  in  those  countries  which  have  sought  to  secure  themselves 
by  high  protective  duties.  If  our  harvest  this  year  is  unfavourable,  I  fear  the 
recovery  we  all  hope  for  will  be  delayed ;  if  it  is  abundant,  which  seems  not  probable, 
we  shall  soon  see,  not  symptoms  only,  but  proofs  of  revival.  In  the  United  States, 
with  a  great  harvest  last  year,  trade  is  reviving.  We  followed  them  in  their  de- 
pression, but  not  to  so  deep  a  depth,  and  we  shall  follow  them  in  their  recovery. 
These  great  changes  are  not  in  the  power  of  Congresses  or  Parliaments ;  they  are 
in  the  ordering  of  nature,  and  we  must  accept  them,  always  endeavouring  not  to 
aggravate  them  by  our  own  follies.  There  is  one  great  consolation  in  our  present 
condition — the  food  of  our  people  is  cheap.  But  for  the  free  imports  the  price  of 
bread  would  be  more  than  double,  the  price  of  sugar  would  be  three  times  its  present 
price,  the  price  of  cheese  and  bacon  would  be  double,  or  nearly  so,  and  of  the  price 
of  labour  it  may  be  said  that  it  would  be  much  lessened  by_  a  greater  prostration  of 
every  industry  in  the  country  not  immediately  connected  with  the  growth  of  food. 
The  freedom  of  our  imports  will  enable  us  to  pass  through  the  present  time  of 
depression  with  less  suffering  than  at  any  former  period  of  disastrous  seasons.  As 
to  Parliament  and  its  inquiries,  I  have  seen  much  of  it  and  of  them.  If  Parliament 
would  keep  out  of  foreign  broils,  if  it  would  conduct  the  government  of  the  country 
at  an  expenditure  of  sixty  millions  instead  of  eighty  millions  in  the  year ;  if  it  would 
devote  ite  time  and  labours  to  questions  of  home  interest  rather  than  to  those  which 
involve  the  sacrifice  of  the  blood  and  treasure  of  our  people  in  remote  lands,  we 
might  have  hope  and  faith  that  Parliament  could  serve  the  nation  in  times  of 
depression,  and  we  should  find  that  such  times  of  suffering  would  visit  us  more 
rarely. ' ' 


49«  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (1879. 

On  the  25th  of  October  a  great  Liberal  demonstration  took 
place  in  the  Pomona  Gardens,  Manchester,  when  over  100,000 
persons  were  present.  Mr.  R.  N.  Philips,  M.P.,  presided  in  the 
nail,  and  meetings  were  held  outside  the  building  at  the  same 
time.  The  Marquis  of  Hartington  addressed  the  vast  meetings. 

"  We  have  heard  lately  a  great  deal  of  '  Imperial  policy,'  and  of  a  '  great  empire,' " 
said  Mr.  Bright  during  his  speech.  "These  are  phrases  which  catch  the  ignorant  and 
unwary.  Since  this  Government  came  into  office,  your  great  empire — upon  the  map 
— has  grown  much  greater.  They  have  annexed  the  islands  of  Fiji — (laughter)  — 
they  have  annexed  also  the  country  of  the  Transvaal  in  South  Africa,  which  is  sjiid 
to  be  as  large  as  France.  They  have  practically  annexed  the  land  of  the  Zulus,  also 
in  South  Africa — and  they  have  practically  annexed — for  it  is  now  utterly  dis- 
organised, and  they  seem  to  be  left  alone  to  repair,  if  it  is  possible,  the  mischief  they 
have  made — they  have  practically  annexed  Afghanistan.  They  have  added  also  t<  > 
your  dominions  the  island  of  Cyprus,  in  the  Mediterranean — (laughter) — and  they 
have  incurred  enormous,  incalculable  responsibilities  in  Egypt  and  Asia  Minor.  All 
these  add  to  the  burdens,  not  of  the  Empire — just  listen  to  this — they  add  to  the 
burdens,  not  of  the  Empire  in  Canada  or  Australia — all  these  colonies  have  nothing 
to  do,  as  a  rule,  with  these  things — they  add  to  the  burdens,  not  of  the  Empire,  but  of 
the  34,000,000  people  who  inhabit  great  Britain  and  Ireland.  We  take  the  burden 
and  we  pay  the  charge.  This  policy  may  lend  a  seeming  glory  to  the  Crown,  and 
may  give  scope  for  patronage,  and  promotion,  and  pay,  and  pensions  to  a  limited  and 
favoured  class ;  but  to  you,  the  people,  it  brings  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure, 
increased  debt  and  taxes,  and  adds  risk  of  war  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  .  .  . 
Look  on  our  position  for  one  moment.  You  have  to  meet  the  competition  of  other 
countries ;  your  own  race  on  the  American  continent  are  your  foremost  rivals. 
Nobody  denies  that,  I  believe.  They  are  fifty  millions  now,  and  happily  for  them 
they  have  not  yet  bred  a  Beaconsfield  or  a  Salisbury—  (laughter  and  cheers)—  to  mis- 
direct their  policy  and  to  waste  their  resources.  (Loud  cheers.)  If  at  some  distant 
period,  it  may  be  centuries  remote,  an  Englishman — one  of  that  great  English  nation 
which  is  now  so  rapidly  peopling  the  American  continent — if  such  an  Englishman 
should  visit  and  explore  the  sources  of  his  race,  and  the  decayed  and  ruined  home  of 
his  fathers,  he  may  exclaim,  '  How  are  the  mighty  fallen !  whence  comes  this  great 
ruin  ? '  And  the  answer  will  be  that  in  the  councils  of  the  England  of  the  past — I 
pray  that  it  may  not  be  said  in  the  days  oi  a  virtuous  Queen — wisdom  and  justice 
were  scorned,  and  ignorance,  and  passion,  and  vainglory  directed  her  policy  and 
wielded  her  power."  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheers.) 

The  ovation  given  to  Mr.  Bright  when  he  rose  to  speak  was 
most  enthusiastic,  and  not  an  unworthy  recompense  for  a  life 
spent  for  the  public  good.  Although  at  least  20,000  persons 
were  in  the  hall,  he  was  distinctly  heard  to  the  utmost  limits  of 
the  building,  and  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  that  mysterious 
sympathy  which  animates  and  draws  together  orator  and  hearers 
was  perfectly  maintained.  It  is  one  of  Manchester's  chief  dis- 
tinctions that  Mr.  John  Bright  represented  her  citizens  in  Parl  la- 
ment, and  was  associated  with  her  in  the  movement  which  set 
England  free  from  a  mischievous  fiscal  system.  While  an  "  over- 
flow meeting "  was  held  in  the  open  air  outside,  there  was  a 
continual  call  for  "  Bright/'  and  he  at  last  consented  to  speak  to 
them.  Appearing  on  a  balcony,  he  was  somewhat  astonished 
by  the  vast  sea  of  human  faces,  and  remarked  to  the  immense 
gathering  that  it  was  quite  impossible  for  any  one  with  ordinary 
human  powers  to  address  with  any  advantage  the  vast, the  wonder- 


1879.]  DEMONSTEATION   AT   MANCHESTER.  497 

i'ul  audience,  yet  every  word  of  his  short  speech  was  heard  by  even 
the  outer  circle  of  the  multitude.  The  scene  was  very  interesting 
and  affecting.  Although  the  large  assembly  tried  to  get  as  near 
as  possible  to  the  balcony,  and  were  packed  together  in  an  uncom- 
fortable mass,  yet  the  dense  crowd  was  respectfully  deferential 
throughout  the  address.  Up  on  the  high  balcony  stood,  with 
calm  collected  mien,  a  fine  political  veteran  of  stainless  career, 
who  had  devoted  the  greater  portion  of  his  life  to  advancing  the 
true  interest  of  mankind,  and  whose  liberties  he  has  for  ever 
widened.  There  he  stood,  in  the  evening  calm,  counselling 
his  countrymen,  who  anxiously  drank  in  every  word  he  uttered, 
with  eyes  fixed  on  the  lineaments  of  his  face.  He  somewhat 
resembled  the  sun  which  was  beautifully  setting  before  him, 
pouring  light  all  around,  even  upon  the  clouds  that  strove  to 
dim  its  lustre.  At  the  close  of  the  speech  the  people  were 
vociferous  in  their  acknowledgment  of  the  favour  he  had 
conferred  upon  them,  and  the  kind  expressions  interchanged 
by  strangers,  betokened  their  admiration  for  the  honest 
politician,  whose  whole  life-study  had  been  directed  towards 
feeding  the  poor  and  raising  the  poverty-stricken  masses. 
They  were  grateful,  for  while 

"  Others  hail  the  rising  sun, 
They  bowed  to  him  whose  course  was  run." 

Upon  the  Prince  of  Wales  visiting  India,  Mr.  Disraeli 
proposed  the  grant  to  defray  the  expenses. 

"I  rose,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "for  the  purpose  of  saying  that  although  I  had 
some  doubts,  and  although  it  is  impossible  to  say  and  believe  that  the  journey  of 
the  Prince  of  "Wales  will  turn  the  current  of  f eeling  on  great  political  questions  in 
the  minds  of  the  natives  of  India,  yet  I  think  that  in  all  probability  by  his  conduct — 
his  personal  conduct— his  kindness,  his  courtesy,  his  generosity,  and  his  sympathy 
with  that  great  people  over  whom  it  may  at  no  distant  period  be  his  tremendous 
responsibility  to  rule,  he  may  leave  behind  him  memories  that  may  be  of  exceeding 
value,  and  equal  in  influence  to  the  greatest  measures  of  State  policy  which  any 
Government  could  propound." 

Mr.  Bright  was  the  chairman  at  a  conversazione  given  by  Mr. 
Alderman  Collings,  the  Mayor  of  Birmingham,  on  the  31st  of 
October,  to  the  teachers  in  all  the  elementary  schools,  and  others 
engaged  in  educational  work. 

"  It  has  been  to  me  a  subject  not  of  wonder,  but  of  grief,  that  I  have  been  com- 
pelled to  believe  that  there  is  hardly  any  effort  so  great — an  effort  made  in  any  direc- 
tion with  so  little  results — as  the  effort  which  is  made  by  the  ministers  and  teachers 
of  religion  now,"  said  Mr.  Bright.  "I  have  read  one  and  heard  another  curious 
explanation  of  this  from  two  eminent  ministers.  I  read  the  opinion  of  one  who  was 
a  great  American  divine.  He  said  that  as  people  got  older  there  was  not  only  an 
ossification  of  the  outward  man,  but  a  hardness  and  bonyness  that  grew,  and  unless 
great  care  was  taken,  unless  religion  be  pursued  from  youth,  there  was  great  fear 
that  the  spiritual  man  would  also  become  ossified.  It  is  to  adults,  too,  that  ministers 

G    O 


49ft  LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1879. 

of  the  Gospel  have  generally  to  speak.  The  result  is  they  have  a  material  which  is  not 
plastic  upon  which  they  can  make  little  impression ;  and  I  think  there  is  nothing 
more  to  be  lamented  than  the  fact  that  ministers  of  religion  produce  so  little  effect 
upon  those  amongst  whom  they  minister.  But  I  heard  another  minister  say  that  he 
found  in  his  experience  that  very  few  persons  who  had  not  paid  any  special  regard 
to  religion  by  the  time  they  became  30  years  of  age  found  it  extremely  difficult  for 
the  rehgious  sentiment  to  be  created  in  their  mind  at  a  later  period  in  lif  e.  I  will 
not  argue  about  that ;  but  I  say  the  teachers  in  your  schools  are  in  an  entirely 
different  position.  They  have  a  material  upon  whicli  they  are  able  to  impress 
their  minds  and  sentiments,  and  although  that  plastic  material  may  be  moved, 
worked,  and  impressed  for  evil  as  well  as  for  good,  I  hope  the  efforts  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  teachers  in  our  schools  tend  infinitely  more  for  good  than  for  evil,  know- 
ing that  they  make  a  lasting  impression  upon  the  young  minds  with  which  they  con- 
stantly come  in  contact.  I  must  make  another  observation  iu  which  I  am  not  sure 
the  Mayor  will  agree,  as  I  know  he  is  very  apt  to  criticise — (laughter) — and  that  is  in 
regard  to  what  we  mean  by  education.  It  is  not  books  alone.  (Hear,  hear.)  It  is 
uot  what  is  called  the  '  three  R's,'  though  as  a  plain  education  in  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic  these  are  very  good  for  the  bulk  of  men,  and  they  are  probably  suffi- 
cient for  their  work  in  life.  It  is  not  even  classics  and  mathematics,  of  which,  when 
I  was  young,  I  knew  nothing,  and  of  which  I  have  not  acquired  any  knowledge 
since.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  I  regard  what  are  called  the  classics — that  is,  the 
ancient  languages  of  Greece  and  Borne — as  rather  luxuries  than  anything  else.  It  is 
a  great  luxury  to  know  anything  which  is  good  and  innocent.  It  is  a  great  luxury 
to  know  a  great  deal  of  the  past— not  that  it  makes  you  more  powerful,  but  it  is  a 
great  pleasure  to  the  person  who  knows.  (Hear,  hear.)  But  I  do  not  believe  my- 
self that  there  is  anything  in  the  way  of  wisdom  which  is  to  be  obtained  in  any  of 
the  books  of  the  old  languages  which  at  this  moment  may  not  be  found  in  books  of 
our  own  literature.  (Hear,  hear.)  Therefore,  I  think  a  man  may  be  as  great  a  man, 
and  as  good  a  man,  and  as  wise  a  man  knowing  only  his  own  language,  and  the  wis- 
dom in  it,  as  the  man  who  knows  all  the  Latin  and  Greek  books  that  were  ever 
written.  But  I  say  there  is  another  sort  of  education  beyond  that  of  books.  I  think 
Milton  describes  this  sentiment.  In  speaking  of  some  ancient  person  he  speaks  of 
him  as  '  deep  versed  in  books  but  shallow  in  himself,'  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
there  are  people  who  know  almost  everything  that  may  be  known  in  a  library,  and 
yet  they  will  hardly  make  their  way  from  one  street  to  another."  (Laughter.) 

Mr.  Bright  presided  at  a  large  meeting  of  his  townsmen  in 
the  Town  Hall  of  Rochdale  on  the  18th  of  December,  1879, 
who  had  assembled  to  listen  to  an  interesting  address  from  Mr. 
T.  B.  Potter,  their  member,  on  his  recent  tour  in  the  United 
States. 

"  There  is,  no  doubt,  a  great  difference  between  the  United  States  and  countries 
in  Europe,  with  the  exception  of  one  great  country — France,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright. 
"  They  differ  from  us  in  sobriety.  It  is  quite  true  Mr.  Potter  said  he  saw  only  four 
drunken  people  in  America.  Well,  but  he  did  not  see  one  emperor.  Call  it  empress 
or  king  or  queen,  or  imperial  or  royal — these  institutions  are  not  the  foremost  in 
America ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  where  men  are  not  intelligent  enough  and  moral 
enough  to  maintain  a  Government  like  what  they  have  in  the  United  States,  they  may 
in  some  particulars  still  possess  great  benefits.  I  think  that  Mr.  Shawcross  or  Mr. 
Potter,  or  both  perhaps,  said  that  they  had  no  great  army.  There  are  persons  who 
come  to  England  from  Germany,  France,  and  Russia,  who  are  surprised,  and  perhaps 
delighted,  to  find  so  few  soldiers  here  compared  with  some  of  the  European  nations. 
In  America  they  disbanded  their  great  army  of  a  million  of  men  ;  they  have  now  a 
force  of  about  25,000  men.  It  is  not  maintained  for  the  purpose  of  war  abroad  —nor 
is  it  maintained  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  liberty  at  home ;  and  yet  there  is  no 
country  which  is  more  universally  respected  throughout  the  globe  than  the  United 
States  of  America  ;  and  there  is  no  countiy  where,  on  the  whole,  the  laws  are  better 
observed,  and  order  more  steadily  maintained.  Another  thing  in  which  they  differ 
from  us  is  this,  they  have,  as  I  believe,  almost  no  political  treaties.  Washington, 
their  first  great  President,  advised  them  to  have  no  political  treaties — commercial 
treaties  if  you  like,  as  much  trade  as  you  can  have  with  all  countries.  They  have 


1880.]         PROSPECT   OF   A   DISSOLUTION   OP   PARLIAMENT.  499 

not  followed  his  advice  in  that  so  much  as  I  should  like ;  but  in  regard  to  political 
treaties,  in  the  main  they  have  followed  his  advice ;  and  yet  I  believe  there  is  no 
country  with  whom  other  countries  are  more  friendly  at  this  moment  than  the 
United  States." 

On  the  20th  of  January,  1880,  Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  the 
ceremony  of  opening  the  Birmingham  Liberal  Club,  and  he 
alluded  to  the  prospect  of  the  dissolution  of  Parliament.  Mr.  R. 
Chamberlain,  the  Mayor,  presided.  Sir  W.  Harcourt  was  the 
first  speaker,  and  he  remarked  : — 

"You  will  not,  I  hope,  believe  me  capable  of  the  presumption  of  attempting  to 
instruct  Birmingham  in  politics  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Bright— -(cheers) — a  statesman 
who,  after  forty  years  of  public  service,  unsurpassed,  unequalled,  is  still  left  to  us, 
with  eye  undimmed,  wisdom  unclouded,  eloquence  unquenched,  like  some  weather- 
beaten  and  battling  cliff,  a  landmark  of  this  English  nation,  and  against  whom  the 
waves  of  faction  have  roared  in  vain." 

Mr.  Bright  also  spoke,  and  said : — 

"  Suppose  that  the  present  Prime  Minister  and  his  friends  had  been  successful  in 
preventing  all  the  measures  which  they  have  strenuously  opposed,  what  would  have 
been  the  state  of  the  country  now,  what  the  rate  of  wages,  what  the  condition  of 
content  and  loyalty  ?  You  would  have  had  long  before  this  chaos  over  the  country, 
and  anarchy,  or  that  kind  of  calm  which  ultimately  succeeds  when  anarchy  has 
passed  away.  You  would  have  had  your  aristocracy  dead  as  they  are  politically 
dead  in  France ;  and  more  than  that,  I  think  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  English 
Crown,  ancient  and  venerated  as  it  is,  if  it  had  been  subjected  to  the  strain  of  fifty 
years  more  of  Tory  Government,  would  have  at  this  moment  been  not  worth  more 
— if  worth  as  much— as  Mr.  Turnerelli's  wreath.  (Loud  laughter  and  applause.) 
And  if  the  people  of  England  allowed  this  Government,  with  an  unchanged  policy, 
or  such  a  Government,  to  proceed  twenty  years  longer,  I  would  not  give  much 
for  the  institutions  of  this  country,  which  the  majority  of  the  people  value  highly, 
but  which  we  are  sometimes  told  we  do  not  think  so  much  of  as  those  to  whom 
we  are  opposed.  If  this  picture  be  true,  is  it  not  wise  for  young  men,  middle-aged 
men,  all  men,  to  connect  themselves  with  the  Liberal  party  in  associations  or  clubs 
by  which,  by  moral  and  just  and  honest  means,  the  purposes  of  that  party  are 
intended  to  be  promoted  ?  Our  duty,  in  my  opinion,  is  to  continue  to  work  for  these 
great  objects.  They  are  not  all  accomplished.  There  is  much  else  to  be  done. 
Much  has  been  done  in  fifty  years.  Those  who  from  this  platform,  or  from  any  other 
platform,  can  speak  in  fifty  years  to  come,  I  hope  that  they  may  be  able  to  show  that 
they  also  have  done  their  duty  in  their  time-  (cheers)— and  that  England,  whether 
it  boasts  or  not  of  being  the  centre  of  an  empire  on  which  the  sun  never  sets,  is  an 
England  with  a  population  educated,  well-fed,  civilised,  and  enlightened — such  a 
population  as  we  can  only  have  under  a  just  and  a  moral  Government.  I  believe 
that  at  home  we  have  much  to  do.  Now  our  eyes  are  directed  to  foreign  countries, 
to  wars  afar  off,  to  the  sufferings  of  our  countrymen  there,  and  to  the  more  appalling 
sufferings  they  are  inflicting  on  the  populations  with  which  we  are  at  war.  (Hear, 
hear.)  Our  eyes  and  our  attention  have  been  diverted  from  our  own  immediate  and 
real  interests.  It  is  for  you,  members  of  this  club — for  members  of  the  Liberal 
party  throughout  the  kingdom — to  make  up  their  minds  that,  at  the  hour,  which  is 
coming,  there  will  be  such  a  proclamation  of  opinion  on  the  part  of  the  universal 
constituencies  that  shall  fix  for  ever  the  mark  of  their  condemnation  upon  the  policy 
of  the  last  four  or  five  years."  (Loud  cheering.) 

Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  in  declining  to  continue  to  represent 
Greenwich  in  the  House  of  Commons,  remarked  during  his  speech 
to  his  constituents  : — 

"I  must  go  one  step  further,  gentlemen,  and  say  that  I  desire  that  yours,  as  a 
Liberal  borough,  should  be  represented  to  the  greatest  advantage.  Now,  I  have  not 
a  tittle  of  reason  or  ground  of  complaint  of  any  portion — or  any  reason  to  apprehend 


500  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

any  injustice  from  any  portion — of  the  constituency.  But  you  know  that  youi 
borough  comprises  a  very  large  extent  of  Government  establishments,  and  I  admit 
promptly  that  I  have  never  been  a  friend  of  extended  Government  establishments,  and 
I  am  a  great  deal  more  rigorous  on  the  subject  of  public  economy  than  is  the  fashion 
in  the  present  day.  (Cheers.)  One  of  my  consolations,  I  assure  you,  in  the  House 
of  Commons  upon  those  matters  is  to  sit  by  my  friend  and  your  friend,  Mr.  Bright  — 
(cheers) — and  talk  with  him  over  bygone  times.  I  will  say  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  though 
I  am  a  Liberal,  or,  as  some  say,  a  dangerous  Radical — (laughter) — that  I  revere  and 
love  his  memory,  and  I  say  it  to  his  honour,  that  in  those  days  public  economy 
and  retrenchment,  and  keeping  down  to  a  minimum  the  public  establishments,  was 
the  motto  which  every  politician  found  it  necessary  to  profess  in  the  face  of  the 
people  of  England.  It  is  not  so  now,  and  I  defy  you  now  to  select  a  candidate  who 
has  rigid  notions  on  the  subject,  without  very  considerable  disadvantage  to  the 
Liberal  cause.  That,  gentlemen,  is  a  consideration  which  has  largely  weighed 
with  me." 

The  annual  soiree  of  the  Birmingham  Junior  Liberal  Associa- 
tion was  held  in  the  Town  Hall  of  that  town  on  the  22nd 
of  January,  1880;  and  Mr.  Bright,  commenting  on  the  Zulu 
and  Afghan  wars,  said  : — 

"  I  believe  all  wars  are  savage  and  cruel ;  but  I  mean  harsh  and  cruel  wars  on 
uncivilised  or  half-civilised  men.  When  I  read  of  transactions  of  that  kind,  some- 
thing always  puts  to  me  this  question,  '  What  is  it  that  makes,  if  anything  makes, 
this  needless  and  terrible  slaughter  different  in  its  nature  from  those  transactions 
which  we  call  murder  ? '  Excuses  had  been  made  for  these  wars — excuses  which 
were  not  justified  by  the  facts — excuses  that  the  Zulus  had  attacked  Natal,  which 
was  absolutely  and  notoriously  and  entirely  false.  With  regard  to  the  Afghans, 
statements  had  been  made  very  much  of  the  same  character,  that  they  were  going  to 
throw  in  their  influence  with  another  and  a  northern  power,  and  that  they  insulted 
outrageously  the  envoy  sent  to  negotiate  with  them — all  of  which  he  believed  there 
was  not  a  particle  of  foundation  for.  At  most,  in  regard  to  either  of  these  peoples, 
the  case  was  one  of  suspicion ;  but  was  it  right,  upon  a  mere  suspicion,  that  a 
country  like  this  should  send,  in  the  one  case  20,000  and  in  the  other  40,000  tvoops  to 
invade  territories,  and  to  put  to  death  not  less  perhaps  than  20,000  men  engaged  in 
the  defence  of  their  own  country,  which  in  our  case  we  considered  honourable  and 
needful  ?.,..!  believe  it  is  not  possible  to  condemn  too  strongly  the  policy  by 
which  the  hard-earned  treasure  of  your  people  is  wasted,  and  by  which  the  blood  of 
your  brethren,  and  those  whom  you  are  told  to  call  your  foes,  is  spilt.  To-day  is  the 
anniversary  of  what  they  call  the  battle  or  the  massacre  of  Isandlaua,  when  I  know  not 
how  many,  but  I  suppose  at  least  1,500  men — officers,  Englishmen,  native  troops,  and 
I  know  not  how  many  of  the  Zulus—  were  slaughtered.  This  is  the  anniversary  of 
that  sad  day.  Can  any  man  show  a  justification  for  that  transaction,  or  the  compen- 
sation that  we  have  received  for  the  enormous  and  incalculable  loss  of  that  one  day's 
war  ?  (Hear,  hear.)  At  this  moment,  in  the  Afghan  country — in  a  country,  I  am 
told,  as  large  as  France  and  as  mountainous  as  Switzerland — you  hear  of  the  hanging 
of  scores  of  men,  you  hear  of  villages  burnt,  of  women  and  children  turned  out  into 
the  snow  and  the  cold  of  this  inclement  season,  and  all  done  at  the  command  of  a 
Government  and  a  people  professing  to  be  wiser,  more  intelligent,  more  humane, 
and  more  Christian  than  those  upon  whom  these  attacks  are  made.  I  say,  let  us 
abandon  our  pretensions  :  let  us  no  longer  claim  to  be  Christian  ;  let  us  go  back  to 
the  heathen  tunes,  whilst  we  adhere  to  the  heathen  practices — (hear,  hear) — let  us 
no  longer — as  I  see  some  of  the  leading  men  of  this  country  have  been  doing  within 
the  past  few  weeks,  at  the  opening  of  churches  and  at  the  laying  of  the  foundation- 
Btoues  of  churches — join  in  all  the  apparent  regard  for  the  Christian  religion.  Take 
down,  at  any  rate,  your  Ten  Commandments  from  inside  your  churches,  and  say  no 
longer  that  you  read,  or  believe  in,  or  regard  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Abandon 
your  Christian  pretensions,  or  else  abandon  your  savage  and  heathen  practices." 
(Loud  applause.) 

Mr.  Bright  and  his  colleagues  addressed  their  constituents  in 
the  Birmingham  Town  Hall  on  the  24th  of  January,  1880. 


1880.]  AT   ISLINGTON.  60i 

Mr.  Bright  spoke  chiefly  on  the  subject  of  Ireland,  and,  in  con- 
cluding a  lengthy  speech,  said  : — 

"At  present  what  the  Irishman  wants  upon  his  farm  more  than  all  else  is  to  get 
.•id  of  suspicion ;  to  get  rid  of  the  fear  of  injury,  of  uncertainty  as  to  his  tenure ;  to 
have  infused  into  his  mind  the  opposite  feelings  of  confidence  and  of  hope.  (Cheers.) 
If  you  would  give  to  all  Irish  tenants  that  confidence  and  hope,  every  year  would 
see  them  advancing  in  a  better  cultivation  and  a  more  prosperous  condition.  Does 
anybody  say  that  hope  is  nothing  and  of  no  avail  in  the  affairs  of  men  ?  I  might 
quote  from  the  poet  who  has — what  shall  I  say  ? — created  almost  an  immortality  for 
our  language.  He  speaks  of  hope.  He  says — 

'  White-handed  Hope, 
Thou  hovering  angel  girt  with  golden  wings.' 

(Loud  cheers.)  Bring  this  hope  into  the  Irish  farmer's  family,  and  into  his  house- 
hold, and  it  will  have  an  influence  as  complete,  as  blessed,  and  as  home-ruling  as  it 
will  have  in  the  mansions  of  the  rich  or  the  palaces  of  the  great.  (Cheers.)  So  far 
as  I  have  seen  Irishmen  in  their  own  country  and  in  this,  they  are  as  open  to  good 
and  kind  treatment  as  any  other  people.  They  have  been  the  victims  of  untoward 
circumstances,  which  all  your  histories  describe.  We — our  forefathers — have  sub- 
jugated them  and  maltreated  them.  We  suffer  in  reputation;  they  suffer  in  their 
lives  through  the  misdoings  of  the  past.  Let  us  now  not  be  weary  of  the  attempt  to 
bring  about  a  reformation  in  that  country,  which,  I  believe,  would  quell  the 
suspicion  and  quell  the  discontent,  and  banish  the  disloyalty  which  we  all  lament  in 
Ireland.  As  to  the  present  distress,  I  hope  that  the  duty  of  the  Government  will  not 
be  neglected.  I  hope  they  have  not  spent  so  much  in  endeavouring  to  civilise  Zulus 
and  Afghans  that  they  are  not  able  to  do  something  for  their  poor  people  nearer 
home.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  hope,  Sir,  the  Government,  in  dealing  with  the  Irish 
question,  will  deal  with  it  frankly,  and  openly,  and  generously ;  and  that  they,  as 
they  are  now  under  the  pressure  of  the  present  distress,  will  open  their  hands  to 
relieve  the  suffering  people  of  the  West — that  they  will  open  their  hearts,  and  their 
intellects  too,  to  the  further  and  the  greater  question  of  what  shall  be  done  for 
Ireland  in  the  future."  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Bright  presided  as  chairman,  in  Union  Chapel,  Islington, 
on  the  10th  of  February,  1880,  on  the  occasion  of  a  lecture  de- 
livered by  the  Rev.  R.  W.  Dale  on  the  "  Rise  of  Evangelical 
Nonconformity/'' 

"  Since  the  Reformation,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  opening  the  proceedings,  "  we  have 
had  from  the  earliest  period  the  Puritans,  and  following  them,  and  much  like  them, 
their  successors,  the  Nonconformist  bodies  of  this  country.  We  have  had  persecution 
enough  in  England ;  we  all  know  it  has  not  vanished  altogether  a  long  time  from 
among  us.  (Cheers.)  In  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  little  over  two  centuries  ago, 
there  were  in  prison  in  this  country  not  less  than  4,000  persons,  members  of  the 
small  and  inconsiderable  sect  of  which  I  am  a  member.  In  twelve  years  of  that  time 
more  than  8,000  were  imprisoned,  and  more  than  400  died  in  prison.  In  those  days 
prisons  were  not  like  the  prisons  of  our  day.  They  were  abodes  in  which  men  met 
with  intolerable  and  disgusting  conditions  and  sufferings,  and  in  which  they  encoun- 
tered maladies  of  the  most  dreadful  character,  and  the  welcome  they  gave  to  multi- 
tudes was  merely  the  welcome  of  death.  Now,  in  the  year  1684 — that  is,  not  200 
years  ago,  not  many  lives  back — I  lost  only  the  other  day  an  old  relative  and  con- 
nection of  mine  who  had  lived  somewhat  more  than  100  years ;  if  you  take  another 
life  like  that  it  brings  you  back  to  the  point  which  I  am  referring  to,  viz.,  the  year 
1684,  when  William  Penn  says,  referring  to  what  was  transacting  in  his  time, '  There 
have  been  ruined  since  the  late  King's  restoration ' — that  is  Charles  ll.'s,  for  whom  all 
Conformists  were  expected  to  give  thanks  for  ever  and  ever — (cheers  and  laughter) — 
'  there  have  boen  ruined  since  the  late  King's  restoration  about  15,000  families,  and 
more  than  5,000  persons  died  under  bonds  for  matters  of  mere  conscience  to  God.' 
Well,  we  have  had  this  persecution,  but  it  never  reached  the  point  of  extinction. 
Whatever  was  done,  there  was  something  either  in  the  English  people  or  in  the 
English  Constitution,  or  in  the  Protestant  faith  of  those  who  were  the  persecutors, 


502  LITE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1880 

•which  prevented  their  going  the  length  to  which  Church  and  State  went  in  France, 
and  therefore  Nonconformity  in  England  \V;IR  not  extinguished;  it  was  only  perse- 
cuted, and,  as  far  as  law  and  practice  could  do  it,  degraded  and  insulted.  For  the 
last  100  years  the  Nonconformists  of  England  have  taken  a  very  different  position. 
They  have  been  now  for  a  long  period  the  great  advancing  and  reforming  force  in 
our  English  political  life— (loud  cheers)— and  we  must  not  forget,  and  we  ought  to 
acknowledge  with  thankfulness  that  there  are  large  numbers  of  those  who  are  not 
Nonconformists,  but  who  are  associated  and  worship  with  the  Church  of  England, 
who  have  constantly  and  honestly  co-operated  with  Nonconformists  in  all  that  they 
have  done  in  favour  of  greater  civil  and  religious  freedom.  (Cheers.)  But  yet,  for 
all  that,  we  must  admit,  and  with  sorrow,  that  even  now  the  people  of  this  country 
are  parted  into  two  great  divisions — the  Church  and  the  Conformists  on  one  side,  tha 
Dissenters  and  Nonconformists  on  the  other.  There  seems  to  me  a  strange  and  a 
painful  misfortune  in  this  to  the  country  at  large,  that  there  should  be  suspicion  to  a 
great  extent,  dislike  to  a  great  extent,  enmity,  I  sometimes  fear,  to  some  extent, 
between  large  classes  of  persons  professing  to  believe  and  to  practise  the  religion  of 
Christ.  And  why  is  it  so  ?  In  fact,  I  know  not  why  the  Church  should  so  dread 
Dissent  and  hate  it  and  despise  it.  There  is  no  difference  in  doctrine  or  in  practice — 
I  mean  in  the  rites  of  Church  arrangement — which  can  justify  the  feelings  which 
exist  too  much  between  Churchmen  and  Dissenters  in  our  country  and  in  our  time. 
"What  has  Dissent  done  ?  If  I  were  a  Churchman  I  think  I  should  sometimes  ask 
myself  that  question.  I  have  heard  of  an  eminent  Bishop,  who,  describing  a  parish, 
said  that  there  were  onlytwo  things  in  it  to  be  lamented — the  beerhouses  and  the  Dis- 
senters. (Laughter.)  That  good  Bishop  believed,  no  doubt — I  will  not  say  that  a 
Dissenting  chapel  was  as  injurious  as  a  beerhouse,  but  still  that  it  interfered  with  the 
harmony  of  his  parish.  Those  who  went  to  the  chapel  did  not  go  to  hear  him.  I 
recollect  a  clergyman  I  once  met  some  years  ago,  from  Warwickshire,  who  professed 
to  be  very  liberal  on  this  matter.  He  said  he  should  not  object  at  all  to  the  Dissen- 
ters going  to  their  own  place  of  worship  in  the  evening  if  they  would  go  to  his  church 
in  the  morning.  (Much  laughter.)  I  do  not  know  whether  he  considered  that  was 
a  case  of  bane  and  antidote,  or  what  light  he  considered  it  in.  But  I  said,  '  As  you 
are  so  liberal  with  regard  to  them,  would  you  have  any  objection  yourself  occa- 
sionally to  go  to  the  Dissenting  chapel?'  But  he  said  that  was  a  very  different 
question.  (Renewed  laughter.)  He  fell  back  upon  what  he  called  his  orders, 
his  apostolical  succession — (cheers) — and  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  make  that 
condescension  to  the  Dissenters  which  he  thought  it  right  the  Dissenters  should 
make  to  him.  I  am  surprised  that  men  who  are  good  and  cultivated,  and  whom 
one  supposes  to  know  a  g_ood  deal  of  the  world,  should  think  that  beerhouses 
on  the  one  side  and  Dissenting  chapels  on  the  other  are  proper  to  be  mentioned  in 
the  same  sentence.  (Hear.)  As  to  the  bishops,  one  might  say  a  good  deal  about 
them.  (Laughter.)  ....  But  when  there  come  questions  on  the  sacrifice  of  tens  of 
thousands  of  lives  in  distant  and  remote  countries,  they  who  come  down,  or  say  they 
come  down,  from  Christ's  own  Apostles,  sit  there  with  all  the  dignity  of  great  office 
about  them,  and  not  one  of  them  in  that  House  opens  his  mouth  to  condemn  the 
transaction  which  in  his  own  home  and  in  his  own  soul  I  cannot  but  believe  he  must 
emphatically  condemn.  (Cheers.)  ....  If  I  were  a  Churchman  myself,  and  I  sup- 
pose it  is  very  much  a  matter  of  accident  that  I  am  not — (laughter) — if  they  had  not. 
imprisoned  my  forefathers  for  many  years  in  Bedford  Gaol,  for  anything  I  know  I 
might  have  been  a  Churchman  now — 1  hope  I  should  at  least  have  had  that  sense  of 
honour  and  of  justice  which  would  have  enabled  me  to  look  around  and  behold  all 
the  great  works  of  the  great  Nonconformist  body  in  England  and  to  regard  it  with 
admiration  and  honour.  (Cheers.) 


CHAPTER   XLTV. 

THE  LIBERALS  AGAIN  IN  POWER. 

Dissolution  of  Parliament — Liberal  Victory — Mr.  Bright  once  more  Chancellor  o< 
the  Duchy  of  Lancaster — Capital  Punishment — Visit  to  Stratford-on-Avon — 
The  Burials  Bill — Lord  Rector  of  Glasgow  University — Address  from  France, 
Holland,  and  Germany — Mr.  Gladstone's  Irish  Land  Bill— Mr.  Blight's 
Seventieth  Birthday — At  Rochdale — Bright  Laying  the  Foundation  Stone  of 
the  First  Board  School  at  Lhiududno — His  Annual  Address  to  his  Constituents 
in  January,  1882— Speech  in  the  House  on  the  Rules  of  Procedure — His 
Opinion  upon  Libraries. 

ON  the  8th  of  March,  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  was 
announced  in  both  Houses.  The  recent  representatives  of 
Birmingham  were  opposed  by  the  Hon.  A.  C.  G.  Calthorpe  and 
Major  Burnaby  in  the  Conservative  interest.  Mr.  Bright 
arrived  in  Birmingham  on  the  19th  of  March,  and  was  lustily 
cheered  by  a  large  crowd  that  had  assembled  to  welcome  him. 
The  Town  Hall  that  evening  was  densely  crowded  by  Liberals. 
Mr.  Jaffray  presided."  When  Mr.  Bright  was  called  upon  to 
address  the  meeting,  he  was  received  with  a  great  burst  of 
enthusiasm,  which  was  continued  for  several  minutes.  He 
said  : — 

"We  were  now  witnessing  the  dying  hours  of  the  worst  of  modern  Parliaments, 
and  beholding  the  spectacle  of  the  worst  of  Administrations  being  brought  up  for 
judgment.  He  contended  that  they  owed  the  inestimable  blessings  which  they  were 
now  privileged  to  enjoy  to  the  foresight,  judgment,  and  indefatigable  labours  of  the 
Liberal  party.  He  pointed  out  that  the  Conservative  party  had  systematically 
opposed  all  efforts  at  reform,  and  had  obstructed  instead  of  advancing  the  attain- 
ment of  results  at  which  good  legislation  had  aimed  during  the  past  half  century. 
In  the  last  six  years — we  will  not  go  further  back — in  the  last  six  years  you  had  no 
considerable,  if  indeed  any,  liberal  measures,"  said  Mr.  Bright.  "You  have  had, 
as  you  know,  an  extravagance  unknown  for  many  years.  You  have  had  increasing 
debt  and  increasing  taxes,  and  if  you  have  not  paid  off  all  that  you  owe  it  will  have 
to  be  paid  by  somebody  some  day.  This  Government  came  in  with  a  puree  full 
with  £6,000,000.  They  go  out  with  a  purse  not  only  empty  but  £8,000,000  to  the 
bad.  ('  Shame.')  Instead  of  dealing  economically  with  your  resources,  extending 
your  freedom,  doing  everything  they  could  to  encourage  your  industry,  they  have 
been  marauding  over  half  the  world.  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheers.)  England,  the 
mother  of  free  nations,  herself  the  origin  of  free  Parliaments — England  has  been 
supporting  oppression  in  Turkey — ('  Shame '} — and  has  been  carrying  fire  and  sword 
into  remote  territories  in  South  Africa  and  in  Afghanistan.  ('  shame.')  Will  you 
entrust  your  power  in  the  future — ('  No,  no ') — to  men  who  have  thus  dealt  with  yom 
interests,  not  in  the  remote  past,  but  in  the  near  past  and  in  the  present  ?  ('  No.') 
No ;  if  you  can  find  them,  give  your  power  to  men  who  would  be  generous  at  home, 
and  just  and  moral,  and,  so  far  as  was  in  their  power,  peaceful  abroad.  I  think  it  ii 
time  to  adopt  the  words  of  one  our  best  poets,  who  says : — 

'  "Pis  time 

To  snatch  their  truncheons  from  the  puny  huuds 
Of  statesmen,  whose  infirm  and  baby  minds 
Are  gratified  with  mischief,  and  who  spoil, 
Because  men  suffer  it,  their  toy,  the  world." 


504  LIFE  AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [1880. 

The  vast  audience  passed  a  vote  of  confidence  in  the  three 
members. 

The  day  after,  a  deputation  from  the  Licensed  Victuallers  of 
Birmingham  waited  upon  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Chamberlain. 

"  I  do  not  suppose  that  it  (the  Liberal  party)  will  deal  with  any  severity  in  any 
way  with  you,"  said  Mr.  Bright  in  reply  to  them  ;  "  whenever  it  does  deal  with  the 
liquor  question — if  it  ever  does  deal  with  it — you  may  depend  upon  it,  it  is  the  last, 
party  in  the  country  that  will  ever  do  anything  that  will  be  in  a  pecuniary  sense 
unjust  to  your  interests.  What  it  deprives  you  of  in  the  public  interest,  it  will 
at  any  rate  compensate  you  for,  and  endeavour  to  do  justice,  as  it  does  to  the 
whole  country  and  to  every  interest.  You  may  depend  upon  it,  it  will  not  bo 
unjust  to  the  licensed  victuallers  and  those  who  are  concerned  in  the  sale  of 
those  things  which,  unfortunately,  here  it  appears  necessary  in  some  degree  to 
control." 

Mr.  Bright  addressed  two  meetings  on  the  23rd,  and  was 
honoured  with  a  torchlight  procession  th cough  the  streets, 
accompanied  with  bands  of  music.  The  day  after  he  again 
spoke  at  Cave's  Auction  Mart  on  the  necessary  reforms  in 
the  land  laws,  and  he  related  that  Mr.  Martin,  the  strong 
Nationalist,  once  came  up  to  him  at  the  door  of  the  House 
of  Commons  and  said,  "  1  have  watched  your  public  conduct, 
and  I  have  seen  that  you  have  never  said,  one  single  word  that 
was  offensive,  or  unkind,  or  unjust  to  my  country  ;  and  I  wish 
to  shake  you  by  the  hand  and  to  tell  you  so/' 

Mr.  Bright  delivered  another  speech  to  the  electors  on  the 
29th  of  March :— 

"  It  is  one  of  the  things  I  used  to  complain  of  myself  when  I  held  office  in  Mr. 
Gladstone's  Government,"  said  Mr.  Bright.  "  I  used  to  say  what  an  extraordinary 
thing  that  the  Governments  of  this  country  always  spent  so  much  time  about  foreign 
affairs,  many  of  them  of  no  importance  to  us,  and  spend  comparatively  so  little  time 
about  our  home  affairs ;  and  I  believe  if  we  could  have  an  accurate  account  of  all 
the  Governments  of  England  have  done — the  Ministers,  the  Cabinets — during  the 
last  hundred  years  or  more,  we  should  fiud  that  nine-tenths  of  that  time,  thought, 
and  labour  had  been  devoted  to  matters  abroad,  conuected  with  wars,  conquests, 
annexation,  gunpowder  and  glory,  and  perhaps  not  more  than  one -tenth  had 
been  expended  upon  the  true  interests  of  England.  Do  you  think  that  if  this 
country  had  been  more  at  peace,  if  its  resources  had  been  more  husbanded,  that 
it  would  have  been  left  to  the  period  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  Government,  within  the 
last  ten  years,  to  have  built  these  magnificent  schools  that  I  see  all  over  your  town '{ 
('  Never.')  If  you  will  take  the  history  of  the  last  hundred  years,  and  look  for  the 
names  of  what  are  called  great  men  that  were  in  Parliament  and  in  your  public 
service,  you  will  find  that  their  time  was  taken  up  with  things  far  remote  from  tho 
interests— the  true  interests — of  England,  and  scarcely  a  man  of  them  ever  raised  his 
voice  in  favour  of  a  system  of  education  which  would  bring  you  labouring  men, 
artisans  as  you  axe,  with  your  20s.,  30s.,  or  40s.  a  week,  to  a  condition  of  intelli- 
gence, and  a  condition  of  virtue,  and  a  condition  of  comfort  infinitely  higher  than 
you  ever  yet  attained  to.  (Cheers.)  Now,  I  am  for  a  policy  of  peace — (hear,  hear, 
and  cheers) — and  for  a  policy  of  retrenchment — (hear,  hear) — and  for  a  policy  of 
reform ;  and  if  every  country,  and  all  Parliaments,  and  all  statesmen,  and  all 
potentates  would  give  their  attention,  their  minds,  aud  their  intelligence  to  the 
wellbeing  of  their  country,  you  may  depend  upon  it  the  world  would  be  more  at 
peace,  and  all  people  would  be  more  contented  and  more  happy,  and  you  would  not 
nave  the  terrible  events  you  read  of  sometimes  in  Russia,  sometimes  in  Germany ; 
you  would  not  have  all  Europe  covered  with  soldiers,  and  its  people  burdened  with 


1880.]  THE    ZVLU    AND    AFGHAN    WARS.  505 

inilitaiy  exactions  which  impoverish  them  and  drive  them  to  courses  which  are 
desperate  and  wicked,  it  may  be  to  desperate  means,  because  the  people  have  so 
little  consideration  and  justice  shown  them. 

"Now,  you  would  suppose  from  that  manifesto,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  a  speech 
to  the  electors,  on  the  28th  of  March,  "  that  there  was  nothing  so  much  from  the 
heart  of  the  Prime  Minister  as  binding  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  together  by  the 
bond  of  true  sympathy  and  true  interest ;  and  I  take  the  liberty  of  telling  you  what 
many  of  you  must  know,  that  for  the  last  two  hundred  years  the  Tory  party  has  had 
much  of  its  own  way  in  Ireland.  During  much  of  that  time,  or  at  least  for  one 
hundred  years,  the  penal  laws  existed,  and  were  most  oppressive  and  most  cruel, 
and  those  laws  were  only  mitigated,  not  abolished.  During  the  time  of  the  Ameri- 
can war,  when  this  country  was  endeavouring  to  reconquer  the  colonies,  it  was 
found  necessary  in  some  degree  to  conciliate  the  Irish  people,  and  those  penal  laws 
were  modified.  Up  to  the  year  1829 — a  time  which  many  here  can  remember — no 
Roman  Catholic  could  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  it  was  only  when  Ireland 
was  on  the  point  of  civil  war,  as  the  Duke  of  Wellington  admitted,  that  Catholic 
emancipation  was  conceded  to  the  Catholic  population  of  Ireland.  (Cheers.)  And 
is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  then,  that  the  Tory  party,  having  been,  as  I  think,  the 
enemy  of  the  freedom  of  Ireland  for  so  long,  is  thus  met  by  a  corresponding  feeling 
on  tlie  part  of  the  Irish,  who,  with  little  exception,  have  a  constant  and  bitter 
animosity  against  the  Tory  party  in  this  country  ?  (Cheers.)  So  we  come  now  to 
this  kind  of  conclusion  with  regard  to  the  present  Government,  that  they  are  an 
Administration  which,  during  six  years,  have  made  no  progress  in  England,  and  they 
have  done  nothing  to  create  peace  and  contentment  in  Ireland,  and  so  long  as  the 
Tory  party  and  Administration  are  in  power  I  believe  there  will  be  no  progress  in 
England,  and  there  will  be  no  settled  contentment  in  the  sister  country.  (Applause.) 
Before  I  conclude  I  must  say  a  few  words  upon  a  question  which,  in  this  manifesto, 
is  especially  referred  to  your  consideration,  and  that  is  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
Government.  They  boast — this  Government  boast,  its  orators  in  various  parts  of 
the  country  boast— that  they  have  preserved  the  peace  of  Europe.  Well,  you  know 
that  the  peace  of  Europe  was  not  preserved,  that  Russia  and  Turkey  engaged  in  a 
desperate  and  sanguinary  conflict ;  and  you  know  more,  that  the  only  reason  why 
this  Government  did  not  go  into  war  was  because  all  England,  and  all  Scotland,  had 
risen  in  condemnation  of  the  Government  which  had  permitted  the  massacres  in 
Bulgaria.  All  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  too,  declared  that  no  Government  of  this 
country  should  go  into  war  in  defence  of  a  country  or  a  Government  which  perpetrated 
such  horrors  upon  a  subject  people — (loud  applause) — and  as  they  were  not  per- 
mitted to  go  to  war  with  Russia,  still,  such  was  the  appetite  for  mischief,  that,  not 
going  into  one  war,  they  plunged  almost  immediately  afterwards  into  two,  which 
they  called  little  wars.  ('Shame.')  In  South  Africa  was  a  nation-,  a  small  nation, 
I  know  not  what  its  whole  population  was,  but  probably  not  a  population  equal  to 
that  of  the  town  of  Birmingham.  They  never  molested  us.  They  had  lived  for 
twenty  or  thirty  years  alongside  the  English  colony  of  Natal,  aiid  had  never  shown 
a  disposition  to  inflict  upon  them  the  smallest  injury.  This  Government  made  war 
upon  them.  I  will  not  speak  of  the  two  or  three  thousand  persons  in  the  English 
troops  who  were  destroyed.  I  suppose  their  mothers,  and  widows,  and  sisters,  and 
daughters  lament  their  loss.  I  lament,  at  any  rate,  if  they  were  to  die,  that  they 
did  not  die  in  a  nobler  and  a  better  cause — (cheers) — but  I  speak  of  the  10,000  men 
•— courageous,  loyal  men  of  the  Zulu  nation,  who,  if  they  had  been  of  our  nation, 
would  have  had  songs  written  in  their  honour  and  magnificent  orations  delivered  in 
their  praise,  and  their  leading  men  who  fell  would  have'  found,  no  doubt,  a  homo 
for  their  bones  and  a  tablet  in  Westminster  Abbey.  (Cheers.)  That  war  was  not 
enough.  Another  was  prepared,  by  the  most  ingenious  and  the  most  treacherous 
course  of  conduct,  in  Afghanistan.  It  was  a  war  begun  in  the  dark,  carried  on  in 
secret  by  a  diplomacy  which  was  denied  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  was 
falsely  denied.  (Hear,  hear.)  It  was  begun  against  the  evidence  and  opinion  of 
the  venerated  Lord  Lawrence — (cheers) — against  the  opinion  and  experience  of  Lord 
Northbrook ;  against  the  counsel  of  the  Governor- Gen  oral  of  India  ;  against  the 
Indian  Council  in  London ;  against  the  counsel  of  all  the  sensible  and  just  men 
who  heretofore  hav*  been  thought  the  greatest  authorities  upon  Indian  ques- 
tions— (cheers) — and  it  ended,  as,  of  course,  we  all  know  it  must  end,  when  a 
powerful  nation  like  this,  with  the  wonderful  ingenuity  of  armed  instruments 
which  it  possesses,  comes  into  conflict  with  a  half-civilised  people,  in  a  slaughter 
of  Afghans,  I  dare  say,  quite  equal,  but  perhaps  exceeding,  that  which  had 
been  inflicted  upon  the  Zulus  in  South  Africa.  Now,  at  this  moment 


606  LIFE  AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN    BRIGHT.  [I88tt 

in  that  country  what  do  you  find?  It  is  a  country  which  is  said  to  be  as 
large  afc  France  and  as  mountainous  as  Switzerland.  Throughout  the  whole 
of  that  country  we  have  raised  up  a  spirit  of  anarchy.  There  is  no  governor. 
The  Ameer  went  away  and  died;  his  successor  is  a  prisoner  in  our  hands  in 
India.  There  is  no  ruler  in  that  country ;  there  will  be  contenders  for  the  throne, 
and  so  things  may  be  for  months  or  years  iu  that  country,  of  whose  population 
not  one  man  ever  did  anything  whatsoever  to  insult  or  to  injure  us.  Yet  our 
Government,  by  its  policy,  has  carried  anarchy,  and  war,  and  slaughter,  and 
fire  throughout  the  whole  of  that  country.  You  know  something  of  the  untold 
miseries,  at  least  you  may  judge  from  what  you  have  read  of  the  untold 
miseries,  which  war  brings" upon  men  and  women  and  little  children;  but  there 
is  one  point  that  nobody,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  ever  touched  upon,  that  which 
has  always  had  a  certain  interest  with  me,  and  which  has  excited  my  sympathy. 
I  have  seen  in  some  of  the  narratives  of  the  Afghan  war  that  all  the  region 
round  had  been  swept  for  camels  as  beasts  of  burden  for  the  forces.  What 
became  of  the  camels?  The  least  number  I  have  heard  it  put  at  was  30,000 — 
it  has  been  reckoned  that  as  high  as  40,000  or  50,000  camels  have  perished  in 
these  expeditions.  One  of  our  greatest  poe_ts,  in  a  beautiful  stanza,  has  one  line 
where  he  says,  'Mute  the  camel  labours  with  the  heaviest  load,'  and  though  the 
camel  is  not  able,  by  any  voice  of  his,  to  make  protest  or  complain,  yet  the 
burdened,  overdriven,  exhausted,  dying  beast — I  cannot  but  believe  that  even 
the  cruelties  inflicted  upon  him  will  be  found  written  upon  imperishable  tablets 
by  the  recording  angel.  (Cheers.)  Well,  now,  that  is  the  sort  of  Government 
that  we  condemn.  (Hear,  hear.)  Do  not  tell  me  that  we  are  Englishmen,  the 
citizens  of  a  free  country,  that  these  enormities  may  be  conducted  by  our 
Government  at  the  farthest  ends  of  the  earth,  and  that  we  are  bound  to  bow 
down  and  submit  to  the  guilt  being  laid  upon  our  shoulders  and  our  souls. 
(Cheers.)  I  blame  the  Government,  as  you  blame  them,  and  the  more  you 
examine  what  they  have  done,  the  more  you  trace  their  career  the  more  you 
will  blame  them  for  their  incapacity  at  home,  where  our  interests  have  been 
neglected.  Ireland,  as  I  have  shown,  has  been  uncared  for  and  insulted. 
and  is  driven  constantly  by  neglect  to  discontent  and  disloyalty.  Now,  if  they 
have  thus  neglected  our  interests  at  home,  abroad  they  have  carried  terror  and 
anarchy  and  murder  over  the  wide  regions  of  two  continents— (hear,  hear) — and 
two  gentlemen  have  come  down  to  Birmingham — (A  voice :  '  And  they  will  go 
back  again ') — whose  only  plea  before  you,  whose  argument  for  your  support, 
is  purely  and  simply  because  they  support  this  terrible  wickedness  of  those  needless 
wars  abroad.  (Cheers.)  Well,  on  Wednesday  next  the  inhabitants  of 
Birmingham — the  63,000  electors  of  this  great  central  city  of  the  kingdom — 
will  have  an  opportunity  of  declaring  whether  they  are  willing  to  share  in  the 
guilt  of  the  transactions  which  I  have  so  inadequately  described.  ('No,  no.') 
You  will  have  to  give  then  your  final  verdict.  You  must  say  whether  you  will 
drive  from  their  places  of  power  statesmen  whose  tenure  of  office  has  been 
marked  by  astounding  incapacity  at  home,  and  not  less  astounding  blundering 
and  guilt  in  their  policy  and  their  action  abroad."  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheers.) 

The  election  resulted  in  22,969  votes  being  tendered  for 
Mr.  Muntz,  22,079  for  Mr.  Bright,  19,544  for  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain, 15,735  for  Major  Burnaby,  and  14,308  for  the  Hon. 
A.  C.  G.  Calthorpe,  and  the  Liberals  were  once  again  vic- 
torious in  this  their  stronghold.  A  wave  of  Liberal  success 
it  was  found  had  passed  all  over  the  United  Kingdom,  for  349 
Liberals  were  returned,  whereas  the  Conservatives  only  num- 
bered 243,  and  the  Home  Rulers  60.  Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone  was 
consequently  called  upon  by  Her  Majesty  to  form  a  Ministry, 
and  he  undertook  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  double  office  of 
Premier  and  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  Mr.  Bright  accepted 
office  as  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.  The  other 
members  of  the  Cabinet  were  : — Lord  Chancellor,  Lord  Sel- 


1880.]  THE   NEW    MINISTEY  507 

borne;  Lord  President  of  the  Council,  Earl  Spencer;  Lord 
Privy  Seal,  Duke  of  Argyll;  Foreign  Secretary,  Earl  Granville ; 
Secretary  for  India,  the  Marquis  of  Hartingtoii ;  Home  Secre- 
tary, Sir  W.  Vernon  Harcourt;  Colonial  Secretary,  Earl  of 
Kimberley;  War  Secretary,  Mr.  Childers;  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  the  Earl  of  Northbrook ;  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland, 
Mr.  Forster ;  President  of  the  Local  Government  Board, 
Mr.  Dodson ;  and  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain. 

A  few  months  afterwards,  commenting  on  the  new  Parlia- 
ment, Mr.  Bright  said  : — 

"  During  the  thirty- seven  years  that  I  have  been  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  I  have  had  very  considerable  experience  in  that  House,  and  I  say  again 
that  there  never  has  been  a  Parliament  in  my  time  to  which  the  country  had  a 
greater  right  to  look  for  important  efforts  of  legislation,  and  if  the  House  and  the 
country  will  behave  with  moderation  and  wisdom,  they  will  find  the  present 
Ministry  not  unworthy  of  the  confidence  they  have  placed  in  them." 

An  American,  commenting  on  the  event,  remarked  : — 

"The  area  of  the  globe  over  which  the  result  was  looked  for  with  eager  anxiety 
was,  of  course,  very  great,  and  illustrates  strikingly  the  vastness  of  the  empire. 
But  what  gives  a  touch  of  splendour  to  the  Liberal  victory  is  that  whole  races  in  the 
East  have  seen  it  as  a  great  light.  To  every  Christian  sou  groaning  under  Turkish 
rule,  it  means  speedy  help  ana  deliverance.  To  the  Christians  lately  emancipated, 
and  to  the  Greeks,  it  means  the  consolidation  and  maintenance  of  their  freedom  and 
independence.  To  the  Hindoos  it  means  government  for  their  own  sake,  and  not 
for  the  gratification  of  foreign  pride.  For  the  Afghans  it  means  a  cessation  of 
pillage  and  slaughter  in  aid  of  a  '  scientific  frontier.  To  the  Turk  it  means  that  he 
must  be  clean  and  honest  and  industrious,  or  die." 

Mr.  Bright  had  an  audience  at  a  council  at  Windsor  Castle 
on  the  28th  of  April  with  the  Queen,  who  delivered  to  him  the 
seals  of  office  as  Chancel  lor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  after  he 
had  made  the  usual  affirmation. 

The  new  Parliament  met  at  the  close  of  April,  1880,  and  the 
members  were  soon  called  upon  to  decide  whether  Mr.  Bradlaugh, 
who  had  been  elected  to  represent  Northampton,  should  be 
allowed  to  make  an  affirmation  of  allegiance  instead  of  taking 
the  oath.  A  lengthy  and  excited  discussion  followed.  Mr. 
Bright  urged  that  the  point  that  ought  to  be  discussed  was 
simply  a  question  of  right  and  law,  and  not  with  reference  to 
religious  views,  and  spoke  eloquently  on  the  subject  several 
times. 

"lam  here,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "as  the  defender  of  what  I  believe  to  be  the 
principles  of  our  constitution,  of  the  freedom  of  constituencies  to  elect,  and  of  the 
freedom  of  the  elected  to  sit  in  Parliament.  That  freedom  which  has  been  so  hardly 
won,  I  do  not  believe  the  House  of  Commons  will  endeavour  to  wrest  from  our 
constituencies,  knowing  by  what  slow  steps  we  have  reached  the  point  we  have  now 
attained ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  on  the  recommendation  of  the  hon.  member  for 
Portsmouth  they  will  turn  back  and  deny  the  principles  which  have  been  so  dear  to 
them." 


508  LIFE  AND    TIMES    OF   JOHN    BEIGHT.  f.L88a 

The  House  decided  by  a  majority  against  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  and 
orders  were  given  forbidding  him  to  enter  the  House,  and  he  vrus 
forcibly  removed  on  attempting  to  gain  admittance. 

The  University  College  Debating  Society  held  their  annual 
debate  on  the  2nd  of  June,  and  Mr.  Bright  occupied  the  chair. 
The  subject  for  debate  was  "  Capital  Punishment/' 

''What  can  be  more  remarkable  than  this,  that  you  should  have  a  punishment 
which  is  so  outrageous  that  in  many  cases  the  authorities  dare  not  inflict  it  ?  " 
remarked  Mr.  Bright,  in  the  course  of  his  speech.  ' '  Half  of  those  convicted  are  not 
executed,  and  that  is  one  of  the  great  reasons  why,  in  this  strange  uncertainty  of 
the  punishment,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  punishment  is  less  deterrent  than  it 
would  otherwise  be.  You  can  never  make  it  more  deterrent,  because  you  cannot 
make  it  more  certain.  If  juries  will,  as  Christian  men,  lean  to  the  side  of  mercy 
rather  than  severity — even  the  prosecuting  counsel,  to  his  honour  be  it  said,  will  not 
attempt  to  stretch  his  case  against  the  prisoner,  but  is  himself  only  too  delighted  if 
the  verdict  of  the  jury  will  allow  the  prisoner  to  leave  the  dock — and  even  if  the 
jury  may  convict  and  the  judge  sentence,  you  have  then,  in  all  cases,  except  that  of  some 
miserable  and  poor  wretch,  who  always  excites  my  sympathy  and  horror,  the  friends 
of  the  prisoner,  who,  if  there  be  any  circumstances  connected  with  the  case  favour- 
able to  the  exercise  of  mercy,  bring  them  before  the  Home  Secretary ;  and  Home 
Secretaries  are  not  all  alike,  not  all  equally  considerate,  and,  I  fear,  not  all  equally 
sensitive.  But  still  Home  Secretaries,  as  a  rule,  during  the  whole  of  my  recollection, 
which  goes  back  for  nearly  forty  years,  have  always  shown  themselves  willing  to 
listen  to  facts  and  reason,  and,  I  believe,  are  always  well  pleased  that  they  are  able 
to  recommend  a  permanent  commutation  of  the  sentence.  Why,  I  have  seen  a  Home 
Secretary,  when  I  have  been  asking  him  not  to  inflict  capital  punishment  in  a 
particular  case,  burst  into  tears  and  speak  like  a  child,  sobbing  with  the  intense  pain 
which  it  gave  him  to  execute  to  the  full  that  which  the  law  required  of  his  office. 
(Cheers.)  So  you  will  see  I  am  not  saying  anything  against  the  Home  Secretaries. 
But  this  I  will  say,  that  I  am  amazed  that  any  man  should  undertake  that  office 
with  that  responsibility  attached,  and  I  am  astonished  that  we  never  had  a  Home 
Secretary  rise  in  his  place  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  state  that,  from  the 
experience  of  his  office,  the  time  was  approaching  when  the  country  could  be 
governed,  and  life  and  property  preserved,  without  the  infliction  of  the  penalty  of 
hanging.  Now,  there  is  another  point,  and  that  is  the  strange  and  terrible  inequality 
of  the  punishment.  If  you  will  do  as  I  have  done,  watch  the  cases  of  murder  which 
are  tried  in  the  country,  you  will  find  that  they  differ  from  each  other  as  much  as 
any  two  crimes  can  differ.  There  are  the  murders  through  sudden  passion,  murders 
through  jealousy  and  drink,  through  excitement  and  street  broils,  and  which  are 
committed  by  persons  on  the  very  verge  of  insanity,  and  then  there  is  the  murder 
deliberated  and  long  calculated,  done  with  systematic  intent,  and  which  makes  you 
wonder  at  the  kind  of  man  who  has  been  guilty  of  it,  and  yet  your  law  gives  exactly 
the  same  punishment  in  all  of  these  cases.  There  are,  indeed,  some  cases  whore  the 
juries  acting  sometimes — in  niy  opinion  not  nearly  often  enough — relieve  the  judge 
of  the  necessity  of  passing  sentence  of  death  by  bringing  in  a  sentence  of  man- 
slaughter, in  consequence  of  the  excessive  provocation  which  has  caused  the  deed  of 
blood.  I  brought  before  the  House  of  Commons  the  case  of  a  young  man  who  was 
hanged  at  Glasgow,  and  I  stated  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  the  hanging 
of  the  man  was  a  far  greater  crime  in  the  sight  of  Heaven  and  of  man  than 
the  crime  for  which  he  was  hanged.  He  had  an  excellent  character.  The  offence 
arose  out  of  a  mere  street  disturbance.  This  young  man  and  some  who  were 
with  him  were  returning  from  some  jovial  party,  and  he  took  up  a  hoe 
standing  near,  and  with  no  more  idea  of  committing  murder  than  I  have 
at  this  moment  swung  this  hoe  round  and  cut  the  unfortunate  man  just 
behind  the  ear.  If  it  had  taken  him  on  the  shoulder  it  would  have  done  him  no 
serious  harm,  but  it  touched  him  on  a  vital  spot,  and  the  blow  soon  afterwards 
proved  fatal.  At  the  very  time  that  the  man  was  being  tried  there  was  another  man 
tried  at  the  same  assizes — a  pitman  in  a  colliery  who  had  murdered  a  fellow-pitman, 
and  who  had  pulled  down  large  stones  and  rolled  them  upon  his  victim  to  make  it 
appear  that  he  had  been  killed  by  the  falling  of  a  part  of  the  roof.  Both  these  men 
were  found  guilty.  What  happened  ?  When  everybody  was  expecting  that  the  boj 


1890.]  A    SAB    CASE.  600 

of  twenty,  whose  crime  was  so  much  less  in  extent,  would  be  respited,  the  respite 
came  down  for  the  other  man,  in  whose  favour  no  person  in  Glasgow  had  made  any 
reference  whatever.  As  far  as  I  can  learn,  nobody  expected  that  the  law  would  have 
been  enforced  in  his  case,  and  it  was,  indeed,  believed^  in  Glasgow  that  the  wrong 
man  had  been  respited.  It  may  be  so.  I  recollect  speaking  to  a  minister  of  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  then  in  Glasgow,  who  told  me  that  the  population  of  Glas- 
gow when  they  heard  that  the  young  man  was  to  be  put  to  death  were  aghast.  Soon 
afterwards,  when  I  made  this  statement  in  %the  House  of  Commons,  I  received  a 
letter  from  a  person  living  in  the  village  where  the  father  of  the  youth  came  from, 
and  he  said  I  did  not  know  the  whole  calamity  to  the  family,  for  such  was  the  effect 
of  the  terrible  strain  upon  the  aged  father  that  he  only  lived  a  fortnight  after  the 
death  of  his  son.  Now,  these  are  not  solitary  cases.  If  any  person  will  follow  the 
criminal  business  of  this  country  from  assize  to  assize  as  I  have  done  for  many  years, 
he  will  find  that  the  stories  are  of  the  most  terrible  character,  showing  the  terrible 
injustice  done  by  our  laws." 

Mr.  Bright,  on  the  28th  of  July,  distributed  the  prizes  to  the 
successful  scholars  at  Trinity  College  School,  Stratford-on-Avon. 
A  very  numerous  audience  was  present.  The  proceedings  com- 
menced with  recitations  in  Greek,  French,  and  English,  alter- 
nated with  glees,  admirably  rendered  by  the  school  glee  club, 
and  instrumental  music  by  two  of  the  pupils.  The  Rev.  A.  W. 
Beaven,  M.A.,  head-master  of  Preston  Grammar  School,  then 
read  the  report  of  the  examination  he  had  lately  conducted,  and 
stated  that  he  had  much  pleasure  in  being  able  to  congratulate 
the  masters  on  the  excellent  state  of  the  school,  as  proved 
by  his  examination.  He  also  said  that  this  was  the  fourth  year 
in  which  he  had  acted  as  examiner,  and  that  he  was  able  to 
testify  to  a  steady  advance  in  the  accuracy  and  scholarship  of  the 
pupils. 

The  Warden,  Richard  F.  Curry,  M.A.,  after  having  returned 
thanks  to  Mr.  Beaven  for  his  careful  and  conscientious  examina- 
tion, and  after  having  expressed  his  gratitude  to  his  assistant 
masters  for  their  hearty  co-operation  during  the  past  year,  then 
read  the  list  of  honours  and  scholarships  won  by  the  school  since 
the  last  speech-day,  and  concluded  his  remarks  by  calling  on  Mr. 
Bright  to  distribute  the  prizes. 

The  right  hon.  gentleman,  who  was  vociferously  cheered  on 
rising,  then  gave  away  the  books,  making  a  few  appropriate 
remarks  to  each  recipient,  amongst  whom  was  his  youngest  son, 
who  received  the  prize  for  modern  languages. 

Mr.  Bright  took  part  in  the  discussion  on  the  Hares  and 
Rabbits  Bill  on  the  10th  of  August,  when  the  House  was  in  com- 
mittee upon  the  subject.  It  will  be  remembered  that  during  the 
Anti-Corn  Law  agitation  he  directed  his  attention  to  the 
grievance,  and  ever  since  that  time,  had  always  taken  advantage 
of  any  opportunity  to  assist  in  altering  the  old  obnoxious  laws, 
which  were  unjust  to  the  farmers,  and  the  cause  of  so  much 
crime  and  suffering. 


510  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1880. 

On  the  12th  of  August,  Mr.  Osborne  Morgan,  in  his  first 
speech  from  the  Treasury  bench,  moved  the  second  reading  of  the 
Burials  Bill.  Mr.  Bright,  in  speaking  again  on  behalf  of  the 
Bill,  said :— 

"With  regard  to  that,  I  was  going  to  follow  a  question  mentioned  by  my  hou. 
friend  the  member  for  Brighton,  that  this  Bill  will  not  move  in  the  direction  of  dis- 
establishment so  far  as  to  alienate  any  members  of  the  Church.  That  question  dot's 
not  depend  upon  trifling  matters  of  this  kind.  The  public  of  this  country  will  iii  due 
time  solve  it.  Perhaps  they  will  determine  for  generations  to  maintain  the  Church  as 
it  is.  Perhaps  not.  I  am  quite  willing  to  leave  that  question  to  the  determination 
of  my  countrymen.  But  when  church  rates  were  enforced,  when  people  came  to  my 
father's  house,  and  took  a  handful  of  silver  spoons  for  them"  do  you  suppose  that 
that  was  likely  to  allure  me  to  the  Established  Church  ?  Well,  now,  with  regard  to 
this  question,  just  examine  it  in  the  same  way.  What  are  the  sentiments  of  the 
people,  men  and  women,  and  all  persons,  with  regard  to  the  spot  of  ground  where 
their  nearest  relatives  lie  buried  ?  What  does  a  man  think  of  the  little  spot  where 
his  wife  lies,  the  widow  of  the  spot  where  her  husband  lies,  the  parents  where  some 
innocent  children,  that  have  been  taken  from  them,  lie,  or  the  children,  when  they 
remember  the  place  where  their  parents  are  buried  ?  Is  there  not  an  attachment  to 
that  place,  a  sympathy  with  it,  something  that  one  can  never  express  in  words,  beyond 
what  you  will  find  in  the  minds  of  all  of  us  with  regard  to  any  other  spot  of 
ground  on  the  face  of  the  earth?  (Cheers.)  I  know  a  very  old  mau  (Mr.  Oldham,  who 
in  his  younger  days  was  Mr.  Bright's  gardener)  ;  I  think  he  is  ninety.  I  think  he 
boasts  he  is  the  oldest  man  in  the  town  in  which  I  live,  and  he  was  as  proud  of  his 
age  as  it  is  possible  to  be.  I  have  heard  that  he,  after  the  loss  of  his  wife,  perhaps 
twenty  years  ago,  walked  two  miles  every  Sunday  for  years  to  the  cemetery  where 
his  wife  was  buried.  There  he  went  to  think  of  her  he  had  lost,  to  shed  a  tear 
probably  over  her  grave,  or  to  offer  a  prayer  that  their  separation  was  only  tempo- 
rary, and  that  as  he  grew  older  the  time  during  which  they  would  be  separated 
would  be  every  day  shortened.  Well  if  this  grave  was  in  one  of  your  churchyards, 
and  if  he  were  a  Dissenter,  his  affection  for  that  place  of  burial  would  be  just 
as  great  as  if  it  had  been  a  cemetery  or  in  a  dissenting  chapel  yard,  and  you  would 
find  that  he  would  visit  it,  his  affections  would  linger  round  it ;  he  would  be,  no 
doubt,  lured  time  after  time  to  visit  the  burial  place  and  enter  your  church  ;  and  if 
he  did  not  become  a  member  of  your  Church  and  one  of  your  constant  congregation 
it  would  be  absolutely  impossible  that  he  could  be  hostile  to  it.  (Cheers.)  Now  I 
put  that  before  you  as  an  argument.  Instead  of  being  a  measure  of  disestablishment 
it  will  lessen  what  feeling  of  hostility  prevails,  and  in  cases  such  as  I  have  described 
— and  there  will  be  thousands  of  them  every  year — (hear,  hear) — there  will  be  set  up 
a  tie  between  persons  who  have  been  strangers  to  the  Established  Church  which 
would  bring  them  nearer,  and  it  may  be  unite  many  of  them  -to  your  constant  con- 
gregation. (Hear.)  I  submit  that  as  one  reason  why  we  should  not  be  alarmed  at 
the  passing  of  this  Bill." 

The  second  reading  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy-nine  votes,  and  ultimately  the  measure  became  law. 

On  the  26th  of  August,  in  the  discussion  on  the  Irish  esti- 
mates, Mr.  Bright  delivered  a  speech,  which  produced  a  great 
effect  upon  the  House  : — 

"The  condition  of  Ireland,  everybody  must  admit,  is  deplorable,"  said  Mr. 
Bright,  "  and  it  has  been  deplorable  as  long  as  I  have  had  my  attention  turned  to  it, 
or  been  able  to  examine  it.  I  travelled  a  good  deal  in  Ireland  many  years  ago,  and 
from  that  time  to  this  I  have  held  very  much  the  same  opinion  with  regard  to  the 
condition  of  that  country,  and  the  necessity  of  a  large  and  fundamental  change  with 
regard  to  the  ownership  and  tenure  of  land.  (Hear,  hear.)  The  precise  question 
before  us  now  is  that  of  the  Irish  constabulary,  and  I  agree  with  a  good  deal  that 
has  been  said  with  regard  to  the  force.  It  is  a  different  force  from  anything  we  have 
in  this  country  for  the  preservation  of  peace,  but  it  seems  to  be,  in  the  present  con- 
dition of  Ireland,  almost  a  necessary  incident,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  necessary,  if  it 


1881.]  GLASGOW    STUDENTS.  511 

be  necessary,  is  a  proof  of  how  much  there  is  required  to  be  done  to  change  the 
whole  social  condition  of  the  great  mass  of  the  tenantry  of  Ireland — (cheers) — and 
the  debate  to-night  is  not  got  up  with  the  idea  of  preventing  this  vote  being  passed." 

Mr.  Bright  was  elected  Lord  Rector  of  Glasgow  University 
on  the  15th  of  November,  in  succession  to  Mr.  Gladstone. 
Mr.  Buskin  had  been  nominated  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Bright 
by  the  Conservative  students,  but  he  received  only  814  votes, 
whereas  Mr.  Bright  was  elected  by  1,128.  The  victory  was 
celebrated  by  the  students  by  a  torchlight  procession  through  the 
streets  of  Glasgow. 

On  the  16th  of  November  Mr.  Bright  was  present  at  a 
large  meeting  of  his  constituents.  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  the 
chairman. 

"I  recollect  some  years  ago  making  an  observation,  I  believe  on  this  very  plat- 
form, about  the  House  of  Lords,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  referring  to  the  rejection  by 
the  House  of  Lords  of  the  Compensation  for  Disturbance  Bill,  adding,  "  I  said  in  my 
opinion  an  hereditary  House  of  Legislature  could  not  be  a  permanent  institution  in  a 
free  country.  (Loud  cheers.)  Some  time  after  that,  when  Lord  Palmerston  was 
forming  a  Government,  he  was  urged  by  Lord  John  Russell  to  offer  offices  in  his 
Cabinet  to  Mr.  Cobden  and  myself.  1  ou  recollect  that  Mr.  Cobden  was  then  in 
America,  and  the  office  which  Mr.  Chamberlain  now  holds  was  reserved  for  him, 
when  he  should  return  to  this  country.  He  returned,  but  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
accept  it.  Lord  John  Russell  wrote  to  me,  and  explained  the  reason  why  Lord 
Palmerston  found  that  he  could  not  ask  me  to  join  his  Government ;  and  it  was  this 
— that  I  had  expressed  opinions,  or  an  opinion,  about  an  institution  in  this  country, 
which  the  country  thought  important  and  essential,  and  that  there  were  persons 
whose  support  was  necessary  to  his  Government,  who  told  him  that  that  support 
would  be  withheld  if  I  became  a  member  of  his  Administration.  Well,  I  should 
have  uttered  no  menaces — a  foolish  tiling  for  me  to  do — against  the  House  of  Lords ; 
but  if  I  were  particularly  anxious  that  the  House  of  Lords  should  endure  as  long  as 
the  sun  and  the  moon,  I  should  say  it  would  be  much  better  to  have  some  regard  for 
the  interests  and  sufferings  of  the  population  of  Ireland  than  to  rush  up  in  a  crowd  and 
reject  a  measure  which  those  entrusted  with  the  Administration  of  the  country 
declared,  upon  their  authority  and  their  conscience,  to  be  necessary  for  the  peace  of 
the  nation.  (Loud  applause.)  .  .  .  Force  is  not  a  remedy.  (Cheers.)  There 
are  times  when  it  may  be  necessary,  and  when  its  employment  may  be  absolutely 
unavoidable ;  but,  for  my  part,  I  should  rather  regard  and  discuss  measures  of  relief 
as  measures  of  remedy  than  measures  of  force,  whose  influence  is  only  temporary, 
and  in  the  long  run,  I  believe,  is  disastrous.  (Cheers.)  I  don't  now  refer  to  some 
of  the  remedies  you  have  heard  of — violent  and  impossible  schemes,  where  tenants 
are  apparently  to  fix  their  own  rents,  under  which,  as  a  body,  the  landlords  are  to 
be  got  rid  of  and  banished ;  or  where  the  Government  is  to  undertake  some  gigantic 
transaction — raising  two  or  three  hundreds  of  millions  of  money  to  buy  them  out  of 
their  estates,  and  to  convey  the  estates  over  to  the  farmers  who  now  cultivate  them. 
Now;  I  believe  that  the  extravagant,  and  the  impossible,  and  the  unjust  is  not 
required  even  in  a  case  so  serious,  it  may  be  so  desperate,  as  this.  Those  proposi- 
tions, which  no  Government  can  listen  to,  which  no  people  can  submit  to — those 
propositions,  depend  upon  it,  are  made  by  men  who  in  their  hearts  hate  England 
much  more  than  they  love  the  farmers  of  their  own  country." 

In  March,  1881,  M.  Buisson,  a  French  journalist  residing 
in  London,  presented  to  Mr.  Bright,  at  his  residence  at  Picca- 
dilly, a  memorial  on  behalf  of  a  number  of  the  leading  French 
Liberals,  on  the  subject  of  the  Transvaal  war.  About  thirty 
members  of  the  French  Senate  signed  it,  as  well  as  Deputies  and 
members  of  the  Paris  Municipal  Council  and  the  French 


512  LIFE  AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1881. 

Academy.  The  memorial  bore  the  signatures  of  M.  Victor 
Hngo,  M.  Ernest  Renan,  M.  Legouve,  M.  Carnot,  and  M. 
Scheurer-Kestner.  Mr.  Bright,  in  reply,  wrote  the  following 
letter : — 

"  I  was  glad  to  have  the  opportunity  of  speaking  to  you  yesterday,  during  your 
short  visit,  when  you  presented  to  me  an  address  on  the  subject  of  the  Transvaal 
war  from  the  eminent  French  Liberals  whose  names  I  find  appended  to  it.  They 
have  done  me  great  honour  in  selecting  me  as  in  any  manner  worthy  to  be  con- 
sidered a  representative  of  the  friends  of  '  international  justice,  peace,  and  goodwill 
between  nations.'  I  accept  the  address  with  much  pleasure,  and  I  can  ask  now  to 
be  permitted  to  rejoice  with  them  in  the  happy  settlement  of  a  difficulty  and  of  a 
conflict  which  has  excited  in  their  minds,  as  in  mine,  so  deep  a  grief.  I  believe  the 
English  people  will  gladly  sustain  a  Government  which  has  restored  peace  by  a 
course  at  once  magnanimous  and  just,  and  I  feel  entire  confidence  that  its  policy 
will  be  approved  in  all  foreign  countries  by  'friends  of  international  justice,  peace, 
and  goodwill  between  nations.'  I  ask  you  to  convey  to  the  eminent  Frenchmen  who 
have  signed  the  address  my  warm  thanks  for  the  great  compliment  they  have  paid 
me." 

An  international  address,  which  had  received  numerous 
signatures  in  Holland,  Germany,  Hungary,  France,  and  Italy, 
was  forwarded  to  Mr.  Bright  in  March  by  Mr.  Karl  Blind,  to 
whom  the  right  hon.  gentleman  replied  : — 

"  Dear  Sir, — I  thank  you  for  the  memorial  you  have  forwarded  to  me,  and  for  the 
friendly  letter  from  yourself  on  the  sad  question  of  the  Transvaal  difficulty.  I  hope 
the  prospect  is  one  of  peace,  and  not  of  further  war,  and  that  an  arrangement  may 
be  made  satisfactory  to  the  Transvaal  people,  and  honourable  to  this  country.  I 
scarcely  need  to  assure  you  that  whatever  influence  I  possess  is  being,  and  will  be, 
exerted  in  favour  of  peace.  The  conflict  is  one  in  which  England  can  gain  nothing, 
not  even  military  glory,  which  is  the  poorest  kind  of  glory,  in  my  view,  which  men 
and  nations  strive  for.  I  hope  the  time  may  come  when  nations  will  seek  and 
obtain  honourable  renown  by  deeds  of  mercy  and  justice." 

On  the  31st  of  March,  Mr.  Duncan  McLaren,  who  for  fifteen 
years  had  represented  Edinburgh  in  Parliament,  and  who,  from 
his  constant  attendance  in  the  House,  and  his  perfect  mastery 
of  all  Scotch  subjects,  was  jokingly  known  as  "  the  member  for 
Scotland/'  was  presented  with  an  addresss  by  his  former  col- 
leagues, on  the  occasion  of  his  resignation  in  favour  of  the  Lord 
Advocate.  The  ceremony  took  place  in  one  of  the  committee- 
rooms  up-stairs,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  Scotch  members  and  a 
sprinkling  of  Englishmen,  including  Mr.  McLaren's  brothers-in- 
law — Mr.  John  Bright  and  Mr.  Jacob  Bright ;  his  two  sons — 
the  Lord  Advocate  for  Scotland  and  Mr.  Charles  McLaren,  the 
member  for  Stafford — were  also  present,  as  was  also  Mrs. 
McLaren.  The  scene  was  impressive  and  interesting. 

In  January,  1881,  the  Government  found  that  the  disturbed 
and  lawless  condition  of  Ireland  was  such  that  they  were  forced 
to  bring  forward  a  Coercion  Bill.  Mr.  Bright  was  twitted  by 
some  of  the  Irish  members  with  inconsistency,  and  in  a  speech  he 
delivered  on  the  28th  of  January,  he  said : — 


1881.]  DEATH   OP   LORD   BEACONSFIELD.  513 

"That  with  regard  to  former  repressive  measures  he  had  never  denied  their 
necessity,  but  he  had  complained  that  they  were  not  accompanied  by  remedial 
measures,  and  that  no  case  of  grievance  was  admitted.  So,  he  added,  if  this  Bill 
had  stood  alone,  and  if  it  were  not  notorious  that  it  was  to  be  accompanied  by  a 
large  remedial  measure  for  the  admitted  grievances  of  Ireland,  he  would  not  be 
sitting^  on  the  Treasury  bench  at  that  moment.  ...  It  has  always  been  my 
wish,  in  anything  that  I  have  said  in  the  last  thirty  years,  never  to  cast  a  slight  or  a 
stigma  or  a  slur  upon  your  people.  I  could  spend  a  few  minutes  in  dwelling  upon 
the  virtues  of  the  Irish  people,  and  I  believe  their  offences  and  their  crimes  and 
their  vices  arise  rather  from  the  condition  into  which  those  who  should  be  their 
superiors  have  brought  them — (loud  cheers) — than  from  their  own  hearts.  No,  Sir, 
in  our  agitation  there  was  no  language,  no  teaching  in  favour  of  any  crimes,  any 
outrage,  any  terror.  I  call  to  witness  every  man  who  remembers  the  time  that  our 
speeches,  strong  as  they  might  be,  condemnatory  as  they  might  be  of  the  law  which 
we  condemned,  hostile  as  they  were  to  the  landowners,  were  still  always  conceived 
in  a  moral  and  an  elevated  tone,  and  directed  the  people  to  their  own  political 
friends,  and  to  the  element  of  justice  in  Parliament,  to  seek  the  remedy  for  their 
grievances.  (Cheers.)  But  what  have  these  gentlemen  done  ?  They  have  to  a 
large  extent  demoralised  the  people  whom  they  profess  to  befriend."  (Loud  and 
continued  cheering.) 

The  Bill,  after  a  lengthy  discussion,  passed  through  both 
Houses,  and  became  law. 

Mr.  Gladstone  introduced  the  Irish  Land  Bill  on  the  7th  of 
April. 

"Justice,  Sir,  is  to  be  our  guide,"  said  the  Premier.  "It  has  been  said  that 
love  is  stronger  than  death,  and  so  justice  is  stronger  than  popular  excitement,  than 
the  passion  of  the  moment,  than  even  the  grudges  and  resentments  and  sad  traditions 
of  the  past.  Walking  in  that  path  we  cannot  err.  Guided  by  that  light — that 
Divine  light — we  are  safe.  Every  step  we  make  upon  our  road  is  a  step  that  brings 
us  nearer  to  the  goal,  and  every  obstacle,  even  although  it  seems  for  the  moment 
insurmountable,  can  only  for  a  little  while  retard,  and  never  can  defeat,  the  final 
triumph." 

On  the  19th  of  April,  Lord  Beaconsfield,  after  three  weeks' 
illness,  expired  at  his  residence  in  Curzon  Street,  London,  at  the 
age  of  77.  For  the  last  six  years  of  his  life  he  filled  the  digni- 
fied position  of  Prime  Minister  with  all  but  absolute  sway. 
His  whole  career  was  very  remarkable  and  instructive. 

"It  cannot  be  denied  that  he  exercised  a  singular  fascination  over  all  who  were 
brought  into  contact  with  him,  to  such  an  extent  that  the  proudest  and  most  inde- 
pendent of  his  colleagues  were  obliged  to  yield  to  its  spell,"  wrote  the  able  editor  of 
the  Manchester  Examiner  and,  Times,  adding  that  "  one  secret  of  his  power  lay  in 
his  habitual  reserve  and  his  remarkable  gift  of  self-control.  No  man  Knew  better 
when  to  speak  and  when  to  be  silent.  Silence  was  one  of  the  adjuncts  and  aids  of 
that  mysteriousness  which  served  his  purpose  so  well.  His  followers  looked  wistfull}' 
towards  the  dumb  oracle,  and,  just  because  it  was  dumb,  only  felt  the  more  deeply 
persuaded  of  the  unbounded  resources  of  wisdom  and  sagacity  which  lay  behind. 
At  last,  when  the  shifting  tides  of  opinion  seemed  to  have  brought  about  the  pro- 
pitious moment,  the  lips  of  the  prophet  opened  in  epigrammatic  sentences,  and  the 
expectant  crowd  shook  with  delight.  This  wv  not  all  trickery.  There  was  sagacity 
in  it  as  well.  He  waited  till  circumstances  seemed  likely  to  give  force  to  his  words, 
and  he  was  not  often  mistaken." 

A  banquet    was  given  to  Her  Majesty's  Ministers  by  the 
Court  of  Assistants  of  the  Fishmongers'  Company  on  the  '2  7th 
H  H 


614  LITE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1881 

of  April,  and  Mr.   Bright,  in  responding  to  the  toast  of  "The 
House  of  Commons/'  referred  to  the  Bill  by  saying — 

"  With  regard  to  this  Irish  measure  to  which  Lord  Hartington  referred,  I  had  an 
interesting  letter  from  Ireland  some  weeks  ago,  in  which  the  writer  concluded  by 
saying,  '  If  you  will  secure  the  tenant,  you  will  secure  the  landlord.'  (Hear,  hear.) 
And  the  object  of  the  Bill  really  is  for  the  purpose  of  giving  as  much  security,  and 
certainly  not  more,  to  the  tenant  as  to  the  landlord,  and  to  give  him  the  greatest 
possible  stimulus  for  the  exertion  of  his  industry.  And  if  that  be  the  effect  of  the 
measure,  there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt  that  it  must  be  of  the  greatest  advantage 
to  the  landlord.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  believe  the  effect  of  this  Bill  when  it  comes  into 
operation  will  be  to  steady  the  price  of  land  in  Ireland.  The  price  now  is  scarcely 
anything.  Land  cannot  be  sold  generally  over  the  country.  But  suppose  the  land- 
lord be  shorn  of  anything,  of  what  are  called  rights — great  power  over  individual 
tenants — his  rent,  if  in  some  degree  moderate,  will  be  secured.  He  will  be  able  to 
live  among  a  population  who  no  longer  distrust  him  and  hate  his  agent,  and  among 
whom  he  may  dwell  in  comfort  and  security  such  as  in  many  parts  of  Ireland  for  a 
long  time  he  has  not  been  able  to  enjoy.  The  Bill  of  the  Government,  as  you  may 
be  sure,  is  in  all  the  circumstances  the  best  Bill  that  could  be  offered  to  Parliament. 
It  is  impossible  for  any  Goverment  to  work  more  steadily  than  that  of  Mr.  Gladstone. 
There  never  was  the  head  of  a  Government  more  capable,  more  anxious  to  do  good 
than  Mr.  Gladstone.  (Cheers.)  Well,  that  being  so,  those  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  who  are  supporters  of  Mr.  Gladstone  should  have  patience  in  some  cases ; 
they  should  have  trust  in  other  cases  that  the  Government  will  do  all  that  they 
possibly  can  in  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are  placed ;  and  if  they  give  that 
confidence  to  the  Government,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Government  will  as  far  as 
possible  justify  the  confidence  reposed  in  them." 

Mr.  Callan,  on  the  6th  of  May,  moved — "  That,  in  the  opinion 
of  this  House,  it  is  expedient  and  necessary  that  measures 
should  be  taken  in  the  present  Session  of  Parliament  to  improve 
the  condition  of  agricultural  labourers'  habitations  in  Ireland/' 
Mr.  Bright,  in  speaking  on  the  subject,  said  : — 

"I  do  not  see  why,  if  there  was  that  spirit  amongst  the  Irish  classes — I  am  not 
speaking  of  the  poor  labourer,  but  of  the  middle  classes — why  in  the  name  of  common 
sense  is  it  that  during  the  last  hundred  years  there  has  not  been  a  single  manufactory 
of  any  importance  established  and  sustained  in  Ireland  ?  (Cheers.)  Why  is  it  that 
water  runs  from  Loch  Comb  into  Galway  Harbour,  and  there  is  nothing  done  with 
it  ?  If  it  were  in  America,  it  would  be  used.  If  it  were  in  Great  Britain,  it  would 
be  used.  Why  is  it  not  used  in  Ireland  ?  It  is  not  a  sufficient  answer  to  say  that  the 
land  laws  are  bad.  (Hear,  hear.)  Our  land  laws  are  bad.  But  what  we  have  done 
has  been  in  the  teeth  of  a  system  of  land  laws  which  is  in  some  respects  even  worse 
than  that  of  Ireland.  I  think  Irish  members  and  Irish  gentlemen  everywhere  ought 
to  ask  themselves  whether  it  is  not  possible,  amongst  the  middle  classes  in  that 
country,  to  do  something  to  utilise  the  vast  stores  of  water  they  have,  and  the  many 
advantages  they  have.  There  is  no  single  disadvantage,  except  that  they  have  not 
a  supply  of  coals  as  good  as  we  have.  (An  Irish  member:  'Nor  capital.')  As  to 
capital,  do  you  suppose  that  the  people  of  Great  Britain  would  send  their  capital  to 
every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  lose  scores  if  not  hundreds  of  millions  of  it  within  the 
last  few  years — do  you  suppose  they  would  not  invest  their  capital  if  there  was  a 
disposition  on  the  part  of  the  Irish  people  to  make  use  of  the  capital — (cheers) — and 
to  convince  the  people  of  England  that  their  capital  was  secure  ?  " 

Mr.  Bright,  in  discussingtthe  Irish  Land  Bill,  on  its  second 
reading,  concluded  his  speech  by  saying — 

"The  hon.  member  for  Cork  (Mr.  Parnell)  found  some  fault  in  his  speeches 
outside  the  House  with  regard  to  the  Bill.  He  objected  to  what  was  said  about 
emigration,  and  that  nothing  was  said  about  the  labourers.  The  Bill  indicates 
nothing  of  the  kind  that  any  single  Irish  man  or  woman  will  be  compelled  01 


1881.]  THE    IRISH   LAND   BILL.  616 

lured  to  leave  the  country  and  cross  the  Atlantic.  No  less  than  ninety-five 
thousand  persons  emigrated  from  Ireland  last  year — (cheers) — and  if  the  reports 
we  see  in  the  papers  are  correct,  it  seems  that  now  emigration  is  going  on  at 
a  greater  rate  than  it  was  at  this  time  last  year.  I  put  it  to  the  hon.  member 
foi  Cork  if  the  great  mercantile  steamers  were  to  anchor  at  Cork  or  Galway, 
and  to  offer  free  passages  to  the  families  of  all  the  population  of  Connaught, 
how  many  would  remain  behind  ?  Probably  he  would  say  the  whole  of  the 
population  of  Connaught ,  but  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  the  half  of  them  would 
find  their  way  in  a  very  short  time  to  the  United  States.  That  is  a  country 
which  opens  its  door  to  everybody.  The  Minister  of  the  United  States  in  this 
country  (Mr.  Lowell),  a  man  who  has  put  as  much  wisdom  as  wit  into  his  poems. 
in  describing  that  country,  says — 

1  Whose  very  latch-strinpr  never  was  drawn  in 
Against  the  poorest  child  of  Adam's  kin." 

(Cheers.)  Therefore,  whilst  the  Bill  does  not  propose  to  offer  any  inducement, 
except  such  as  the  population  now  have,  to  any  single  Irish  family  to  emigrate, 
yet,  I  am  bound  to  say  I  believe  it  would  be  far  better  for  a  great  number  of 
those  families  to  be  settled  in  the  better  parts  of  Canada  and  the  United  States 
than  to  remain  where  they  are,  or  to  be  removed  from  where  they  are  to  any  of 
those  tracts  of  land  which  at  a  certain  expense,  not  easily  ascertained — (hear, 
hear) — might  in  Ireland  be  made  fit  for  habitation.  So  that  I  trust  that  these 
families  that  will  go,  and  that  are  going — notwithstanding  the  violent  passions 
that  are  excited  in  America  by  statements  that  are — some  of  them — not  true,  and 
some  of  them  wildly  exaggerated — I  trust  there  are  persons  going  to  the  United 
States  who  before  long  will  find,  and  will  hear  from  the  old  country  that  her 
miseries  are  abating,  arid  that  justice  is  being  done,  and  that  the  disloyalty 
and  the  suffering  that  we  have  had  so  much  to  regret  are  in  a  great  part  removect. 
(Hear,  hear.)  And  with  regard  to  the  labourers,  to  whom  the  hon.  member  for 
Cork  has  referred,  I  believe  nothing  will  do  so  much  good  for  them  as  anything 
that  will  induce  farmers  to  cultivate  their  land  better.  (Hear,  hear.)  What 
shall  I  say  about  this  Bill  ?  If  the  portion  of  it  which  deals  with  the  relations  of 
landlord  and  tenant  is  worked  with  fairness,  if  the  other  portion — the  purchase 
clauses  and  powers — is  worked  with  energy,  I  dare  to  hope  and  believe  we  shall 
find  it  a  measure  of  healing  and  blessing  to  the  Irish  people — (loud  cheers)— and  I 
ask  hon.  members  on  every  side  of  the  House  not  to  imagine  that  the  Bill  was 
not  framed  with  a  great  intention,  and  honestly,  and  with  a  great  purpose. 
(Hear,  hear.)  Let  them  support,  as  far  as  they  can,  the  Bill,  and  the  Govern- 
ment which  lias  introduced  it  to  the  House.  This  night,  and  every  night,  the 
House  prays  in  language  that  always  strikes  me  as  very  touching  and  very 
beautiful.  As  the  representatives  of  the  nation  we  pray  to  Heaven  for  the 
peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  realm.  It  is  for  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the 
realm  that  this  Bill  has  been  drawn  up  and  proposed  to  the  House ;  and  it  is  with 
the  hope  that  if  it  passes  it  will  tend  to  that  end,  that  we,  with  great  confidence 
and  not  with  fear,  ask  for  it  the  acceptance  and  the  sanction  of  Parliament." 
(Loud  cheers.) 

On  the  19th  of  May,  the  second  reading  of  the  Bill  was 
carried  by  352  to  176. 

Mr.  Bright  was  one  of  the  guests  at  the  Ministerial  banquet 
at  the  Mansion  House  on  the  6th  of  August,  and  in  his  speech 
on  that  occasion  he  again  referred  to  the  Irish  Land  Bill. 

"  I  believe  that  this  measure  is  as  great  and  as  noble  a  measure  on  that  question  as 
it  would  be  possible  for  the  English  Parliament  to  pass ;  that  it  is  one  which  it  is 
impossible,  when  it  becomes  law,  that  the  Irish  people  should  not  discover  to  be  a 
great  measure  of  satisfaction  and  redemption  for  them,  unless  they  are  unable  to 
understand  a  po'.icy  intended  directly  for  their  benefit.  (Cheers.)  I  have  said  that 
there  are  fears.  I  have  fears.  After  the  state  of  things  through  which  the  Irish 
people  have  gone  in  so  many  successive  periods,  it  is  not  perhaps  quite  certain  that 
all  remedial  measures  are  not  too  late.  I  will  not  express  a  strong  fear  that  such  ia 

II    H    2 


616  LIFE  AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT.  p88l 

the  case ;  on  the  contrary,  I  will  express  a  strong  hope  that  such  is  not  the  case.  It 
may  be  that  some  would  say, 

'  For  never  can  true  reconcilement  grow 
Where  wounds  of  deadly  hate  have  pierced  so  deep ; ' 

but  as  generation  after  generation  passes,  governed  by  a  monarchy  kindly,  liberal, 
beneficent  like  ours,  legislated  for  by  a  Parliament  anxious  to  do  justice  to  all  the 
people  under  its  sway,  I  will  not  doubt,  I  will  believe,  that  whatever  may  be  the 
passion,  whatever  the  frenzy  in  the  minds  of  the  Irish  people,  whatever  the  gloom 
that  now  rests  on  that  country,  all  this  may  pass  away,  and  that  the  time  may  come, 
and  come  soon,  when  in  Ireland  it  shall  be  felt  as  much  as  it  is  felt  in  England,  that, 
with  all  its  faults,  our  Government  does  intend  to  do  rightly  by  the  Irish  people. 
(Cheers.)  Therefore,  looking  on  the  Session  now  drawing  to  a  close,  terrible  as  has 
been  the  work,  long  as  have  been  the  hours  and  the  nights  of  its  toil,  often  as  we 
have  been  shocked  by  conduct  in  the  House  that  has  been  distasteful  and  distracting 
to  us,  nevertheless  I  live  in  the  hope  that  men  will  look  back  to  the  Session  of  1881, 
and  will  say  that  if  we  had  the  greatest  of  statesmen  to  guide  our  affairs,  in  that 
year  was  passed  the  greatest  of  measures  in  order  to  bring  about  tranquillity,  peace, 
and  union  in  the  greatest  empire  on  which  the  sun  shines."  (Loud  cheers.) 

The  Bill  was  considerably  altered  in  the  House  of  Lords 
before  it  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons.  The  lower 
chamber  disagreed  with  those  amendments  that  were  considered 
vitally  to  affect  the  Bill,  and  it  was  again  sent  up  to  the 
Lords,  who  passed  it,  and  on  the  23rd  of  August  it  became 
law. 

In  autumn  it  occurred  to  Mr.  Bright's  townsmen  that  on 
the  16th  of  November  of  that  year  he  would  .attain  the 
age  of  "  threescore  years  and  ten,"  and  they  determined  to 
celebrate  his  birthday  by  presenting  him  with  an  address  in 
their  Town  Hall,  and  by  a  torchlight  procession  and  bonfires, 
and  the  programme  was  carried  out  with  great  enthusiasm.  As 
the  day  drew  near,  applications  from  gentlemen  from  various 
towns  for  tickets  of  admittance  were  made,  but  not  many  were 
granted,  as  it  was  the  desire  of  his  townsmen  that  it  should 
be  purely  a  local  demonstration.  As  much  as  a  guinea  was 
given  by  strangers  for  tickets  to  local  possessors  of  them, 
and  the  incessant  roll  of  carriages  to  the  Town  Hall  in  the 
evening  was  kept  up  for  hours,  as  well  as  a  stream  of  foot 
passengers. 

On  the  morning  of  the  memorable  day,  a  deputation  from  the 
Birmingham  Liberal  Association  presented  him  at  his  residence 
with  a  congratulatory  address,  and  in  the  afternoon  his  work- 
people, and  the  Manchester  and  Salford  Liberal  Associations, 
and  other  public  bodies  also  presented  addresses.  The  streets 
were  gaily  decorated,  and  Mr.  Bright,  as  he  proceeded  in  his 
carriage  through  the  crowded  streets  to  the  meeting  at  the 
Town  Hall  in  the  evening,  was  greeted  with  an  enthusiastic 
welcome  along  the  whole  line  of  route.  The  Mayor,  Mr. 
Alderman  W.  Baron,  presided.  The  hall  was  densely  packed, 


1881.]  THREESCORE   AND   TEN.  617 

and   the   reception  the   hero   of  the   evening  received  greatly 
affected  him. 

The  Mayor  presented  to  Mr.  Bright  the  address  .from  his 
fellow-townsmen,  in  which  was  stated : — 

"We  pray  that  for  many  years  to  cpine  you  maybe  able  to  employ  with  unabated 
force  the  powers  you  have  already  dedicated  to  the  great  ends  of  human  happiness 
and  progress. 

"We  are  proud  to  dwell  on  your  public  career,  exceptionally  distinguished  as  it 
is,  and  has  been,  by  singleness  of  purpose,  purity  of  motive,  fidelity  to  principle,  and 
indomitable  energy  in  pursuing  the  course  of  a  trno  patriot. 

"  We  vividly  recall  some,  periods  of  a  stormy  past,  during  which  you  stood 
unmoved,  sustained  by  a  sense  of  rectitude,  thereby  kindling  in  us  an  ever-fresh 
enthusiasm  and  admiration. 

"The  gifts  of  intellect  and  the  rare  powers  of  utterance  with  which  it  has 
pleased  the  Almighty  to  endow  you  are  recognised  by  all  your  countrymen.  It  has 
been  our  privilege  to  see,  from  your  earliest  years,  how  entirely  they  have  been  con- 
secrated to  the  good  of  your  fellow- creatures. 

"Permit  us  to  say  how  much  we  respect  and  esteem  you  for  those  private 
virtues  which  have  won  for  you  the  love  of  your  workpeople  and  your  fellow- 
townsmen. 

"  To  have  been  an  apostle  of  free  trade,  the  advocate  of  a  free  press,  the  pro- 
moter of  an  extended  franchise,  the  uncompromising  friend  of  peace,  besides  having 
rendered  many  eminent  services  in  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  were  fit 
pissports  to  office  in  two  Administrations,  and  we  can  hardly  exaggerate  our  satis- 
faction and  delight  that  you,  our  townsman,  should  occupy  so  conspicuous  a  position 
in  Her  Majesty's  Government. 

"We  cannot,  within  the  limits  of  an  address,  give  full  expression  to  all  the 
sentiments  we  feel  on  this  occasion.  We  will,  therefore,  simply  beg  you  to  accept 
what  we  now  record  as  an  honest  indication  of  our  feelings,  and  of  our  conviction 
that,  with  you  emphatically,  '  a  hoary  head  is  a  crown  of  glory.'  " 

Mr.  Bright,  in  a  speech  that  occupied  nearly  five  columns 
in  the  daily  papers,  referred  to  the  several  topics  mentioned  in 
the  Address,  and  thus  concluded  : — 

"Now,  what  may  I  say  to  you  as  representing  this  great  constituency  ?  That 
vou  will  look  back  upon  what  you  have  done  as  I  look  back  upon  it ;  that  you  will 
look  back  upon  it  as  a  pledge  that  you  will  not  run  away  from  the  principles  you 
have  so  long  held,  that  if  you  have,  as  perhaps  you  have,  children  growing  up,  you 
will  inculcate  in  their  minds  the  sound  principles  which  you  believe  you  hold,  so 
that  not  the  present  only  but  the  future  of  the  constituency  may  be  at  least  up  to 
the  measure  of  the  past.  If  that  be  done  here  and  elsewhere  we  may  hope  that  iu 
England  not  progress  meaning  merely  change,  but  progress  that  is  a  change  for 
good  may  go  on,  and  that  generation  alter  generation  may  see  our  country,  I  don't 
mean  greater  in  area  over  the  earth's  surface,  but  greater  before  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  world  in  view  of  the  intelligence  and  the  comfort  of  its  people,  and  the 
tranquillity  of  its  Government  and  of  its  circumstances  altogether.  (Cheers.)  We 
shall  find,  of  course,  that  great  changes  will  take  place.  Circumstances  will  change, 
parties  will  change,  leaders  will  change,  names  will  change,  new  questions  will  arise, 
but  one  thing,  at  any  rate,  you  may  resolve  upon,  and  that  I  ask  you,  as  my  last 
words,  to  care  for  that  wherever  you  march,  to  whatever  good  end,  under  whatso- 
ever banner  you  are  enlisted,  at  least  let  us  have  for  ever  on  that  banner  inscribed 
these  word  of  promise,  '  Justice,  and  Freedom,  and  Peace.'  "  (Cheers.) 

The  scene  was  a  bright  interval  snatched  from  the  turmoil  of 
public  life,  and  memorable  for  the  generous  and  high-minded 
sentiments  it  suggested  and  elicited. 


618  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN    BBIGHT.  [1881. 

Mr.  Bright  was  escorted  home  by  six  brass  bands  of  music 
and  a  torchlight  procession  of  about  1,400  persons.  The  Com- 
mon in  front  of  his  residence  was  illuminated  by  an  immeuse 
bonfire  and  a  display  of  fireworks.  And  thus  his  townsmen 
commemorated  his  praise  who  won  that  day  "  The  glory  of  his 
seventy  years." 

While  Mr.  Bright  was  staying  at  his  favourite  sea-side  resort, 
Llandudno,  on  the  18th.  of  December,  1881,  he  laid  the  foun- 
dation-stone of  the  first  Board  Schools  there,  and  in  the  evening 
of  the  same  day  delivered  a  speech  in  St.  George's  Hall, 
where  he  was  presented  with  an  address  by  the  inhabitants. 

"The  address  refers  to  the  age  of  your  town,  to  the  fact  that  a  little  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago  it  was  but  a  mining  village,"  said  Mr.  Bright.  "  I  think  it 
is  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  since  I  first  came  to  this  town,  and  I  am  not  sure 
whether,  entirely  without  exception,  I  have  not  paid  it  a  visit  every  year  since  then. 
(Cheers.)  I  have  rambled  over  the  rocks  and  hills  which  are  in  your  neighbourhooil, 
and  have  enjoyed  the  almost  unsurpassed  beauty  of  the  scenes  which  are  offered  to 
the  eye.  I  have  spent  many,  far  more  than  I  can  count  or  remember,  happy  days 
upon  the  shores  of  your  bay.  I  have  had  some  days,  too,  of  acute  grief,  and  I  have 
had  some  months  of  severe  suffering  during  a  prolonged  illness,  and  for  sixteen  years 
past  I  have  paid  an  annual  visit  to  your  mountain  graveyard,  where  rest  the  remain* 

of  a  precious  child  whom  death  snatched  from  our  family  circle It  is  ,1 

melancholy  fact  that  with  regard  to  our  country — I  use  the  term  England,  but  I 
mean  England  and  Wales — I  say  it  is  a  melancholy  fact  that  in  the  past  the  duty  of 
providing  education  for  the  majority  of  the  young  people  has  been  almost  entirely 
neglected.  We  have  had  universities,  it  is  true,  and  two  universities  with  enormous 
wealth,  but  wealth  which,  I  believe,  has  been  very  lavishly  and  wastef ully  employed. 
We  have  had  these  universities,  but  they  have  given  their  advantages,  such  as  they 
are,  mainly  to  the  rich.  We  have  had  grammar  schools  and  endowed  schools  in 
many  parts  of  the  country,  but  they  have  been  in  the  hands  of  persons  who,  to  a  very 
large  extent,  have  not  kept  these  schools  up  to  the  full  intention  of  their  founders, 
or  what  the  public  of  our  age  requires,  and  in  point  of  fact  we  may  say  that  generally 
the  whole  mass  of  the  people  was  neglected  by  the  Government,  at  least,  was 
neglected  so  far  as  what  we  call  common  school  education  is  concerned.  I  believe 
there  have  been  thousands  of  parishes  in  England  in  which  there  has  been  no 
public  school  whatsoever,  and  now  at  last  we  are  beginning  to  find  ourselves  awake 
to  the  neglect  which  has  hitherto  prevailed,  and  to  the  necessity  for  greater  and 
strenuous  exertions  for  the  future.  In  passing  through  the  country,  through  our 
great  towns,  and  through  many  parts  of  the  country  outside  the  towns,  we  see 
certainly  large  public  buildings,  but  they  have  not  been  schools.  We  have  seen 
large  poorhouses  and  large  prisons,  and  schools  have  been  very  rare  indeed,  and 
those  supplied  by  any  recent  legislation — I  mean  recent  as  compared  with  the  uni- 
versities and  the  old  grammar  schools — have  been  extremely  few,  or  have  not  to  be 
seen  at  all.  I  think  those  institutions,  that  is,  the  poorhouses  and  the  prisons,  are 
to  a  large  extent  memorials  and  proofs  of  the  unwisdom  of  past  Governments — 
(hear,  hear) — and  to  some  extent  of  the  charity  of  the  public.  The  pauperism 
which  has  required  the  building  of  poorhouses  all  over  the  country  cannot,  in 
my  opinion,  be  attributed  fairly  to  any  cause  except  to  the  laws  and  policy  of  the 
Governments  that  have  been  bad.  ...  I  know  I  shall  be  criticised  as  being  a  very 
backward  scholar  myself.  I  am  one  of  those  who,  in  the  sense  of  the  high-culture 
people,  never  had  any  education.  (Laughter.)  I  learned  some  Latin  and  a  very 
little  Greek.  All  the  Greek  has  long  since  gone — (a  laugh)— and  traces  of  the  Latiu 
only  remain.  .  .  .  Some  years  ago  I  met  a  German  gentleman  in  Birmingham, 
himself,  I  believe,  from  the  kingdom  of  Saxony,  and  the  question  of  education  was 
being  discussed.  He  told  me  that  fifty  years  previous,  that  would  now  be  perhaps 
sixty  years  ago,  intemperance  was  so  common  in  that  country  that  if  there  was  a 
man  anywhere  very  drunk,  they  said,  '  Why,  he  is  as  drunk  as  a  Saxon ' — (a 
laugh) — but  the  gentleman  added,  '  Now  you  might  use  the  very  opposite  expres- 
sion ;  and  if  you  wanted  to  describe  a  man  who  was  to  be  relied  uuou  for  hig 


1882.]  REGENERATING   EFFECTS   OF   EDUCATION.  519 

sobriety  you  would  say,  'Why,  he  is  as  sober  as  a  Saxon.'  I  said,  tell  me  how  this 
has  been  brought  about?  Have  you  had  any  great  changes  in  your  laws  with 
reference  to  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  ?  He  replied  that  so  far  as  he  knew 
there  was  no  such  legal  change  of  any  importance,  none  that  struck  his 
mind ;  but  he  added  that  he  believed  the  change  had  been  made  entirely  by 
the  schools.  (Hear,  hear,  and  applause.)  He  said  that  they  had  had  an  admirable 
system  of  education  established,  and  the  result  had  been  such  a  change  in  the  cha- 
racter of  the  growing  generation.  (Applause.)  So  much  self-respect,  so  much 
knowledge  of  what  was  due  to  themselves  and  those  around  them,  so  much  sense  of 
what  would  contribute  to  their  own  comfort  and  happiness,  that  the  practice  and 

the  vice  of  intoxication  have  been  almost  banished  from  amongst  them If  you 

could  give  to  all  the  people,  the  children  who  will  go  to  these  common  schools,  the 
education  which  I  have  described— there  will  be  some  of  them,  in  all  a  large  number, 
who  will  aspire  for  something  more,  and  will  feel  that  they  have  the  capacity  to 
obtain,  and,  of  course,  to  all  those  to  whom  nature  has  given  the  capacity  and  the 
desire  for  further  instruction,  the  way  should  be  open,  so  that  further  instruction 
could  be  given.  I  have  I  know  a  great  many  things  from  my  reading.  I  have 
derived  from  the  reading  of  poetry  intense  gratification,  but  I  do  not  know  that  it 
does  so  much  good-  to  other  people ;  but  the  more,  I  take  it,  that  a  man  can  gather 
of  the  wisdom  of  past  times,  which  is  to  be  found  in  all  our  libraries,  the  more  at 
least  he  ought  to  be  armed  for  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  life,  and  of  the 
duties  which  he  owes  to  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  .  .  .  Every  man, 
whatever  his  position,  who  has  any  interest  in  the  country,  and  any  children,  to  follow 
him,  has  a  direct  personal  interest  in  the  education  of  the  people,  so  that  our  Govern- 
ment henceforth  may  be  a  Government  of  wisdom,  and  not  a  Government  commit- 
ting follies  which  I  described  in  the  earlier  portions  of  my  speech — (cheers) — and 
now,  if  you  and  your  children,  or  the  children  who  go  to  your  school ;  if  the  masters 
teach  them  self-respect,  respect  of  their  playmates,  respect  of  their  parents,  kindness 
to  animals,  a  love  of  truth,  a  love  of  industry,  an  idea  of  what  is  meant  by  prudence 
— all  those  common  virtues,  and  I  am  afraid  with  some  are  so  uncommon — (laughter) 
— if  they  are  taught  all  those,  how  great  may  be  the  results  in  any  town,  or  in 
your  Principality,  or  in  any  community.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  believe  that,  looking  to 
our  home  affairs,  we  may  expect  that  with  regard  to  our  legislation  we  may  have 
greater  justice  done  between  classes,  and  that  the  terms  class  and  class  may  in  time 
be  almost  obliterated  by  the  fact  of  our  becoming  a  united  people  and  nation ;  and 
with  regard  to  our  foreign  affairs,  may  we  not  hope  that,  looking  back  to  the  past, 
the  page  of  glory,  false  glory,  based  on  misery  and  blood,  shall  be  closed,  and  that 
there  shall  be  a  new  chapter  written,  and  that 'the  historian  of  the  future  shall 
record  in  it  the  policy  of  our  cliildreii  and  our  children's  children,  of  a  time  of  a 
higher  civilisation  and  a  time  of  a  higher  and  purer  national  morality."  (Loud 
cheering.) 

Mr.  Bright  delivered  his  annual  address  to  his  constituents 
in  the  Birmingham  Town  Hall  on  .the  3rd  of  January,  1882,  and 
this  year,  as  in  previous  years,  it  was  one  of  the  important 
events  before  the  opening  of  Parliament.  Mr.  Alderman  Avery, 
the  Mayor,  presided. 

"  The  question  is  whether  you  are  to  allow  terror  to  be  master  in  a  considerable 
portion  of  Ireland,  or  whether  you  should  attempt  some  remedy,"  observed  Mr. 
bright,  in  his  lengthy  speech.  "Now,  of  the  remedies,  the  resources  of  barbarism 
are  soldiers  and  the  gallows.  The  resources  of  civilisation — (cheers) — are  temporary 
restraints,  and  true  and  honest  and  broad  mojisures  of  relief.  (Cheers.)  Now,  I  would 
ask  you,  in  all  seriousness,  what  is  this  conflict  which  is  going  on  in  some  parts  of 
Ireland,  not  all  over  Ireland?  It  is  not,  by  any  means,  in  the  majority  of  the 
counties  of  Ireland^  but  still  it  is  so  wide,  and  so  much  as  to  be  a  matter  worthy  of 
very  serious  reflection.  I  said  last  year  on  this  platform  that  we  were  on  the  eve, 
or  in  the  midst,  of  something  like  social  revolt  in  Ireland.  There  were  the  elements 
of  discontent.  There  has  always  been,  so  far  as  I  have  known  anything  of  Ireland,  and 
there  has  generally  been,  some  bad  men  willing  to  make  use  of  ana  to  stir  up  thosu 
elements  of  discontent.  (Hear,  hear.)  At  present  there  is  a  consjiinicy  discovered, 
much  of  it  seen  altogether  undeniable,  a  conspiracy  which  is,  in  reality,  a  treason  to 


520  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN    BRIGHT. 

the  Crown,  and  whose  object  is  the  breaking  up  of  the  United  Kingdom.  (Hear,  hear.) 
It  is  not  a  love  of  the  tenantry  of  Ireland,  but  it  is  a  hatred  of  England.  If  you 
doubt  this  I  will  ask  you  one  or  two  questions.  Who  is  it  that  finds  the  money  'i 
Who  is  it  that  urges  on  men  and  crowds  of  men  to  this  extreme  course  ?  Who  is  it 
that  sends  emissaries  backwards  and  forwards  across  the  Atlantic  ?  Who  is  it  that 
organises  committees,  even  in  our  English  towns,  amongst  the  Irishmen  who  have 
come  here,  and  whom  we  try  to  treat  fairly — (hear,  hear) — whom  we  employ  readily, 
whom  we  pay  honourably,  and  whom  we  are  willing  to  accept  into  our  municipal 
and  our  town  relationship  ?  Who  is  it  that  organises  amongst  these  men  conspiracy 
committees,  illegal  oaths,  the  collection  of  arms,  and  the  idea — the  miserable  idea — 
that  there  can  ever  come  the  time  when  they  can  influence  the  policy  or  safety  of 
this  country  by  anything  that  their  miserable  conspiracies  can  do  ?  (Loud  cheers.) 
It  is  a  section  of  Irishmen  in  the  United  States  who  find  the  funds  for  all  this 
machinery ;  and  if  you  would  like  to  know  a  little  of  what  they  are  doing  there,  I 
will  give  you  two  or  three  expressions  from  what  has  been  said  at  an  Irish  convention 
in  the  city  of  Chicago.  .  .  .  Then  there  were  a  good  many  subscriptions,  which 
must  have  been  a  very  lively  part  of  the  undertaking,  and  I  will  read  you  what 
three  of  the  subscribers  said.  It  is  only  two  or  three  lines.  Dr.  Stowe,  Massa- 
chusetts, gave  100  dols.  a  year  'until  Lreland  is  independent^  (loud  laughter)— 
and  to  arm,  equip,  and  put  in  the  field  one  soldier  when  the  proper  time  comes.1 
(Renewed  laughter.)  Mr.  Judge  Rooney,  of  New  York,  gave  100  dols.  for  the  Land 
League,  and  900  dols.  for  arms  to  fight  the  English.  After  that  a  Mr.  M'Mahon 
handed  in  five  dollars,  and  said  he  would  equip  a  man  for  the  war  and  pay  his  ex- 
penses to  England  and  back  again.  (Loud  laughter.)  I  thought  probably  that  Mr. 
M'Mahon  might  save  half  the  money.  I  doubted  whether  one  equipped  soldier  if  he 
came  here  on  that  errand  would  ever  get  back  again.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  Now, 
before  I  sit  down  I  must  give  you  another  fact  or  two.  Amongst  these  several  hun- 
dred men  in  Chicago  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  there  were  a  considerable 
number  who  were  honest  in  their  belief  and  patriotic  in  their  objects  and  intentions 
to  the  best  of  their  knowledge,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  judge  of  Ireland 
partly  from  the  history  of  the  last  century,  and  perhaps  from  stories  they  had  heard 
from  their  grandfathers,  who  were  emigrants  from  this  country  and  from  Ireland  in 
much  worse  times  than  we  have  seen  of  late.  .  .  .  We  Englishmen  are  willing  to 
confess  the  great  errors  of  our  forefathers,  and  we  are  willing  most  liberally  and 
emphatically  to  condemn  them.  If  we  insist  on  a  union  of  feelings  and  of  rights, 
we  allow  the  Irish  to  partake  of  everything  that  we  enjoy,  and  we  are  willing  to 
bear  our  share  of  every  burden  that  may  be  placed  upon  them.  They  won't  deny 
that,  surely.  The  best  market  in  the  world,  with  the  highest  price  the  world  will 
offer  for  everything  they  have  to  sell,  we  give  them.  Here,  also,  is  the  best  market 
in  the  world  for  everything  that  they  may  wish  to  buy,  and  we  receive,  not  with 
hatred  and  with  something  of  unfriendliness,  the  hundreds  of  thousands— -I  am  not 
sure  that  there  is  a  million  and  a  half — of  Irish -born  people  in  Great  Britain.  Then 
they  have  another  advantage,  and  it  is  the  last  I  shall  refer  to,  which  is  this,  that 
they  are,  geographically,  close  to  and  allied  politically  with  a  country  which  has  a 
greater  abundance  of  capital  than  any  other  country  in  the  world ;  and  the  capital 
of  England  ranges  the  whole  globe  in  search  of  safe  and  profitable  investments, 
which  it  very  often  doesn't  find.  But  surely  we  may  ask  why  is  it  that  in  Ireland, 
where  there  is  a  great  field  for  it,  this  capital  does  not  find  constant  and  profitable 
employment  ?  It  is  because  in  that  country  there  is  disorder  and  insecurity — (hear, 
hear) — and  every  Irishman  who  in  pursuit  of  political  objects  stirs  up  disorder  and 
insecurity  is  not  the  friend  but  the  enemy  of  his  country.  (Cheers.)  I  have  said 
nearly  all,  quite  all,  I  think,  that  is  upon  my  mind  to  say.  I  need  not  tell  this 
audience  that  I  have  for  many  years  expressed  and  condemned  what  I  considered  the 
grievances  which  the  Irish  people  have  a  right  to  complain  of.  (Cheers.)  I  have 
spoken  on  platforms  in  Dublin,  in  Belfast,  and  in  Limerick,  in  the  Free-trade  Hall  in 
Manchester,  in  this  Town  Hall  of  yours,  and  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Commons 
many,  many  times  in  explanation  of  what  I  believed  was  the  main  causes  of  the 
constant  discontent,  and  occasionally  what  I  should  call  insurrectionary  movements, 
-and  I  have  besought  the  people  of  this  country  to  understand  them,  and  besought 
Parliament  to  grapple  with  them.  (Loud  cheers.)  Well,  I  have  seen  great  measures 
of  relief  passed  by  the  Imperial  Parliament,  and  I  have  had  some  little  share  in 
making  them  our  permanent  laws.  (Loud  cheers.)  And  now,  notwithstanding 
troubles,  difficulties,  and  contentions  which  may  not  be  immediately  subdued,  I  may 
say,  and  I  say  it  with  perfect  sincerity,  that  I  rest  now  in  the  belief  that  these  great 
measures  will  not  fail — (cheers) — and  that  Ireland  will  yet  become  content,  and 


PBOCEDURE.  521 

tranquil,  and  loyal,  as  are  the  other  portions  of  the  dominions  of  the  Queen." 
(Cheers.) 

-     Mr.  Chamberlain  also  addressed  the  vast  meeting. 

The  House  of  Commons  on  the  30th  of  March  was 
crowded  by  members  and  strangers  in  the  galleries  who  were 
anxious  to  hear  Mr.  Bright  speak  on  the  rules  of  procedure. 

"  Don't  let  the  House  imagine  that  this  is  a  matter  which  affects  chiefly  gentle- 
men sitting  on  this  side  of  the  House,"  said  Mr.  Bright.  "  It  is  one  which  affected 
the  late  Government.  The  right  hon.  gentleman  the  member  for  Devonshire  knows 
perfectly  well  what  difficulties  he  had  to  contend  with,  and  that  these  difficulties 
have  been  growing  from  year  to  year.  I  can  speak  with  impartiality  upon  this 
question.  Though  I  have  been  .in  this  House  nearly  as  long,  I  suppose,  as  any 
member  of  it,  still  no  one  can  charge  me  at  any  time  with  unduly  prolonging  a 
debate  or  with  offering  any  kind  of  obstruction  to  the  Government  when  any 
measure  has  been  proposed  by  the  Government,  or;  I  think,  any  measure  proposed 
by  any  private  member.  Therefore,  no  one  can  bring  any  charge  against  me.  No 
one  can  suppose  that  it  matters  very  much  to  me  what  happens  to  this  Government 
with  regard  to  the  prosecution  of  this  rule.  I  speak  as  a  person  who  has  all  the 
reasons  for  being  as  impartial  as  any  member  of  the  House  can  be.  I  say  there  can 
be  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  time  has  come  when,  unless  the  House  does  some- 
thing to  delivej^itself  of  its  difficulties,  it  will  stand  before  the  country  as  having 
greatly  neglected  its  duty.  (Cheers.)  .  .  .  Now,  the  question  is  whether  what  i« 
offered  is  effective  or  not.  I  refer  to  the  resolution  which  is  brought  forward  by  the 
Prime  Minister  with  regard  to  what  is  called  the  closure,  or  shutting  up  01  the 
debate.  If  I  were  not  on  this  bench  I  should  say  openly  what  I  now  say  rather 
privately — (a  laugh) — and  I  think  the  measure  as  it  is  proposed,  if  it  has  any  failing 
whatsoever,  has  this,  that  it  is  not  sufficiently  comprehensive  and  stringent. 
(Cheers.)  I  thinlr  I  shall  be  able  to  convince  some  members  of  the  House  of  this 
before  I  sit  down.  The  resolution  itself  is  to  my  mind  very  simple  and  very  mode- 
rate. It  intends  that  if  a  debate  be  unduly  prolonged,  and  we  must  have  an  honest 
interpretation  given  to  the  phrase  unduly  prolonged,  and  obstructed,  that  then  there 
should  be  a  mode  by  which  the  House  should  bring  to  some  definite  conclusion  the 
business  upon  which  it  is  engaged.  What  is  the  proposition  the  Government  have 
made  ?  It  is  a  very  simple  one,  viz.,  that  when  a  number  of  under  forty  members 
continue  to  speak  without  any  moderation  or  limit  of  time,  and  there  is  a  general 
weariness  in  the  House,  and  a  sense  that  the  debate  may  reasonably  come  to  a  close, 
that  then  it  may  be  closed  if  there  be  more  than  a  hundred  members  who  wish  it 
should  be  closea.  The  other  proposition  is  just  as  simple.  It  is  that  if  there  should 
be  more  than  forty  members,  that  is  more  than  a  quorum  of  the  House,  then  not  one 
hundred  should  be  allowed  to  close  the  debate,  but  that  two  hundred  should  be 
required  to  enable  that  to  be  done.  Now  this  is  no  puzzle  at  all.  I  should  like  to 
ask  the  House  to  observe  this — what  I  call  a  very  important  point — that  with  regard 
to  the  small  minorities  the  proposition  made  by  the  Government  is  greatly  less  severe 
than  the  proposition  of  those  who  consider  a  majority  of  two-thirds  advisable.  .  .  . 
Sir,  I  think  that  if  there  be  within  the  walls  of  this  House  a  party,  however  small, 
avowing  objects  such  as  these,  and  pursuing  a  course  such  as  this,  it  behoves  all 
members  of  the  House  of  a  different  kind  to  consider  the  position  in  which  they  are. 
I  appeal  to  hon.  gentlemen  on  that  side.  I  differ  from  them,  as  they  know,  very  much, 
and  in  many  things ;  but  I  admit  that  they  are  in  intention  patriotic — (hear,  hear) 
— and  that  they  would  wish  the  honour  of  Parliament  to  be  sustained  and  the  interests 
of  the  country  to  be  guarded.  I  may,  therefore,  fairly  appeal  to  them,  and  I  may 
appeal  to  hon.  gentlemen  on  this  side  of  the  House— (Ministerial  cheers) — English 
members,  Welsh  members,  Scotch  members,  loyal  Irish  members — I  may  appeal  to 
them  and  ask  them  whether  this  House  of  Commons,  with  its  centuries  of  renown  and 
its  centuries  of  services,  is  to  be  made  prostrate,  powerless,  and  useless  at  the  bidding 
and  at  the  action  of  the  handful  of  men  who  tell  you  that  they  despise  you,  and  by 
their  conduct  would  degrade  you?  (Loud  cheers.)  Do  not  let  them  suppose  that 
they  are  better  friends  of  Ireland  than  I  am.  (Cheers.)  I  taught  what  were  the 
wrongs  of  Ireland,  and  urged  that  they  should  be  redressed,  when  some  of  these 
gentlemen  were  in  their  long-clothes.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  I  am  not  less  a  friend 
of  Ireland  because  I  condemn  those  who,  in  my  opinion,  have  been  of  late  her  worst 


522  LIFE    AND    TIMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1882. 

enemies.  Leaving  Ireland  out  of  view,  and  confining  our  attention  only  to  this  House, 
may  I  say  that  we  are  six  hundred  men,  elected  men,  chosen  from  all  parts  of  the 
three  kingdoms — for  what  ?  For  the  high  and  noble  purpose  of  legislating  for  a 
great  and  powerful  empire.  I  ask  you  whether  you  are  willing  now  to  assist  Her 
Majesty's  Government,  or  any  Government  that  may  have  so  great  an  object  in 
view,  for  the  purpose  of  so  altering  to  some  small  extent  the  rules  and  practices  of 
this  House  that,  in  spite  of  the  mischief  of  a  few,  the  House  shall  find  itself  hence- 
forth able  to  fulfil  the  great  duties  which  the  people  of  this  great  nation  have  com- 
mitted to  our  charge."  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheering.) 

The  close  of  the  speech  was  delivered  with  animation,  and 
produced  a  marked  impression.  After  Sir  Stafford  Northcote 
and  Mr.  Gladstone  spoke,  the  House  divided,  and  the  motion  was 
carried  by  a  majority  of  thirty-nine.  On  the  1st  of  May  Mr. 
Bright  again  spoke  on  the  same  subject. 

Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Chamberlain  on  the  1st  of  June  took 
part  in  commemorating  the  opening  of  a  new  library  in  Birming- 
ham, which  had  been  erected  in  place  of  the  building  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1879.  The  meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall  in 
the  afternoon,  and  the  Mayor,  Mr.  Alderman  Th^pias  Avery, 
presided. 

"  I  learned  one  evening  in  London,"  said  Mr.  Bright  in  the  course  of  his  speech — 
"  it  was  at  an  evening  party,  at  which  many  persons  were  assembled — from  a  friend 
of  mine  that  a  friend  of  his  and  mine  was  lying  dangerously,  and,  as  it  turned  out, 
fatally,  ill  in  his  chambers  in  the  Temple.  That  friend  of  mine  was  the  late  Sir 
David  Dundas,  who  was  for  many  years  in  Parliament,  and  with  whose  friendship 
for  many  years  I  was  favoured.  I  went  down  the  next  morning  to  ask  after  him. 
and  if  it  were  proper  to  see  him.  He  invited  me,  through  his  servant,  into  his  room,  and 
I  found  him  upon  his  bed  of  sickness,  feeble,  not  able  to  talk  much,  and  scarcely  able 
to  turn  himself  in  his  bed.  We  had  some  little  conversation,  and  in  the  course  of  it 
he  offered  to  me  something  like  a  benediction.  He  said — I  remember  his  words  very 
well — '  I  have  never  pretended  to  be  a  learned  man  or  a  scholar,  but  God  has  given 
me  a  great  love  of  books. '  He  then  referred  to  the  writings  of  the  celebrated  Lord 
Bacon,  and  taking  a  quotation  from  a  letter  which  that  eminent  person  had  written 
to  a  friend,  he  turned  to  me  and  said,  '  May  God  lead  you  by  the  hand.'  That  was 
one  of  the  passages  fixed  in  his  mind  from  his  reading  of  the  words  of  Lord  Bacon. 
That  was  a  solemn  hour  with  my  friend — if  I  may  quote  a  very  expressive  and 
beautiful  line  from  one  of  Scotland's  real,  but  one  of  her  minor  poets,  Michael  Bruce, 
'  When  dim  in  his  breast  life's  dying  taper  burned ' — at  that  solemn  hour  reviewing  his 
past  life,  reviewing  the  enjoyment  he  had  partaken  of,  he  thanked  God  he  had  given  him 
a  great  love  of  books.  Two  days  after  that — I  think  the  second  or  third  day  after  that 
interview — that '  dying  taper '  was  extinguished,  aud  my  friend  passed  into  the  unseen 
world.  It  occurred  to  me,  and  has  often  occurred  to  me,  what  a  text  the  language  of 
my  friend  was ;  and  if  I  were  a  preacher,  or  if  I  were  in  the  mood  for  preaching,  I 
think  I  could  give  a  sermon  from  that  text.  What  is  a  great  love  of  books  ?  It  is 
something  like  a  personal  introduction  to  the  great  and  good  men  of  all  past  times. 
Books,  it  is  true,  are  silent  as  you  see  them  on  their  shelves ;  but,  silent  as  they  are, 
when  I  enter  a  library  I  feel  as  if  almost  the  dead  were  present,  and  I  know  if  I  put 
questions  to  these  books  they  will  answer  me  with  all  the  faithfulness  and  fulness 
which  has  been  left  in  them  by  the  great  men  who  have  left  the  books  with  us. 
Have  none  of  us,  or  may  I  not  say  are  there  any  of  us  who  have  not,  felt  some  of 
this  feeling  when  in  a  great  library — I  don't  mean  in  a  library  quite  so  big  as  that  in 
the  British  Museum  or  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford,  where  books  are  so  many 
that  they  seem  rather  to  overwhelm  one — but  libraries  that  are  not  absolutely  unap- 
proachable in  their  magnitude  ?  The  other  day,  on  a  recent  occasion  when  a  great 
many  persons  were  assembled  at  Windsor  at  a  recent  marriage,  I  had  an  opportunity 
of  spending  a  quiet  hour  in  the  library  at  Windsor  Castle.  I  have  been  in  other 
great  libraries ;  I  recollect  many  years  ago  at  Woburii  Abbey ;  on  an  occasion  not 
BO  long  ago  at  Chatsworth,  and  there  are  hundreds  of  libraries  throughout  this 


1882.]  LIBEAEIES.  623 

country  which  are  of  the  kind  that  I  describe — such  that  when  you  are  within  their 
walls  and  see  these  shelves,  these  thousands  of  volumes,  and  consider  for  a  moment 
who  they  are  that  wrote  them,  who  has  gathered  them  together,  for  whom  they  are 
intended,  how  much  wisdom  they  contain,  what  they  tell  the  future  ages,  it  is 
impossible  not  to  feel  something  of  solemnity  and  tranquillity  when  you  are  spending 
time  in  rooms  like  these ;  and  if  you  come  to  houses  of  less  note  you  find  libraries 
that  are  of  great  estimation,  and  which  in  a  less  degree  are  able  to  afford  mental 
aliment  to  those  who  are  connected  with  them ;  and  I  am  bound  to  say — and  if  any- 
one cares  very  much  for  anything  else  they  will  not  blame  me — I  say  to  them,  you 
may  have  in  a  house  costly  pictures  and  costly  ornaments,  and  a  great  variety  of 
decoration,  yet,  so  far  as  my  judgment  goes,  I  would  prefer  to  have  one  comfortable 
room  well  stocked  with  books  to  all  you  can  give  me  in  the  way  of  decoration 
which  the  highest  art  can  supply.  The  only  subject  of  lamentation  is — one  feels 
that  always,  I  think,  in  the  presence  of  a  library— that  life  is  too  short,  and 
I  am  afraid  I  must  say  also  that  our  industry  is  so  far  deficient  that  we  seem 
to  have  no  hope  of  a  full  enjoyment  of  the  ample  repast  that  is  spread  before  us. 
(Hear,  hear.)  But  it  is  not  only  in  the  houses  of  royalty  and  in  the  houses  of 
tremendous  personages  —  (laughter)  —  that  these  libraries  are  great  things  to 
possess  and  great  things  to  use,  and  it  is  not  even  in  the  houses  of  what  we  may 
call  the  middle-class  wealthy,  but  in  the  houses  of  the  humble  a  little  library  in 
my  opinion  is  a  most  precious  possession.  Only  the  other  day  I  went  by  accident 
into  the  house  of  a  respectable  old  man  in  my  neighbourhood  (John  Ayrton,  the 
gate-keeper  of  Mr.  Blight's  mills).  He  told  me  that  he  was  then  eighty- 
four  years  of  age.  He  had  a  few  simple  and  pleasant  pictures  on  his  walls,  and 
on  one  side,  between  the  fire  and  the  window,  was  a  shelf  with  a  number  of  books. 
I  dare  say  I  should  have  found  his  Bible  and  probably  a  Hymn  Book,  and  a 
score  or  more  of  other  volumes  which  to  him  and  his  family  were  precious. 
That  little  library,  though  not  exceeding  twenty  or  thirty  volumes,  was  a  proof 
of  something  higher  in  that  house  than  unfortunately  you  will  find  in  many 
houses  in  this  country.  (Applause.)  And  not  long  afterwards  I  called  upon  an 
old  man,  much  older  (Benjamin  Oldham,  Mr.  Blight's  retired  gardener,  late 
of  Cronkeyshaw) :  since  I  saw  him  he  has  passed  to  the  other  world ;  but  he 
was  then,  I  think,  in  his  ninetieth  year,  or  close  upon  it.  There  he  was  with 
his  spectacles  and  a  volume  which  he  was  reading,  and  his  newspaper,  a  weekly 
paper,  which  he  read  constantly,  and  during  the  ten  or  fifteen  years  of  his  old 
age,  in  which  he  had  been  unable  to  follow  his  usual  and  ordinary  occupation, 
he  found  a  newspaper  or  a  book  one  of  the  means  by  which  the  dulness  and 
the  weariness  of  age  and  solitude  were  very  much  mitigated  and  relieved.  Now, 
I  have  spoken  of  the  biggest  libraries,  and  of  some  not  so  large,  and  of  the 
twenty  volumes  in  the  home  of  this  old  man ;  I  will  speak  of  an  incident 
where  one  volume  alone  seems  to  me  to  have  a  great  effect.  Some  years 
ago — I  dare  say  it  is  twenty  years  ago — on  the  invitation  of  two  friends  of  mine, 
I  was  spending  a  fortnight  in  Sutherlandshire,  on  the  Elmsdale  river,  engaged  in 
the  healthful  occupation  of  endeavouring  to  get  some  salmon  out  of  it. 
(Laughter.)  Precarious  occupation !  (Laughter.)  There  is  generally,  almost 
always,  either  too  much  water  or  too  little  —  (laughter)  —  or,  as  my  gillie 
used  to  say,  'The  salmon  are  not  in  the  humour,  Sir' — (laughter) — and  if  they 
knew  what  we  had  come  about  it  was  not  likely  that  they  should  be  in  the 
humour.  (Laughter.)  But  in  the  course  of  the  day,  walking  down  the 
river,  we  entered  the  cottage  of  a  shepherd.  There  was  no  one  at  home, 
I  think,  except  the  shepherd's  wife  or  mother,  I  forget  which,  but  she  was 
an  elderly  woman,  matronly,  very  kind  and  very  courteous  to  us.  Whilst  we  were 
in  the  house  I  saw  upon  the  window  sill  a  small  and  very  thin  volume,  and  I 
took  the  liberty  of  going  up  to  it,  and,  taking  it  in  my  hand,  I  found,  to  my 
surprise  and  delight,  that  it  was  an  edition  which  I  had  never  met  with  before 
or  since — an  edition  of  '  Paradise  Regained ' — the  work  of  a  poet  unsurpassed  in 
any  country  or  in  any  age,  and  a  poem  which  I  believe  great  authorities  admit, 
if  '  Paradise  Lost'  did  not  exist,  would  be  the  finest  in  our  language.  (Applause.) 
I  said  I  was  surprised  and  delighted  down  in  this  remote  country,  in  this 
solitary  house,  in  this  humble  abode  of  this  shepherd,  to  find  this  volume  which 
seemed  to  me  to  transfigure  the  cottage.  (Hear,  hear,  and  applause.)  I  felt  _as  if 
that  humble  dwelling  was  illumined,  MS  it  was,  indeed,  by  the  genius  of  Milton, 
and,  I  may  say,  I  took  the  liberty  of  asking  how  the  volume  came  there  and  who  it 
was  that  read  it.  I  learned  that  the  good  woman  of  the  house  had  a  son  who  had 
been  brought  up  for  the  ministry,  and  I  think  at  the  time  I  was  there  he  was  then 


624  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1882 

engaged  in  his  labours  as  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  the  colony  of  Canada.  Now 
•whenever  I  think  of  some  of  the  rivers  of  Scotland,  when  I  think  of  the  river  Elms- 
dale,  if  I  turn,  as  my  mind  does,  to  that  cottage,  I  always  see,  and  shall  never  forget, 
that  small,  thin  volume  which  I  found  on  the  window  sill,  and  the  finding  of  which 
seemed  to  me  to  lift  the  dwellers  in  that  cottage  to  a  somewhat  higher  sphere.  Now 
I  am  afraid  you  will  think  I  am  merely  telling  you  stories  about  myself — (applause) — 
but  in  one  pi  those  moments  since  I  received  the  Mayor's  letter  I  took  the  liberty  of 
asking  a  friend  of  mine  who  is  not  far  from  me  on  the  platform  what  he  thought 
was  the  kind  of  subject  which  should  be  spoken  of  here,  and  how  it  should  be  treated 
— (laughter) — and  his  answer  was  this.  He  said,  '  I  suppose  and  believe  that  you 
have  read  a  good  many  books ;  why  shouldn't  you  tell  us  something  about  them  ? ' 
Therefore,  that  turned  my  thoughts  a  little  in  that  direction.  I  am  not  a  critic.  I 
never  was  a  writer.  Some  people  say  that  critics  are  writers  who  have  failed  to 
write — (laughter)  —and  being  not  very  kindly  disposed  towards  those  who  have 
succeeded,  they  become  rather  spiteful  in  their  criticisms.  Well,  I  am  not  a  critic, 
and  still  I  have  an  opinion  of  books  that  I  have  read,  and  I  read  one  not  very  lately, 
at  least  a  large  portion  of  it,  to  which  I  should  like  to  refer.  It  is  a  book  contain- 
ing the  memoirs,  and  poems,  and  other  compositions  of — to  my  mind  —the  most  re- 
markable old  lady  that  I  have  ever  heard  of — of  one  Janet  Hamilton,  who  li ved,  I  think, 
in  the  town  of  Coatbridge,  in  Scotland,  in  Lanarkshire,  if  I  am  not  mistaken.  Now  I 
should  like  to  tell  you  what  can  be  done  by  a  person  to  whom  God  has  given  a  great 
love  of  books.  Janet  Hamilton  was  the  daughter  of  a  shoemaker  who  employed  one 
journeyman,  and  as  might  be  reasonably  supposed  she  became  afterwards  the  wife 
of  the  journeyman — (laughter) — and  at  a  very  early  age  too,  earlier  than  I  should 
recommend  in  similar  cases.  However,  during  her  Me  she  had  a  family  of  ten 
children,  most  of  whom,  I  believe,  grew  up  to  manhood  and  womanhood.  But  she 
never  went  to  school,  and  her  mother,  who  was  a  shoemaker's  wife,  taught  her  to 
read.  She  did  not  learn  to  write  until  she  was  fifty,  and  she  became  blind  at  sixty  : 
and  she  lived,  I  think,  to  be  about  seventy-five  or  seventy-six.  So  far  for  the  points 
of  her  life.  Now,  she  never  saw  a  mountain,  she  never  saw  any  river  but  the  river 
Clyde,  and  she  never  was  twenty  miles  away  from  her  own  humble  dwelling.  She 
read  in  her  childhood,  when  about  five  or  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  Bible  stories,  little 
stories  that  her  mother  procured  for  her,  and  at  eight  years  of  age  she  found,  by 
accident,  on  the  beam  of  a  weaver's  loom,  iii  her  neighbourhood,  two  volumes.  One 
was  '  Paradise  Lost,'  and  the  other  was  Allan  Ramsay's  poems.  Now,  she  read  with 
an  extraordinary  eagerness,  and  did  not  forget  what  she  ixad— as  some  of  us  are 
much  too  apt  to  do.  She  read  through  all  the  village  library — the  history,  the 
biography,  the  travels.  When  she  got  to  Shakspeare,  Shakspeare  was  like  a  revela- 
tion to  her — (applause) — and  she  had  no  words  with  which  to  express  her  admiration 
for  his  writings ;  and  she  said  that  in  those  days  it  was  not  considered  a  very  good 
thing  for  senous  people  to  read  Shakspeare.  (Laughter.)  And  there  was  a  hole  in 
the  wall  in  her  house  near  the  chair  on  which  she  nursed  her  children,  and  where 
she  worked  at  some  kind  of  tambour  frame-work,  and  when  people  came  in  she  put 
Shakspeare  into  this  hole  in  the  wall,  so  that  it  might  not  be  seen,  and  her  conduct 
might  not  be  criticised.  (Laughter.)  Well,  she  said  that  in  her  childhood  her 
mother  had  led  her  every  morning,  after  she  could  read,  to  read  a  chapter  in  her 
Bible,  which  was  done  without  intermission  until  she  left  her  home  and  had  a  home 
of  her  own.  She  said  that  her  love  of  books  was  her  ruling  passion,  and  that  notwith- 
standing that,  so  far  as  the  care  of  her  children  and  the  work  she  had  to  do,  so  far 
as  she  knew,  nothing  was  neglected.  But  she  suffered,  ultimately,  from  sitting  up  to 
read  till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  that,  she  believed,  had  had  the  effect  of  very 
much  injuring,  and  at  last  depriving  her  of  her  eyesight.  Now,  somebody  asked 
her  how  it  was  that,  never  having  been  to  school,  she  wrote  so  accurately  not  only 
in  poems,  but  she  wrote  for  one  of  Cassell's  publications  when  she  was  fifty-four 
years  of  age,  although  she  only  learned  to  write  at  fifty,  and  it  is  almost  impossible 
now  to  read  her  writing,  the  letters  are  so  curiously  formed.  But  she  was  asked 
how  she  came  to  write  so  grammatically,  having  never  been  to  school,  and  she  said, 
'  You  might  as  well  ask  why  the  laverock ' — that  is  the  lark — '  can  sing.'  She  said 
God  had  given  her,  not  as  Sir  David  Dundas  said,  a  great  love  of  books,  but  a 
natural  tact  or  gift  of  grammar.  (Laughter.)  Now,  this  old  lady  has  written 
poems,  some  of  which — if  there  was  time  I  would  have  quoted  one  or  two  of  them — 
but  certain  there  are  of  them  that  if  placed  amongst  the  poems  of  Burns,  in  a  volume 
of  his,  no  one  would  for  a  moment  doubt  they  were  the  productions  of  that,  the 
greatest  of  all  Scotch  poets.  That,  I  think,  is  an  amazing  story.  I  confess  it  has 
surprised  me  beyond  anything  I  have  read  for  a  long  time,  and  I  doubt  if  we  have 


POETS.  626 

on  record  the  particulars  of  a  more  remarkable  person  than  my  old  friend,  Janet 
Hamilton.  I  am  very  sorry  I  never  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  her,  though 
friends  of  mine  were  intimate  with  her ;  but  I  had  the  pleasure  afterwards  of  giving 
a  little  subscription  to  a  fund  that  was  raised  for  the  purpose  of  putting  up  a 
memorial  to  her  in  her  town,  and  nearly  opposite,  I  believe,  to  the  house  in  which 
she  lived.  (Applause.)  Now,  I  hope  my  friend  who  recommended  me  to  tell  about 
books  will  not  think  I  have  entirely  neglected  his  recommendation.  But  I  would 
not  wish  to  ask  your  attention  only  to  Scotland.  I  have  spoken  of  Sir  David 
Dundas,  who  was  a  Scotchman,  and  of  the  book  in  the  cottage  of  the  Elmsdale  shep- 
herd, and  now  of  Janet  Hamilton.  If  you  will  permit  me  for  a  few  minutes  1 
should  like  to  ask  you  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  see  if  there  is  anything  we  can  learn 
there.  (Applause.)  It  is  not  very  many  years  ago  since  authorities  in  criticism  in 
England  said,  '  Can  any  good  book  come  from  the  United  States  F '  At  this  moment 
there  are  fifty  millions  of  persons  in  that  Republic,  nearly  all  of  whom  speak  our 
language,  nearly  all  of  whom  can  read  our  books,  not  a  few  of  whom  are  writing 
boolcs  which  we  may  read  with  advantage.  It  is  an  immense  new  field  for  the 
writers  of  the  English  language  jn  this  country,  and  it  is  an  immense  new  field  for 
us  who  take  the  good  things  which  the  writers  in  the  English  language  there  and 
here  provide  for  us.  Well,  we  have  had  a  good  many  poets  of  late  years ;  in  fact, 
I  may  say  the  only  poets  that  the  United  States  have  produced  must  necessarily  have 
been  of  late  years.  But  the  poets  who  rise  to  my  mind  at  the  present  time  are 
Bryant,  who  was  the  oldest,  and  has  passed  away ;  Longfellow,  who  comes  next 
— (applause) — known  much  more  to  Englishmen  than  Bryant,  and  who  now  has 
passed  away ;  Whittier,  who  is  beginning  to  be  more  known  in  this  country  than  he 
has  been;  Wendell  Holmes — '(applause) — Mr.  Russell  Lowell,  Minister  from  the 
United  States  to  our  Court,  and  no  less,  I  think  I  may  say,  Minister  to  our  people. 
(Applause.)  Longfellow  is,  or  was,  a  man  of  whom  I  had  a  little  personal 
knowledge.  I  spent  a  morning  with  him  once  at  the  house  of  the  late  eminent 

Ehysician,  Sir  Henry  Holland,  and,  as  I  walked  away  with  him  through  Hanover 
quare,  he  was  speaking  to  me  of  his  friend  Whittier.  Nothing  could  be  more 
kindly,  more  generous,  more  affectionate  than  his  language  towards  his  brother 
poet.  There  was  no  rivalry,  no  jealousy.  He  said  that  he  thought  Whittier  was  a 
poet  remarkable  in  one  thing,  that  he  seemed  always  in  his  writings  to  improve. 
Well,  I  would  like  to  ask  you  if  you  have  ever  read  what  I  consider  the  greatest  of 
popms  of  the  United  States — that  is,  Longfellow's  '  Song  of  Hiawatha. '  Many  people 
have  ridiculed  the  '  Song  of  Hiawatha '  because  of  the  simplicity  of  the  metre ; 
but  if  you  read  only  the  first  few  lines  of  it,  which  I  will  venture  to  read  to  you, 
you  will,  I  hope,  feel  rather  as  I  felt,  and  be  disposed  again,  if  opportunity  afford, 
to  read  the  poem  through  and  through  if  you  have  already  read  it.  He  begins  :— 

'  Ye  whose  hearts  are  fresh  and  simple, 
Who  have  faith  in  God  and  Nature, 
Who  believe  that  in  all  ages 
Every  human  heart  is  human, 
That  in  even  savage  bosoms 
There  are  longings,  yearnings,  strivings 
For  the  good  they  comprehend  not ; 
That  the  feeble  hands  and  helpless 
Groping  blindly  in  the  darkness, 
Touch  God's  right  hand  in  that  darkness, 
And  are  lifted  up  and  strengthened. 
Listeu  to  this  simple  story, 
To  the  song  of  Hiawatha.' 

(Applause.)  And  then  through  that  poem  you  have  descriptions  of  Indian  life  and 
Indian  legends  which  to  me  are  of  inexpressible  beauty ;  and  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
say,  as  far  as  my  reading  has  led  me  to  judge,  that  that' is  a  poem  that  deserves  to 
live,  and  will  live ;  and  at  this  moment  it  is  the  finest  poem  of  any  length  that  has 
been  produced  by  any  writer  of  the  United  States.  Now  I  shall  say  a  word  about 
John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  because,  though  I  have  not  seen  him,  yet  I  have  had 
correspondence  with  him,  and  I  have  a  great  affection  for  him ;  and,  besides,  there  is 
a  certain  other  connection,  as  he  in  the  United  States  is  a  member  of  the  small 
Church  of  which  I  also  in  this  country  am  a  member.  I  met  some  time  ago  during 
the  American  war  an  eminent  citizen  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  who  told  me 
that  he  thought  that  there  was  no  man  in  the  United  States  whose  writings  at  the 
time  and  for  some  years  before  the  war  had  had  so  groat  influence  upon  public 
opinion  in  that  country  as  the  writings  of  John  Greenleaf  Whittier.  And  uo  doubt 


626  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OP  JOHN  BRIGHT.  (1882. 

that  arose  partly  from  this — that  lie  wrote  strongly  on  the  subject  of  freedom,  and 
strongly  against  the  system  of  slavery  which  was  about  to  involve  that  great  country 
in  a  great  civil  war.  (Applause.)  I  would  not  wish  to  exaggerate  anything  with 
regard  to  the  American  poets,  but  I  think  a  great  deal  may  be  said  in  their  favour. 
(Hear,  hear.)  Whittier  himself  when  he  attacks  the  question  of  negro  slavery  and 
the  hoiTor  and  the  curse  of  it,  writes  in  a  manner  which  must  have  roused 
the  indignation  and  excited  the  animosity  of  the  people  for  whom  he  wrote 
against  that  enormous  evil.  I  will  read  you  one  stanza  from  one  of  his  little  poems, 
and  ask  you  whether  if  such  an  enormity  of  slavery  had  existed  amongst  us  this  would 
not  have  roused  our  indignation.  He  wrote  a  poem  called  '  The  Farewell  of  a  Virginia 
Slave-mother  to  her  Daughters,'  who  were  sold  South  into  a  worse  bondage  than 
that  of  Virginia : — 

Gone,  gone,  sold  and  gone ! 

To  the  rice  swamp,  dark  and  lone ; 

Then  no  mother's  eye  is  near  them, 

Then  no  mother's  ear  can  hear  them ; 

Never — when  the  torturing  lash 

Seams  their  back  with  many  a  gash — 

Shall  a  mother's  kindness  bless  them, 

Or  a  mother's  arms  caress  them. 

Gone,  gone,  sold  and  gone  ! 

To  the  rice  swamp,  dark  and  lone ; 

From  Virginia's  hills  and  waters  1 

Woe  is  me  !  my  stolen  daughters.' 

If  God  gives  a  real  poet  to  a  people  like  that,  at  a  time  like  that,  and  puts  into  his 
heart  those  sentiments,  and  into  his  mouth  those  words,  does  he  not  verily  speak  to 
that  people  and  ask  them  to  return  to  the  ways  of  mercy  and  righteousness? 
(Applause.)  In  one  of  the  recent  editions  of  Mr.  Whittier's  poems  he  inserts  a 
small  preface  of  five  or  six  stanzas,  and  the  last  stanza  is  one  which,  I  think, 
explains  the  tone  and  general  object  of  his  writings.  He  says : — 

'  O  freedom  !  if  to  me  belong 

Nor  mighty  Milton's  gift  divine, 
Nor  Marvell's  wit  and  graceful  song, 
As  theirs,  I  lay,  like  them,  my  best  gifts  on  thy  shrine. 

And  so  the  best  gifts  of  his  genius  and  poesy  are  on  the  side  of  freedom.  They 
have  helped  to  do  their  work  in  the  United  States :  they  will  do  their  work 
wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken  —  (hear,  hear) — they  will  tend  to  purify 
the  individual  and  to  exalt  the  nation.  (Applause.)  I  was  going  to  say  that  I 
would  not  exaggerate  the  productions  of  the  American  poets.  We  do  not  place 
them  on  a  level  with  Milton  and  Shakspeare ;  but  then  in  this  country — perhaps 
in  the  world — there  is  but  one  Milton  and  one  Shaksp_eare,  and  without  placing 
them  on  that  level  we  may  accept  them,  and  I  think  all  readers  have  now 
accepted  them,  as  real  and  genuine  poets,  contributing  through  our  language  to 
human  freedom,  to  human  enjoyment,  and  to  human  happiness.  I  recollect 
many  years  ago — about  forty  years  ago — in  a  speech  in  Covent  Garden  Theatre, 
at  one  of  our  Free-trade  meetings,  I  quoted  a  passage,  which  I  forget  now, 
from  the  late  Leigh  Hunt,  who  was  himseif  a  poet,  and  has  left  poems  that  should 
not  die.  (Hear,  hear.)  In  making  this  quotation,  I  spoke  of  Leigh  Hunt  as  a 
'pleasure-giving'  poet,  and  two  or  three  days  afterwards  I  received  from  him 
a  very  kind  note,  in  which  he  said  it  was  impossible  I  could  have  chosen  a  title 
which  he  should  more  delight  to  deserve  and  to  have  than  that  of  a  pleasure  - 
giving  poet.  Well,  I  say,  after  referring  to  the  five  or  six  poets  that  I  have 
now  mentioned,  all  poets  of  the  United  States — and  I  might  have  added  of  them 
that  they  are  in  the  true  and  the  high  sense  '  pleasure-giving  poets,'  and  I  am 
sure  it  would  be  a  great  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  useful  and  charming 
literature  the  more  we  become  acquainted  with  these  poets,  who  speak  to  us  from 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic — I  will  mention  one  other  book,  and  only  one, 
and  that  is  not  a  book  of  poetry  at  all ;  it  is  a  book  of  history,  and,  to  my 
mind,  the  most  instructive  book  of  histoiy  that  I  have  ever  read.  I  do  not 
mean  that  it  contains  more  facts  than  some  bigger  books — facts  are  abundant — 
but  the  study  which  it  gives  or  offers,  the  lessons  which  it  teaches,  surpass  to 
my  mind  those  that  I  have  derived  from  or  found  in  any  other  book  of  history. 
I  refer  to  Bancroft's  'History  and  Colonisation  of  the  United  States.'  It  is  a 
book  a  good  deal  read  in  this  country.  It  deserves  to  be  read  by  everybody 
who  wishes  to  have  some  true  knowledge  of  some  of  the  most  important  events 


BOOKS.  627 

•which  transpired  during  the  last  century.  .  .  .  My  own  impression  is  that  there 
is  no  blessing  that  can  be  given  to  an  artisan's  family  more  than  a  love  of 
books.  The  home  influence  of  such  a  possession  is  one  which  will  guard  them 
from  many  temptations  and  from  many  evils.  How  common  it  is — in  all  classes 
too  common — but  how  common  it  is  amongst  what  are  termed  the  working 
classes — I  have  seen  it  many  times  in  my  district — where  even  an  industrious 
and  careful  parent  has  found  that  his  son  or  his  daughter  has  been  to  him  a 
source  of  great  trouble  and  pain.  No  doubt,  if  it  were  possible,  even  in  one  of 
these  homes,  to  have  one  single  person  who  was  a  lover  of  books,  and  knows 
how  to  spend  an  evening  usefully  with  a  book,  and  who  could  occasionally  read 
something  from  the  book  to  the  rest  of  the  family,  perhaps  to  his  aged  parents, 
how  great  would  be  the  blessing  to  the  family,  how  great  a  safeguard  would 
be  afforded;  and  then  to  the  men  themselves,  when  they  came — as  in  the 
case  which  I  have  mentioned — to  the  feebleness  of  age,  and  when  they  can  no 
longer  work,  and  when  the  sands  of  life  are  as  it  were  ebbing  out,  what  can 
be  more  advantageous,  what  more  a  blessing,  than  in  these  years  of  feebleness — 
may  be  sometimes  of  suffering — it  must  be  often  of  solitude — if  there  be  the 
power  to  derive  instruction  and  amusement  and  refreshment  from  books  which 
your  great  library  will  offer  to  every  one  ?  (Applause.)  To  the  young  especially 
this  is  of  great  importance,  for  if  there  be  no  seed-time  there  will  certainly 
be  no  harvest,  and  the  youth  of  life  is  the  seed-time  of  life.  I  see  in  this  great 
meeting  a  number  of  young  men.  It  is  impossible  for  anybody  to  confer  upon 
them  a  greater  blessing  than  to  stimulate  them  to  a  firm  belief  that  to  them 
now,  and  to  them  during  all  their  lives,  it  may  be  a  priceless  gain  that 
they  should  associate  themselves  constantly  with  this  library  and  draw  from  it 
any  books  they  like.  The  more  they  read  the  more  in  all  probability  they 
will  like  and  wish  to  read.  Mr.  Lewis  Morris,  in  his  late  charming  poem  called 
'  The  Ode  of  Life ' — in  that  part  of  it  dedicated  to  youth,  and  in  addressing  the 
imaginary  youth  of  whom  is  writing — says : — 

'  For  thee  the  fair  poetic  page  is  spread, 
Of  the  great  living  and  the  greater  dead; 
To  thee  the  greater  gains  of  science  lie, 
Stretched  open  to  thine  eye." 

What  can  be  better  than  this — that  the  fair  poetic  page,  the  great  instructions 
of  history,  the  gains  of  science — all  these  are  laid  before  us,  and  of  these  we 
may  freely  partake.  I  spoke  of  the  library  in  the  beginning  of  my  observations 
as  a  fountain  of  refreshment  and  instruction  and  wisdom.  Of  it  it  may  be 
said  that  he  who  drinks  shall  still  thirst,  and  thirsting  for  knowledge  and  still 
drinking,  we  may  hope,  he  will  grow  to  a  greater  mental  and  moral  standard,  more 
useful  as  a  citizen,  and  more  noble  as  a  man." 

Mr.  Bright  took  part  in  the  discussion  of  the  Prevention  of 
Crimes  (Ireland)  Bill  in  committee,  on  the  23rd  of  June,  re- 
marking : — 

"We  know-,  further,  that  in  America  there  has  been  a  series  of  constant  con- 
spiracies for  some  years  past  in  connection  with  something  like  corresponding  con- 
spiracies in  Ireland.  We  know,  and  hon.  gentlemen  opposite  know  very  well,  that 
not  many  years  ago  a  soldier  of  fortune,  a  man  ready  to  fight  anywhere — I  hope  not 
for  any  cause  against  this  countiy — and  who  expected  that  his  friends  in  Ireland 
would  put  him  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  published  afterwards 
an  account  of  his  experiences  in  one  of  the  reviews  of  this  country.  I  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  conversing  for  about  an  hour  with  him  when  he  came  over  here,  and  he  told 
me  the  reason,  which  I  think  was  not  perfectly  accurate,  which  had  brought  him  here. 
He  asked  me  my  view  as  to  the  state  of  opinion  in  this  country  chiefly  with  regard 
to  Ireland,  and  I  told  him  nothing  could  be  more  hazardous,  nothing  could  be  more 
certain  in  leading  to  destruction,  than  if  he  entered  into  the  path  of  conspiracy 
which  was  then  disclosed.  I  recollect  in  the  article  that  he  wrote  he  said  he  had 
found  out  that  the  police  had  discovered  the  whole  matter,  and  he  left  London  veiy 
suddenly.  He  said,  'On  occasions  like  this  I  travel  with  very  little  luggage.' 
(Laughter.)  General  Chideray,  as  he  was  called,  was  a  very  sensible  man,  and  got 
out  of  the  difficulty  into  which  he  had  very  nearly  plunged  himself.  These  are 
the  things  we  have  in  our  minds  in  connection  with  Irishmen  in  America  and  the 
discontented  Irishmen  in  Ireland." 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

W1THDBAWS   FROM   THE    CABINET. 

The  War  in  Egypt — Resignation  from  the  Cabinet — Speech  in  the  House  of  Commons 
— Mr.  Gladstone's  Reply — Visitors  from  America — Invitation  to  the  United 
States— Opening  a  new  Infirmary  at  Rochdale — Installation  as  Lord  Rector  at 
Glasgow — Presentation  of  an  Address  from  the  Glasgow  Liberals — Visit  to  the 
Monument  of  Janet  Hamilton— Speech  on  the  Union  of  Church  and  State. 

AT  the  beginning  of  1882  the  Khedive  of  Egypt,  yielding  to 
pressure,  consented  to  reinstate  one  of  his  ministers,  named  Arabi, 
in  the  war  department ;  and  this  act  was  considered  as  a  triumph 
of  the  national  party.  As  there  was  a  prospect  of  civil  war  in 
Egypt,  England  and  France  presented  a  joint  note,  declaring 
the  maintenance  qf  the  Khedive's  authority.  Arabi  and  the  army 
became  more  popular,  and  the  Khedive  was  forced  to  accept  a 
national  ministry.  The  Organic  Law  was  adopted,  notwith- 
standing the  protest  of  the  controllers,  thus  subverting  the  au- 
thority of  England  and  France  embodied  in  the  control.  Arabi 
at  last  became  dictator,  and  was  secretly  supported  by  the  Sultan. 
England  and  France  next  agreed  that  any  disturbance  of  the 
status  quo  must  be  prevented.  A  British  and  French  squadron 
accordingly  anchored  in  the  harbour  of  Alexandria  in  the  latter 
part  of  May.  On  the  25th  of  the  same  month,  the  English  and 
French  consuls-general  presented  an  ultimatum  to  the  Egyptian 
minister  demanding  the  temporary  removal  of  Arabi  and  two 
other  leaders  of  the  mutinous  soldiery,  and  the  resignation  of 
the  ministry.  The  Khedive  assented,  but  the  army  and  the 
nationalists  were  dissatisfied.  The  army  urged  the  restoration 
of  Arabi,  and  it  was  announced  that  if  the  Khedive  refused,  the 
lives  and  the  property  of  the  Europeans  would  not  be  safe.  The 
Khedive  reinstated  Arabi,  and  many  of  the  Europeans  in  Cairo 
removed  to  Alexandria,  where  hundreds  of  them  took  refuge  on 
board  ships.  On  the  llth  of  June  a  Mussulman  preconcerted 
riot  took  place  in  Alexandria,  and  a  number  of  Europeans 
were  killed  and  their  houses  pillaged.  The  Khedive  and  his 
ministers  strove  in  vain  to  allay  the  excitement.  Arabi,  who 
was  aiming  at  the  deposition  of  the  Khedive's  supremacy,  was 
recognised  by  the  Porte  who  elevated  him  to  the  highest  rank 
of  the  Medjidie.  France  was  unwilling  to  interfere.  Sir  B. 


RETIRES   FROM   THE   CABINET.  52!) 

Seymour  informed  the  English  Cabinet  that  the  works  on  tht 
forts  in  Alexandria  were  being  actively  carried  on.  On  the  6th  of 
July  the  admiral  demanded  their  instant  cessation,  under  penalty 
of  bombardment.  The  Khedive  protested  s  gainst  this  act,  but  the 
works  on  the  forts  still  proceeded.  Sir  B.  Seymour,  on  the  10th 
of  July,  insisted  on  the  surrender  of  the  forts  at  the  mouth  of 
the  harbour  as  a  material  guarantee.  The  Egyptian  ministers 
strove  to  negotiate,  but  the  admiral  was  firm  in  his  resolution, 
and  early  on  the  morning  of  the  llth  eight  British  ironclads 
and  five  gunboats  fired  on  the  forts,  and  in  a  few  hours  they  were 
battered  down,  while  the  vessels  escaped  with  little  damage  and 
slight  loss  of  life.  The  next  day  a  flag  of  truce  was  displayed, 
and  the  Egyptian  forces  evacuated  the  town,  but  before  doing 
so  set  fire  to  the  European  quarters,  which  were  plundered.  The 
British  blue-jackets  and  marines  landed  and  restored  order.  The 
other  powers  did  not  interfere,  and  England  was  left  to  act 
alone.  The  Cabinet  next  despatched  an  expeditionary  force  "  to 
secure  British  interests  and  restore  order. "  Mr.  Bright  then 
resigned  his  seat  in  the  Cabinet,  as  he  considered  that  a  violation 
of  international  law  and  moral  law  had  been  committed.  How- 
ever, the  war  proceeded,  and  ended  in  September  in  favour  of 
the  invaders.  The  total  charge  for  the  English  military,  naval, 
and  Indian  services  down  to  the  close  of  the  war  amounted  to 
about  £4,000,000,  which  the  heavily-taxed  Englishman  would 
have  to  pay. 

On  July  the  1 7th  Mr.  Bright  entered  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  took  a  seat  on  the  second  bench  below  the  gangway.  After 
the  questions  on  the  paper  were  exhausted  there  were  cries  of 
"  Bright/'  and  upon  rising  he  was  received  with  cheers,  and  he 
said  : — 

"  I  was  not  intending  to  offer  any  observations  to  the  House  on  this,  to  me,  new 
and  peculiar  occasion.  I  suppose  hon.  gentlemen  are  wishful  to  know  perhaps 
more  than  they  do  know  about  the  reasons  why  I  am  not  found  in  my  accustomed 
seat.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  have  no  explanation  to  make.  There  seems  to  me  nothing 
to  explain,  and  I  have  nothing  to  defend.  The  simple  fact  is  that  I  could  not  agree 
with  my  late  colleagues  in  the  Government  in  their  policy  with  regard  to  the  Egyp- 
tian question.  It  has  been  said — some  public  writers  have  said,  and  some  have  said 
in  private  conversation — why  have  not  I  sooner  retired  from  the  Government  r1— 
(hear,  hear) — and  why  have  I  postponed  my  resignation  to  this  time  ?  It  has  been  asked 
why  did  not  I  resign  last  Tuesday  or  Wednesday  ?  I  may  answer  that  by  saying 
that  my  profound  regard  for  my  right  hon.  friend  at  the  head  of  the  Government — 
(hear,  hear,  and  cheers) — and  my  regard  also  for  those  who  now  sit  with  him,  is  so 
great  that  I  was  prompted  to  remain  with  them  until  the  very  last  moment,  when  I 
found  it  no  longer  possible  to  retain  my  office  in  the  Cabinet.  The  fact  is  that  the 
disagreement  was  to  a  large  extent  fundamental.  If  I  had  remained  in  office  it  would 
have  been  under  these  circumstances — either  that  I  must  have  submitted  silently  to 
many  measures  which  I  must  altogether  condemn,  or  I  must  have  remained  in  office 
in  a  state  of  constant  conflict  with  my  colleagues.  Therefore  it  was  bottor  generally — 
it  was  better  for  me — the  House,  I  am  sure,  will  unanimously  agree,  that  I  should  ask 
my  right  hon.  friend  to  permit  me  to  retire,  and  place  my  resignation  in  the  hands  of 

I   I 


630  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN  BRIGHT. 

the  Queen.  The  House  knows — at  all  events  those  who  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
observing  any  of  the  facts  of  my  political  life  for  forty  years  know — that  at  least  I 
have  endeavoured  from  time  to  time  to  teach  my  countrymen  an  opinion  and  doctrine 
which  I  hold,  which  is  that  the  moral  law  is  not  intended  only  for  individual  life,  but 
is  intended  also  for  the  life  and  practice  of  States.  (Cheers  from  below  the  gangway) . 
I  think  in  the  present  case  there  has  been  a  manifest  violation  of  international  law 
— (hear,  hear) — and  of  the  moral  law,  and  therefore  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  give  any 
support  to  it.  I  cannot  repudiate  what  I  have  preached  and  taught  during  the  period 
of  a  .rather  long  political  fife.  I  cannot  turn  my  back  upon  my  belief  and  deny  all 
that  I  have  taught  to  many  thousands  of  others  during  the  forty  years  I  have  been 
permitted  in  public  meetings  and  in  this  House  to  address  my  countrymen.  One 
word  only  more.  I  asked  my  calm  judgment  and  my  conscience  what  was  the  path 
of  right  to  take.  They  pointed  it  out  to  me  with  an  unerring  finger,  and  I  am 
humbly  endeavouring  to  follow  it." 

A  deep  silence  fell  upon  the  House  as  the  last  words  were 
uttered,  and  in  referring  to  the  Prime  Minister  he  spoke  with 
emotion. 

Mr.  Gladstone  next  rose  and  said  : — 

"  In  the  peculiar  circumstances,  it  is  by  the  indulgence  of  the  House  that  I  rise 
to  say  a  single  word,  which  my  own  feelings  tell  me — and  I  think  the  feelings  of 
others  will  answer  to  mine — it  would  be  culpable  on  my  part  to  omit.  This  is  not 
the  occasion  for  arguing  the  question  of  difference  that  has  unhappily  arisen  between 
my  right  hon.  friend  and  those  who  were  proud  to  be  his  colleagues.  But  I  may 
venture  to  assure  him  that  we  concur  with  him  in  thinking  that  the  moral  law 
applies  to  States — (Mr.  Biggar :  '  Hear,  hear ') — as  it  does  to  individuals,  and  that  the 
difference  between  us — a  difference  most  painful  to  him,  and  most  painful  to  us  all — 
is  a  difference  upon  a  particular  case,  and  a  particular  application  of  the  law  to  that 
case.  It  is  to  us,  as  it  is  to  him,  an  occasion  of  the  profoundest  pain.  But  he 
carries  with  him  the  unbroken  esteem,  and,  upon  every  other  question,  the  unbroken 
confidence  of  his  colleagues,  and  their  best  and  warmest  wishes  for  his  happiness, 
and  that  it  may  follow  him  in  the  independent  position  to  which  he  has  found  it 
necessary  to  retire."  (Cheers.) 

On  the  25th  of  September,  Mr.  Bright,  while  staying  at 
Cassencary,  Creetown,  N.B.,  on  a  visit  to  his  friend,  James 
Caird,  Esq.,  now  Sir  James  Caird,  K.C.B.,  forwarded  a  letter  to 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Rippon,  of  Warrington,  in  reply  to  one  written 
by  the  reverend  gentleman,  who  held  that  "  Peace  at  any  price  " 
was  an  untenable  position,  and  that  the  Egyptian  war  seemed  a 
righteous  one. 

"The  Spectator  and  other  supporters  of  this  war  answer  me  by  saying  that  I 
oppose  the  war  because  I  condemn  all  war.  The  same  thing  was  said  during  the 
Crimean  war,"  replied  Mr.  Bright.  "I  have  not  opposed  any  war  on  the  ground 
that  all  war  is  unlawful  and  immoral.  I  have  never  expressed  such  an  opinion.  I 
have  discussed  these  questions  of  war,  Chinese,  Crimean,  Afghan,  Zulu,  Egyptian, 
on  grounds  common  to,  and  admitted  by,  all  thoughtful  men,  and  have  con- 
demned them  with  arguments  which  I  believe  have  never  been  answered. 

"  I  will  not  discuss  the  abstract  question.  I  shall  be  content  when  we  reach  the 
point  at  which  all  Christian  men  will  condemn  war  when  it  is  unnecessary,  unjust, 
and  leading  to  no  useful  or  good  result.  We  are  far  from  that  point  now,  but  we 
make  some  way  towards  it. 

"  But  of  this  war  I  may  say  this,  that  it  has  no  better  justification  than  other 
wars  which  have  gone  before  it,  and  that  doubtless  when  the  blood  is  shed  and  the 
cost  paid,  and  the  results  seen  and  weighed,  we  shall  be  generally  of  that  opinion. 

"Perhaps  the  bondholders,  and  those  who  have  made  money  by  it,  and  those 
who  have  got  promotion  and  titles  and  pensions,  will  defend  it,  but  thoughtful  and 
Christian  men  will  condemn  it." 


1888.1  AMEEIOAN   FRIENDS.  631 

On  •  the  26th  of  July  Mr.  Bright  received  at  his  London 
residence  a  party  of  twenty-five  American  working  people,  who 
were  travelling  through  Europe,  and  who  were  anxious  to  see 
him.  They  were  selected  from  among  the  8,000  employes  of 
Messrs.  Jordan  and  Marsh,  the  most  extensive  of  manufac- 
turing merchants  and  drapers,  of  Boston,  New  England;  and 
were  travelling  at  the  expense  of  their  employers.  The  ex- 
cursion was  intended  as  a  token  of  recognition  of  their  faithful 
services,  as  well  as  a  pleasant  schooling  in  the  customs  and 
institutions  of  the  Old  World.  They  were  introduced  to  Mr. 
Bright  by  Mr.  B.  Armitage,  M.P.  Mr.  Bright  spoke  to  them 
on  several  subjects  concerning  America,  and  remarked  that  he 
himself  had  more  blood  relations  in  America  than  he  had  in 
England.  At  the  close  of  the  interview  he  went  through  the 
ceremony  of  shaking  each  by  the  hand,  and  all  were  pleased. 

In  the  early  part  of  1883,  Mr.  Bright  received  from  Mr. 
Evarts  a  resolution  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Union  League 
Club  of  New  York,  inviting  the  right  hon.  gentleman  to  visit 
the  United  States  as  the  guest  of  the  club,  which  was  to  cele- 
brate its  twentieth  anniversary.  Mr.  Evarts  in  his  letter,  after 
referring  to  Mr.  Briglit's  support  of  the  Northern  cause  during 
the  civil  war,  said  : — 

' '  The  Union  League  Club  has  always  counted  among  the  important  political  aids 
to  the  support  of  the  authority  of  our  Government,  under  the  stress  through  which 
it  passed,  the  firm,  unflinching,  and  impregnable  attitude  which  you  and  your  and 
our  great  friend,  Mr.  Cobden,  opposed  to  the  great  current  of  commercial,  social, 
<tnd  political  interest  and  opinion  which,  both  in  England  and  on  the  Continent,  set 
so  strongly  against  the  success  of  the  loyal  power  of  the  country  in  dealing  with  so 
powerful  a  revolt.  We  have  never  attempted  to  measure  the  extent  of  our  obliga- 
tions to  you,  nor  to  calculate  the  misfortune  to  our  cause  had  it  missed  the  support 
of  so  great  a  defender. 

"  These  sentiments  of  the  Union  League  Club  are  shared  by  the  great  body  of  the 
sober  and  thinking  people  of  this  country,  and  the  hospitality  which  we  proffer  you 
will  be  but  one  form  of  the  general  acclaim  which  your  presence  in  the  United  States 
will  call  forth.  ...  In  asking  you  to  be  our  guest  from  the  time  you  take  the 
sea  to  make  this  desired  visit  through  the  whole  of  your  travel  in  our  country,  and 
until  you  again  reach  your  home,  we  can  promise  you  that  every  eye  and  every  heart 
of  all  our  countrymen  will  greet  you  with  its  blessing,  and  that,  beyond  this,  our 
people  will  encroach  as  little  upon  the  quiet  and  freedom  which  you  may  think  suit- 
able to  your  health  and  enjoyment,  during  your  stay  with  us,  as  you  may  desire." 

"  I  never  liked  the  sea,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  in  concluding  his  letter  in  reply, 
"  and  my  once  strong  appetite  for  travel  has  subsided,  and  I  cannot  but  feel  that  the 
friendly  welcome  promised  me  on  your  side  of  the  Atlantic  would  force  me  into  a 
publicity  from  which  I  shrink. 

"What  can  I  say,  then,  in  reply  to  letters  so  complimentary,  and  yet,  I  cannot 
doubt,  so  friendly  and  sincere  ?  That  I  am  deeply  grateful  to  you  and  to  your  and 
my  friends  on  whose  behalf  you  have  written,  and  that  I  regret  with  a  feeling  not 
less  strong  that  I  am  not  able  to  accept  the  kind  invitation  you  have  sent  me,  and 
the  most  kind  welcome  you  have  offered  and  promised  me.  I  write  with  difficulty ; 
but  you  will  understand  how  hard  it  ia  to  make  a  fitting,  when  an  unfavourable, 
reply  to  such  letters  as  you  and  your  friends  have  addressed  to  me.  You  will  forgive 
me  if  I  cannot  come.  I  can  never  forget  your  great  kindness,  and  the  honour  you 
have  conferred  upon  me." 

I  i  2 


632  LIFE   AND  TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1633. 

As  far  back  as  July,  1879,  the  Hon.  R.  B.  Hayes,  the 
President  of  America,  invited  Mr.  Bright  to  Washing-ton,  as 
at  that  time  he  had  been  misinformed  that  the  distinguished 
Englishman  contemplated  visiting  America,  and  assured  him 
that  he  would  find  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States  a  "  dis- 
position to  make  his  stay  in  all  respects  agreeable  to  his  own 
wishes  in  respect  to  the  measures  and  modes  of  their  hospitality.*' 
Mr.  Bright  wrote  in  reply  to  the  President : — 

"  I  regret  very  much  that  I  have  not,  in  years  that  are  gone,  visited  the  United 
States ;  my  public  occupations,  and  the  circumrt  mces  or  conditions  of  my  home  life 
have  interfered  with  my  wishes,  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  cross  the  Atlantic ; 
and  now,  when  your  letter  reaches  me,  I  feel  unable  to  avail  myself  of  your 
great  kindness,  and  to  accept  the  great  honour  you  offer  me.  I  seem  to 
have  reached  the  age  when  voyages  and  travels  have  not  only  lost  their  charm, 
but  are  become  burdensome  even  to  the  thought,  and  when  I  dare  not  undertake  to 
meet  the  expressions  of  goodwill  which  I  am  assured  would  await  me  from  my 
friends  in  your  country.  I  have  suffered  much  during  the  past  year  from  the 
heaviest  of  all  domestic  bereavements,  and  I  have  lost,  for  a  time  at  least,  the  spirit 
and  the  energy  which  are  needful  to  make  a  visit  to  America  useful  or  pleasant. 
You  refer  to  the  course  I  took  during  the  great  trial  through  which  your 
country  passed  from  1860  to  1865.  I  was  anxious  that  your  continent  should  be  the 
home  of  freedom,  and  that,  as  respects  your  country  and  my  own,  although  we  are 
two  nations,  we  should  be  only  one  people.  Hence  I  rejoice  now  in  your  union, 
your  freedom,  and  your  growing  influence  and  prosperity.  I  know  not  if  I  may 
ever  visit  your  great  country ;  I  should  be  sanguine  now  to  expect  it.  But  whether 
I  do  or  not,  I  shall  ever  feel  grateful  for  the  kindness  shown  to  me  by  so  many  of 
her  people,  and  for  the  unexpected  honour  which  your  letter  has  conferred  upon 
me." 

Mr.  Bright  performed  the  ceremony  of  opening,  in  his 
native  town  on  the  12th  of  February,  1883,  a  new  Infirmary, 
which  was  the  generous  gift  of  Mr.  Thomas  Watson,  manu- 
facturer, of  Rochdale;  and  in  presiding  over  a  meeting  which 
was  held  afterwards  in  one  of  the  large  wards,  he  traced  the 
biography  of  the  donor  from  humble  circumstances  in  early  life 
to  his  present  wealthy  and  honourable  position. 

"  It  appears  to  me  that  there  is  scarcely  any  mode  by  which  a  population  like 
ours  can  be  benefited  and  cared  for  that  exceeds  in  value  that  of  the  establishment  of 
an  institution  of  this  kind,"  further  remarked  Mr.  Bright.  "  What  is  our  popula- 
tion ?  "We  are  here  two  or  three  hundred  persons,  but  in  this  parish  I  suppose  there 
must  be  not  far  from  100,000  people.  I  don't  know  whether  fewer  or  more — (a 
Voice :  '  More ') — but,  however,  quite  that.  And  what  is  the  population  doing 
every  day  to  obtain  its  three  meals  f  Well,  it  is  working  in  the  cotton  factories  <>  iid 
the  woollen  mills,  in  the  foundries,  engineering  works,  and  macliine  making  works  ; 
it  is  found,  some  in  coal  mines,  some  in  stone  quarries,  a  great  number  in  the  build- 
ing trades — carpenters,  stonemasons,  brick-setters,  slaters,  and  all  the  labourers  who 
are  employed  in  the  building  trades;  it  is  found  in  the  local  traffic,  wagoners, 
carriers,  conducting  the  business  of  the  locality ;  it  is  found  employed  in  the  works 
upon  the  railway.  Amongst  all  this,  it  is  easy  to  see,  not  only  are  accidents  liable  to 
occur,  but  we  know  that  they  do  occur,  and  with  a  painful  frequency,  amongst  a 
population  so  employed;  and  we  who  are  in  a  condition  of  life — most  of  us, 
probably — little  liable  to  these  accidents,  cannot,  I  think,  but  have  a  great  sympathy, 
as  Mr.  Watson  has,  with  the  painful  troubles  which  come  to  other  persons,  and  to 
many  of  them  who  are  employed  in  the  different  branches  to  which  I  have  referred ; 
and,  when  an  accident  happens,  their  condition  is  not  such  as  we  should  like.  Their 
homes  are  small  houses,  with  two,  three,  or  four  not  large  rooms;  sometimes  the 


1883.]  ADDRESS   TO    GLASGOW    STUDENTS.  633 

house  is  crowded.  A  person  who  is  suffering  from  a  severe  accident  is  brought 
home.  It  is  difficult  for  him  to  have  a  room  to  himself,  and  the  tranquillity  of  a 
quiet  chamber.  Anything  that  he  has  in  excess  of  his  ordinary  habits  is  so  much 
taken  from  the  remainder  of  the  family  and  adds  to  their  discomfort ;  and  if  you 
require  medical  aid,  which  is  necessary,  of  course — surgical  aid  and  nursing — it  is 
extremely  difficult  to  employ  it  and  to  secure  it  in  the  best  manner  under  the 
circumstances  of  many  of  these  cottage  homes.  Well,  now,  in  this  house  we  are  in, 
here  is-  one  of  the  wards ;  there  is  another  as  large  as  this  above  ;  there  is  a  ward  in- 
tended for  little  children ;  and  here  every  person,  however  poor,  however  suffering, 
however  friendless,  if  he  is  brought  in  from  accident  or  suffering  such  as  this 
institution  is  intended  for,  will,  as  far  as  surgical  aid,  medical  aid,  and  nurse  aid  are 
concerned,  be  just  as  well  attended  to  as  if  he  lived  in  the  best  house  in  the  parish. 
(Applause.)  This  building,  whether  we  regard  it  outside  or  inside,  appears  to  me 
admirably  calculated  for  its  purpose.  Outside  there  is  a  certain  mixture  of  the 
modern  and  the  almost  antique  which,  I  think,  gives  it  a  character  which  is  very 
pleasing.  Inside  the  arrangements  are  such  that  if  you  look  round,  as  you  will  all 
of  you  do  before  you  go  away  this  afternoon,  y_ou  will  see  how  admirably  everything 
has  been  done.  I  observe  that  Mr.  Watson,  yielding  to  advice  which  he  had  better 
have  resisted,  has  given  my  name  to  the  wardin  which  we  are  assembled.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  I  could  have  suggested  something  much  better,  but  I  have  heard 
from  Mr.  Watson  that  some  members  of  his  family — I  can  only  hope  that  it  will  be 
young  ladies — (applause) — who  are  so  friendly  disposed  to  me — have  insisted  upon 
that  name.  The  ward  above  is  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  a  beloved  daughter  of 
Mr.  Watson,  whose  removal  by  death  some  years  ago  left  a  sore  gap  in  his  family 
circle.  Wherever  you  look  round,  I  think  you  will  find  great  taste  and  good  judg- 
ment. There  is  nothing  that  is  mean  or  stinted  in  the  arrangements  of  the  place  or 
its  adaptation  to  its  purpose ;  everything  has  been  dictated,  in  my_  view,  by  good 
common  sense  and  largeness  of  heart,  and  I  do  not  know  any  two  things  better  in  the 
world  than  those  two  qualities.  (Applause.) 

Although  Mr.  Bright  was  elected  Lord  Rector  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow  in  November,  1880,  he  deferred  the  ceremony 
of  the  installation,  and  his  address  to  the  students,  to  the  22nd 
of  March,  1883.  The  liveliest  interest  was  taken  in  the  proceed- 
ings, and  an  audience  numbering  5,000  assembled  in  St. 
Andrew's  Hall.  Mr.  Bright,  in  his  speech,  which  occupied  an 
hour  and  a  quarter  in  delivering,  said  : — 

' '  Would  you  believe,  that  if  you  were  to  add  up  all  the  expenditure  in  this  country 
since  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  during  the  lifetime  of  some  thousands  of 
people  now  living — expenditure  upon  war,  war  debts,  expenditure  of  military  and 
naval  war  kind — what  do  you  suppose  it  comes  to?  You  could  not  guess,  and  if  I 
told  you  you  would  be  no  wiser.  (Laughter.)  It  comes  to  the  sum  of  £4,414,000,000 
sterling  of  taxes.  I  say  you  would  be  no  wiser.  I  don't  know  that  we  are  any 
wiser  from  hearing  that  a  man  is  worth  a  million,  except  that  he  is  a  rich  man.  We 
don't  know  very  well  what  a  million  is.  But  what  is  twenty  millions,  and  what  are 
one  hundred  millions,  or  what  are  a  thousand  millions,  or  four  thousand  millions.  It 
is  like  speaking  of  those  great  astronomical  distances  of  which  at  lectures  we  hear  so 
much  and  still  Know  so  little.  (Much  laughter  and  applause.)  But  if  these  military 
expenses  have  come  to  £-1,414,000,000  how  much  has  the  real  government,  the  civi 
government  of  the  country,  cost  during  the  same  time?  It  has  cost  £1,012,000,000. 
Less  than  one -fifth  of  all  our  expenditure  has  been  in  our  civil  government ;  more 
than  four-fifths  has  been  expended  in  wars  past  or  wars  prepared  for  in  the  future. 
This  very  year,  I  suppose,  what  with  the  estimates,  and  what  with  the  debt  and  the 
repayments,  the  expenditure  in  British  affairs  will  be  very  little  short  of  sixty 
millions  sterling.  I  want  to  ask  any  sensible  body  of  men — (hear,  hear) — be  they  as 
young  as  those  students— ("  Oh,"  and  laughter) — or  be  they  as  old  as  we  always 
believe  professors  to  be—  (laughter  and  cheers) — I  want  to  ask  them  whether  it  should 
be  necessary  that  the  wealth,  the  labour,  the  means,  the  comfort,  the  happiness 
of  the  population  of  thirty-five  millions  of  people  of  these  islands  should  bo 
taxed  to  the  amount  of  this  tremendous  and  inconceivable  expenditure  which 


534  LITE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [1883. 

I  have  just  mentioned  to  you?  ('  No,'  and  cheers.)  ....  I  ask  you 
then,  what  of  the  people  aiid  what  of  the  millions?  We  find  poverty  and 
misery.  What  does  it  mean  when  all  these  families  are  living  in  homes  of  one 
room  to  us  who  have  several  rooms,  and  all  the  comforts  of  life  ?  It  means  more 
than  I  can  describe  and  more  than  I  will  attempt  to  enter  into.  And  as 
need  begets  need,  so  poverty  and  misery  beget  poverty  and  misery ;  and  so  in 
all  our  great  towns,  and  not  a  little  in  some  of  our  smaller  towns,  there 
are  misery  and  helplessness  such  as  I  have  described.  In  fact,  looking  at  the 
past— to  me  it  is  a  melancholy  thing  to  look  at — there  is  much  of  it  which 
excites  in  me  not  astonishment  only  but  horror.  The  fact  is,  there  passes 
before  my  eyes  a  vision  of  millions  of  families — not  individuals,  but  families- 
fathers,  mothers,  children,  passing  ghastly,  sorrow- stricken,  in  never- ending 
procession  from  their  cradle  to  their  grave.  (Leud  cheers.)  Now  I  have  to  put 
to  you  a  question.  A  friend  of  ours  in  the  corner  there  was  a  little  stirred 
because  some  of  the  subjects  on  which  I  treated  seemed  to  have  a  political 
aspect.  (Cheers.)  Why,  some  one  has  said  that  the  two  things  of  all  others  in 
the  world  that  are  worth  considering,  worth  talking  about,  are  the  subjects  of 
religion  and  politics.  Now,  I  want  to  ask  you  whether  the  future  is  to  be  no 
better  than  the  past  ?  Do  we  march  or  do  we  not  to  a  brighter  time  ?  (Cheers.) 
For  myself,  as  you  know,  it  will  not  be  possible  for  me  to  see  it,  but  even 
whilst  the  sands  of  life  are  running  it  may  be  one's  duty,  if  it  be  possible  in 
the  smallest  degree,  to  promote  it.  For  you  young  gentlemen  that  are  before 
me,  that  have  done  me  the  distinguished  honour  to  invite  me  here  to  address 
you,  I  would  say  that  you  have  before  you,  many  of  you,  the  prospect  of 
writing  the  transactions  of  the  public  policy  of  your  country  for  forty  or  fifty, 
or  eveii,  it  may  be,  for  more  years  to  come.  On  you  and  such  as  you  depends 
greatly  our  future.  What  I  want  to  ask  you  is  whether  you  will  look  back 
upon  the  past  and  examine  it  carefully — look  round  you  in  the  present  and  see 
what  exists,  and  endeavour,  if  it  be  possible,  to  give  a  better  and  a  higher  tone 
to  oui-  national  policy  for  the  future.  (Cheers.)  To  me  it  appears  that  we  have 
trodden  for  two  centuries  past — I  keep  myself  to  that  because  since  that  time 
the  public  opinion  of  the  country  has  had  greatly  increased  influence — I  say 
for  two  centuries  past  we  have  trodden  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Caesars,  and  have 
accepted  the  barbarous  policy  of  Pagan  Home ;  and  whilst,  at  the  same  time, 
with  a  vast  and  unconscious  hypocrisy  we  have  built  thousands  of  temples, 
and  have  dedicated  them  to  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  I  say  —  I  say  it  with 
grief  and  shame — that  they  who  have  ministered  at  His  altars  have  for  the 
most  part  on  these  matters  been  absolutely  dumb.  Now,  Sir,  I  ask  you  this 
question,  shall  we  reverse  this  policy  ?  Shall  we  strive  to  build  up  the  honour — 
the  true  honour  and  the  true  happiness  of  our  people — on  the  firm  basis  of 
justice,  morality,  and  peace?  I  plead  not  for  the  great  and  for  the  rich.  I  plead 
for  the  minions  who  live  in  the  homes  of  only  one  room.  (Loud  cheers.)  Can 
ye  answer  me  in  the  words — words  which'  I  have  quoted  years  ago  on  a 
somewhat  like  occasion — words  which  fell  from  the  crowned  ministrel  who  left 
us  the  Psalms,  '  The  needy  shall  not  always  be  forgotten ;  the  expectation  of  the 
poor  shall  not  perish  for  ever.'"  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheering.) 

Three  of  the  gentlemen  on  whom  the  University  conferred  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  on  this  occasion  are  residents  of  Birmingham, 
Manchester,  and  Rochdale,  namely — the  Rev.  R.  W.  Dale,  an 
able  preacher;  Mr.  Henry  Dunckley,  editor  of  the  Manchester 
Examiner  and  Times ;  and  the  Rev.  W.  N.  Molesworth,  author 
of  "  The  History  of  England  from  the  Year  1830.-"  It  may  be 
interesting  here  to  state  that  in  the  autumn  of  1852  a  prize 
of  £250  was  offered  by  the  council  of  the  National  Anti- 
Corn-Law  League  for  a  prize  essay  on  the  general  result  of 
Free-trade.  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Cobden  were  appointed  the 
adjudicators.  Thirty-one  literary  gentlemen  competed,  and  the 
prize  was  awarded  to  Mr.  Henry  Dunckley,  M.A.,  then  resid- 


1883.]  ENTEETAINED    AT    GLASGOW.  535 

ing  at  Salford,  whose  essay  was  pronounced  to  possess  more 
than  ordinary  merit.  Three  years  before  this  date  he  won  a 
prize  of  j£100  which  had  been  offered  by  the  Religious  Tract 
Society,  in  a  contest  with  150  other  competitors,  for  an  essay 
•on  "The  Glory  and  Shame  of  Britain."  It  was  a  reasonable 
sequence  that  a  man  of  his  natural  literary  ability  would 
soon  find  a  sphere  of  action  and  an  outlet  for  his  talents 
in  connection  with  the  press,  and  he  ultimately  became  the 
editor  of  The  Manchester  Examiner  and  Times,  in  which  position 
he  has  ever  since  manifested  an  ability  of  the  highest  order. 
The  series  pf  articles  which  are  appearing  in  the  Manchester 
Weekly  Times,  under  the  nom  de  plume  of  "  Verax,"  are  written 
by  him,  and  about  two  years  ago  they  attracted  so  much  public 
attention  and  admiration  that  the  citizens  of  Manchester  and 
surrounding  towns  marked  their  approval  by  a  public  presen- 
tation to  him.  Mr.  Dunckley  is  a  native  of  Warwick,  and  was 
educated  at  an  academy  at  Accrington,  of  which  the  Rev.  David 
Griffiths  was  the  principal,  and  from  there  he  removed  to  Glas- 
gow, where  he  graduated  M.A.,  and  afterwards  took  up  his 
residence  at  Salford. 

The  Senate  of  the  Glasgow  University,  after  Mr.  Bright 
delivered  his  speech  to  the  students,  entertained  the  Lord 
Rector  and  other  gentlemen  at  luncheon.  Amongst  the  guests 
were — Lord  Rosebery,  Mr.  H.  Campbell-Bannerman,  M.P., 
Mr.  C.  Tennant,  M.P.,  Mr.  R.  W.  Cochran  Patrick,  M.P., 
Mr.  A.  Orr-Ewing,  M.P.,  Lord  M'Laren,  Sir  James  Watson, 
Lord  Kinnear,  Mr.  J.  A.  Bright,  the  Hon.  E.  Marjoribanks, 
M.P.,  Mr.  Duncan  M'Laren,  Sir  Wm.  Thomson,  Mr.  Henry 
Dunckley,  Mr.  R.  W.  Dale,  the  Rev.  W.  N.  Molesworth,  and 
Professor  Adarnson. 

At  the  residence  of  Mr.  C.  Tennant,  one  of  the  members  for 
the  city  of  Glasgow,  in  the  evening  of  the  memorable  day,  the 
Executive  of  the  Glasgow  Liberal  Association  presented  Mr. 
Bright  with  an  illuminated  address,  in  which  it  was  stated 
that  :— 

"The  Executive  of  the  Glasgow  Liberal  Association  "ladly  avail  themselves  of 
the  opportunity  afforded  by  your  visit  to  Glasgow  as  Lord  Rector  of  its  ancient 
University  to  present  you  with  this  address,  in  grateful  acknowledgement  of  the 
eminent  services  you  Lave  rendered  to  your  country  in  the  cause  of  industrial  and 
political  freedom. 

"The  history  of  the  nation  for  nearly  forty  years  has  been  one  of  almost 
unbroken  progress,  your  part  in  the  achievement  of  which  has  earned  for  you  the 
lasting  gratitude  of  your  countrymen. 

"  Your  Parliamentary  career,  dating  from  1843,  forms,  indeed,  a  brilliant  example 
of  devotion  to  the  political,  moral,  and  social  advancement  of  the  people.  Entering 
npor  public  life  at  a  time  when,  by  the  operation  of  class  privileges  and  unequal 
Jaws,  trade  was  everywhere  fettered,  and  the  consequent  sufferings  of  the  people 


636  LITE    AND    TIMES    OF    JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1885 

were  unusually  severe,  you  devoted  your  whole  energies,  in  happy  association  with 
your  distinguished  friend  Richard  Cobden,  to  procure  the  abolition  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  and  to  establish  that  freedom  of  trade  by  which  the  wealth  of  the  country 
and  the  happiness  and  comfort  of  the  industrial  classes  have  been  so  greatly 
increased. 

"  Throughout  your  public  career  it  has  ever  been  your  aim  to  reconcile  the 
peonle  to  existing  institutions  by  bringing  these  into  harmony  with  the  principles  <>f 
justice ;  and  this  beneficent  purpose  has  already  been  largely  fulfilled  by  the  success 
of  your  long  and  arduous  labours  in  the  cause  of  Parliamentary  reform.  You  have, 
in  brief,  always  trusted  the  people ;  and  that  your  confidence  has  not  been  misplaced 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  nation  has  prospered  in  proportion  as  the  masses  have 
been  entrusted  with  the  power  to  govern  themselves. 

"  We  cannot  forget  your  powerful  advocacy  of  the  repeal  of  the  taxes  on  know- 
ledge ;  and  we  thank  you  for  the  efforts  you  have  made  to  promote  peace  and 
discourage  war. 

"  Your  unwearied  exertions  to  remove  the  real  grievances  of  the  Irish  people 
command  the  approval  of  all  who  dare  to  be  just  and  fear  not ;  and  we  confidently 
believe  that  the  efforts  towards  this  end  of  yourself  and  the  other  leaders  of  the 
Liberal  party  will  in  due  time  be  crowned  with  complete  success. 

' '  Years  ago  you  declared  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  you  had  laboured  only 
to  destroy  that  which  was  evil  and  to  build  up  that  which  was  good,  and  the  verdict 
of  your  countrymen  has  ratified  your  claim.  They  recognise  in  you  a  statesman 
who,  whether  as  a  Minister  of  the  Crown  or  as  an  independent  member  of  Parlia- 
ment, has,  with  single-mindedness  of  purpose,  striven  unceasingly  to  promote  the 
well-being  of  every  class  of  the  community,  and  to  strengthen  the  Constitution  of  the 
realm  on  the  foundation  of  a  contented  and  a  prosperous  people. 

"We  devoutly  hope  that  your  valuable  life  may  be  long  spared  to  our 
country ;  that  for  many  years  English  literature  may  be  still  further  enriched  by  you 
with  '  thoughts  that  breathe  and  words  that  burn ; '  and  that  the  nation  may  lony; 
enjoy  the  privilege  of  your  persuasive  eloquence  and  ardent  efforts  in  helping  to 
place  on  the  statute-book  those  important  measures  which  are  now  ripe  for  settle- 
ment, and  which  are  but  the  natural  development  of  the  principles  you  have  so  long 
and  earnestly  advocated. 

'WILLIAM  COLLINS,  Knt.,  President. 
'W.  LOBIMEE,  Chairman. 
'WILLIAM  FIFE,  Vice-Chairman. 
'WARDEN  E.  MAXWELL,  Hon.  Treasurer. 
'ALEX.  MACDOTTGALL,  Hon.  Sec." 

Mr.  Bright,  in  his  reply,  in  speaking  against  the  minority 
clause  of  Lord  Cairns,  said : — 

"The  boroughs  which  have  the  privilege  or  insult  of  voting  in  this  manner  have 
now  experience,  and  I  think  their  opinion  ought  to  weigh  with  Parliament  when  the 
question  comes  to  be  considered  again.  We  are  thrown  into  contests  which  would 
be  avoided,  and  much  expense  is  incurred  in  contests  which  are  forced  upon  us  by 
this  clause.  I  think  this  evil  should  be  legislated  upon  by  Parliament,  which  ought 
really  to  do  everything  it  can  to  prevent  expensive  contests,  and  the  unpleasantness 
which  arises  from  any  violation  whatever  of  the  lines  of  the  Constitution,  such  as  is 
found  in  this  clause.  I  thought,  perhaps,  it  might  be  worth  while  to  make  a  few 
observations  upon  this,  because  we  are  coming  now  to  a  time  when  people  will  begin 
to  think  it  is  n<5t  a  very  long  way  off  before  there  will  be  a  general  election,  or 
before  the  Government  introduce  a  measure  in  which  this  clause  will  have  to  be 
considered,  and  might  be  dealt  with,  and,  therefore,  it  might  be  useful  to  bring  it 
before  the  public  in  your  city,  and  before  the  public  in  all  other  parts  of  the  country, 
who  might  read  the  transactions  of  this  little  meeting.  I  did  not  expect  myself  to 
take  a  very  active  part  again  in  many  public  questions.  Those  for  which  I  have  con- 
tended during  the  last  forty  years  have,  the  most  of  them,  either  been  carried  or 
there  is  that  kind  of  agreement  with  regard  to  them  being  enacted  that  it  is  only  a 
question  of  time.  (Hear,  hear.)  The  terror  that  men  had  of  the  suffrage  is  now 
gone.  (Hear,  hear.)  The  Conservative  party  have  got  over  the  fright,  and  they 
now  won't  pledge  themselves  to  oppose  any  extension  of  the  franchise  to  the  counties, 
and  they  all  say  that  the  redistribution  of  seats,  as  a  matter  of  course,  must  come 
with  that  or  soon  after.  Therefore  the  old  bogie  or  hobgoblin  which  frightened 


1883.]  FKEEDOM    OF   THE    CITY   OF   GLASGOW.  537 

them  has  disappeared,  and  they  are  open,  at  least,  to  discuss  the  question  in  which 
they  naturally  nave  just  as  much  interest  as  we  have,  and  their  opinion  ought  to 
have  its  due  weight.  But  generally,  I  think,  looking  at  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  looking  at  the  country,  and  looking  at  the  press,  there  is  a  disposition  to  make 
the  next  Reform  Bill  one  of  a  substantial  character,  that  it  should  not  be  necessary 
or  desirable,  at  least  for  a  good  many  years,  that  the  question  should  be  disturbed 
again.  (Applause.) 

The  next  day  Mr.  Bright  was  presented  with  the  freedom  of 
the  city  of  Glasgow  at  a  large  meeting  in  the  City  Hall.  Lord 
Provost  Ure  presided.  Amongst  the  gentlemen  ou  the  platform 
were  Lord  M'Laren,  the  Earl  of  Rosebery,  Sir  Donald  Currie, 
M.P.,  Mr.  W.  Holms,  M.P.,  Mr.  A.  Crum,  M.P.,  Mr.  J.  A. 
Campbell,  M.P.,  Mr.  E.  Marjoribanks,  M.P.,  Sir  James  Watson, 
Mr.  C.  Tennant,  M.P.,  Mr.  C.  Cameron,  M.P.,  Sir  W.  Thomson, 
Mr.  J.  Ramsay,  M.P.,  Principal  Caird,  and  Mr.  John  Albert 
Bright.  In  responding,  Mr.  Bright  said  : — 

"  A  continuous  examination  of  all  political  questions,  an  application  of  them  to 
the  standards  of  justice  and  morality,  justifies  the  growing  belief  of  this  country  that 
whatever  the  people  have  a  right  to  have,  whatever  is  good  for  them,  whatever  they 
claim  from  Parliament,  Parliament  is  continually,  one  succeeding  Parliament  afte'r 
another,  more  and  more  disposed  to  grant.  What  we  have  to  do  now  is  to  look 
backwards,  and  there  we  see  what  I  call  the  vanishing  darkness.  What  else  we  have 
to  do  is  to  look  forward,  where  we  see  the  advancing  light,  and  I  am  quite  sure  all 
men  who  are  of  my  age  and  who  have  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  what  England 
was  forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  and  of  seeing  what  it  is  now,  must  be  conscious  that  our 
legislation  has  immensely  improved  ;  that  the  sympathy  between  the  governed  and 
the  governors  is  stronger  than  it  was  then ;  and  that  all  those  who  wish  for  peace  in 
England,  and  prosperity  and  happiness  within  her  borders,  must  rejoice  in  the  main 
in  the  changes  which  have  been  made,  and  must  feel  their  hearts  opened  to  receive 
propositions  for  such  further  changes  as  may  be  thought  to  be  good.  (Cheers.)  I 
sometimes  think  that  by-aud-bye  party  politics  will  almost  die  out,  for  there  do  not 
seem  very  many  questions  now  on  which  great  conflicts  can  arise.  Every  Parliament 
they  are  diminishing,  and  perhaps  we  shall  come  to  be  a  happy  company  in  which 
we  have  hardly  anything  to  disagree  about.  (Cheers.)  But  whether  that  be  so  or  not, 
I  exhort  all  men  who  see  what  has  been  done  in  the  past  to  have  faith  in  it,  and  to 
believe  that  legislation  founded  on  the  highest  and  the  noblest  and  the  most  moral 
principles  is  the  legislation  which  the  people  have  a  right  to  obtain,  and  from  which 
they  may  hope  to  gain  the  greatest  advantage."  (Cheers.) 

Before  leaving  the  neighbourhood  of  Glasgow,  Mr.  Bright 
fulfilled  a  promise  he  made  the  previous  autumn,  to  visit  Coat- 
bridge,  to  see  the  monument  erected  to  the  momory  of  Janet 
Hamilton,  the  Langloan  poetess,  a  remarkable  self-taught 
literary  character,  who  died  at  the  age  of  80  in  1875.  Mr. 
Joseph  Wright,  the  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  subscription 
fund  for  the  erection  of  the  monument,  was  first  visited  by  Mr. 
Bright,  at  his  residence  in  Academy  Street,  and  then  the  party 
waited  upon  Marion  Hamilton,  the  favourite  daughter  of  the 
poetess,  who  resides  in  Sunnyside.  She  recited  to  Mr.  Bright 
one  of  her  mother's  poems,  "  Effie."  The  memorial  fountain  at 
Langloan  was  next  visited,  where  Mr.  Bright  drank  the  crystal 
water  to  the  memory  of  the  author  of  "Effie,"  and  then  stepping 


538  LIFE   AND  TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  (183a 

across  the  street  they  inspected  the  house  iu  which  she  had  lived 
and  died.  Mr.  Bright  was  cheered  frequently  in  the  street,  when- 
ever he  was  recognised. 

On  the  18th  of  April  he  was  present  at  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
W.  S.  B.  McLaren,  one  of  his  nephews,  to  Miss  Eva  M.  Miiller, 
youngest  daughter  of  the  late  Mr.  Wm.  Miiller,  who  for  many 
years  resided  in  Chili,  and  afterwards  at  86,  Portland  Place, 
London,  and  Hill  Side,  Herts.  Mr.  McLaren  is  the  youngest 
son  of  Mr.  Duncan  McLaren,  who  represented  Edinburgh  in 
the  House  of  Commons  for  many  years.  Although  neither  bride 
nor  bridegroom  is  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  yet  on 
account  of  the  connection  of  Mr.  McLaren's  family  with  that 
body,,  and  the  preference  of  the  bride  for  their  form  of  marriage,  it 
was  decided  that  the  wedding  should  be  solemnised  at  the  West- 
minster Meeting  House.  ,  There  was  no  wedding  breakfast,  but 
instead  the  wedding  party,  which  numbered  about  sixty,  met 
at  the  house  of  the  bride's  mother  the  evening  before,  when  a 
wedding  supper  was  given.  Mr.  Bright,  in  proposing  the 
health  of  the  newly-married  pair,  made  some  humorous  remarks 
on  the  frequency  with  which  of  late  he  had  been  called  upon  to 
propose  this  toast.  He  remarked,  however,  that  weddings  had 
their  sober  as  well  as  their  merry  side.  The  brightest  days  were 
succeeded  by  days  of  cloud,  and  it  was  for  the  pair  themselves 
largely  to  determine  which  of  these  should  most  prevail.  Out 
of  a  married  life  of  more  than  thirty  years  he  had  found  how 
happiness  increased  and  not  diminished,  the  later  years,  being 
happiest  of  all.  He  could  commend  to  the  lady  the  son  of  the 
best  of  fathers  and  the  best  of  mothers,  who  he  believed  would 
be  found  worthy  of  every  expectation.  Taking  for  granted  that 
his  choice  was  as  judicious  as  hers  had  been,  they  might  all  rely 
on  hearing  of  the  truest  happiness  and  the  highest  usefulness  as 
the  result  of  this  union. 

A  few  days  afterwards,  Mr.  Bright,  Mr.  Broadhurst,  Mr. 
Samuel  Morley,  and  Mr.  Richards,  as  representative  Nonconform- 
ists, signed  a  public  declaration  expressing  the  conviction  that  the 
existing  prohibition  of  marriage  with  a  deceased  wife's  sister  is 
an  oppressive  and  unjustifiable  restraint  upon  the  liberty  and 
happiness  of  a  large  number  of  persons,  and  that  the  objections 
commonly  urged  against  the  proposed  amendment  of  the  law  are 
unfounded  or  hypothetical,  and  are  not  held  by  the  great  body 
of  Nonconformists,  or  by  the  majority  of  the  public. 

The  Liberation  Society  held  their  thirteenth  triennial  con- 
ference in  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle  on  the  evening  of  the 
2nd  of  May.  Mr.  John  Bright  presided,  and  said : — 


1883.]  THE    BISHOPS.  639 

"  Now,  the  theory  of  maiiy  good  people  in  this  country  who  support  this  union — 
the  theory  of  the  union  is  this,  that  the  Church  tends  to  make  the  State  more 
Christian ;  that  is,  more  just  and  gentle,  more  merciful  and  peaceful.  I  propose  to 
ask  your  attention  to  two  or  three  points  which  I  think  will  answer  that  question, 
and  will  meet,  in  my  opinion,  that  unsound  and  baseless  theory.  I  will  ask  you  for 
a  moment  to  look  at  one  great  question  in  which,  laggard  as  we  still  are,  we  have 
made  some  progress,  and  that  is,  the  condition  of  the  criminal  code  in  this  country 
in  past  years.  I  suppose  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  Bishops  of  the  Established 
Church  are  of  the  most  learned  of  the  clerical  order,  and  that  they  are  esteemed  also 
the  most  holy  and  the  most  Christian.  We  know  they  are  members  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  a  very  important  body  in  the  House  of  Lords.  They,  therefore,  with  their 
position,  and  with  their  character,  and  with  their  representative  office  as  standing 
there — not  indeed  for  the  whole  people,  but  for  all  that  portion  of  the  people  con- 
nected with  the  Established  Church — are  in  a  position  of  vast  influence,  and  I  think 
it  is  to  be  lamented  that  this  influence  has  not  been  so  often  as  it  might  have  beeu 
extended  in  behalf  of  kind  and  Christian  and  generous  legislation.  In  1776 — there 
are  great  numbers  of  persons  in  this  building  whose  parents,  I  daresay,  were  living 
at  that  time — Charles  Wesley,  a  name  to  be  revered,  writing  to  Mr.  Fletcher,  of 
Madeley,  a  name  not  less  to  be  revered,  gives  him  this  piece  of  information.  He 
says,  'A  fortnight  ago  I  preached  the  condemned  sermon  to  above  twenty  criminals. 
Every  one  of  them,  I  have  good  reason  to  believe,  died  penitent.  Twenty  more 
must  die  next  week.'  Now, if  you  will  remember  that  in  that  day  the  population  of 
London  was  probably  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  its  present  population,  you  can 
form  some  idea  of  the  terrific  cruelty  of  a  penal  code  that  should  some  Monday 
morning,  and  again  in  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks,  on  another  Monday  morning,  send 
more  than  twenty  criminals  to  the  gallows,  and  not  for  the  grievous  offence  of  de- 
liberate murder,  but  for  offences  for  which  now  the  bulk  of  those  criminals  would 
not  have  had  more  than  six  or  twelve  months'  imprisonment.  A  few  years  after 
that,  and  within  a  year  of  the  time  of  my  life,  a  Bill  was  brought  into  the  House  of 
Lords,  the  object  of  which  was  to  enact  that  henceforth  the  punishment  of  death 
should  not  be  inflicted  on  persons  who  had  committed  robberies,  which  we  should 
call  now  petty  larcenies,  in  a  house  or  shop,  to  the  value  of  five  shillings.  Well, 
that  Bill  was  rejected  by  the  House  of  Lords  by  a  majority  of  thirty-one  to  eleven, 
and  in  the  majority  of  thirty-one  there  were  six  bishops  and  one  archbishop.  It  may 
be  said,  and  said  with  a  good  deal  of  force — in  fact,  with  absolute  truth — that 
those  were  barbarous  and  cruel  times,  though  this  last  one  is  a  time  which  can  be 
remembered  by  some  in  this  building — by  one,  or  more  than  one,  I  believe,  on  thus 
platform.  But,  it  may  be  said,  '  Those  were  cruel  times,  and  you  have  no  right  to 
find  fault  with  the  bishops  and  archbishops  that  they  were  not  less  cruel  than  the 
population  among  whom  they  lived.'  But  a  hundred  years  before  that  time,  when 
William  Penn  established  his  great  colony  of  Pennsyh-ania,  he  swept  off  at  once — 
or,  rather,  he  did  not  re-enact  in  that  colony  any  of  the  cases  in  which  the  punish- 
ment of  death  could  be  inflicted,  except  it  were  in  cases  of  deliberate  murder. 
There  were,  therefore,  men — good  men — in  this  country  a  hundred  years  before  the 
time  I  am  speaking  of— Christian  men,  men  whom  this  State  and  Church  thought  it 
rig^ht  to  persecute,  who  knew  what  was  true  and  right  and  Christian  with  regard  to 
this  penal  code.  And  there  were  not  wanting  abundant  evidences  in  our  own  country 
from  which  the  dignitaries  of  the  Church  in  the  House  of  Lords  might  at  that  time 
have  known  what  it  was  becoming  them  as  Christian  ministers  to  do.  But  to  show 
how  little  influence  the  Christian  Church,  the  Church  of  England,  had  with  tlic 
frovernment  of  our  country  in  these  matters,  let  me  tell  you  that  up  to  the  reign  of 
George  the  First  there  were  in  this  country  sixty-seven  offences  that  were  punishable 
with  death.  Between  the  accession  of  George  the  First  and  the  termination  of  tlio 
reign  of  George  the  Third— I  think  within  those  limits— there  were  added  one 
hundred  and  fifty-six  new  crimes  to  which  the  capital  punishment  was  attached. 
Xow,  during  all  these  years,  as  far  as  this  question  goes,  our  Government  was  be- 
coming more  cruel  and  more  barbarous,  and  we  did  not  find,  and  have  not  found, 
that  in  the  great  Church  of  England,  with  its  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty  thousand 
ministers,  and  with  its  more  than  a  score  of  bishops  in  tho  House  of  Lords,  there 
ever  seems  to  have  been  a  voice  raised,  or  an  organisation  formed,  in  favour  of  a 
more  merciful  code,  or  any  condemnation  of  the  enormous  cruelty  which  our  law 
was  continually  inflicting.  Was  not  Voltaire  justified  in  saying  that  the  English 
were  the  only  people  who  murdered  by  law?  But  we  will  pass  on  from  this  question. 
I  will  accept  every  excuse  which  archbishop,  or  bishop,  or  clergv,  or  churchman  may 
offer.  I  know  how  blow  men  are  to  recognise  the  grounds  for  change,  and  how 


640  LITE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BBIGHT.  [l«8. 

content  men  in  high  places,  inhabiting  comfortable  homes,  and  with  all  that  ia 
pleasant  about  them — I  know  how  difficult  it  is  for  them  to  rouse  themselves  to 
undertake  great  changes  and  reforms  such  as  this  question  required.  But  I  pass  ou 
to  another  question — the  question  of  the  slave  trade  and  of  slavery.  We,  many 
of  us,  remember  the  agitation,  not  to  put  an  end  to  the  slave  trade,  though  that 
required  great  and  strong  protest  on  the  part  of  the  people,  but  to  put  an  end 
to  slavery  in  our  colonies.  I  think  it  is  on  record  that  on  one  occasion  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  when  it  was  proposed  to  put  an  end  to  the  slave  trade,  and  some 
speeches  were  made  against  that  great  iniquity,  Lord  Eldon,  who  for  so  long  a  time 
was  Lord  Chancellor,  and  therefore  Speaker  and  president  of  that  assembly,  is  re- 
ported to  have  said  he  did  not  believe,  and  could  not  believe,  that  the  slave  trade  was 
so  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  or  else  it  could  not  possibly  have  been  so 
generally,  as  it  was,  and  had  been,  supported  by  the  bench  of  bishops.  What  I 
complain  of  is  that  there  is  no  trace  in  our  modern  history  of  the  influence  of  the 
bishops,  or  indeed  of  the  clergy,  in  favour  of  those  great  reforms  which  we  now  look 
back  upon  with  intense  satisfaction — mingled  only  with,  if  possible,  a  more  intense 
regret  that  they  were  not  effected  years,  or  a  century  or  two,  earlier.  The 
plea  is,  bear  in  mind,  that  the  Church  affects  the  State  in  the  direction  of  Christian 
principle  and  Christian  conduct.  I  am  showing  you  that  the  Church,  as  represented 
in  one  branch  of  the  Legislature,  at  any  rate,  has  entirely  failed  of  its  duty  in  that 
respect.  Let  us  go  on  to  another  question  that  is  of  still  greater  magnitude,  and  affects 
us  even  to  our  day.  I  speak  of  the  foreign  policy  of  our  country,  and  of  our  in- 
cessant wars.  We  have  had  two  centuries— I  will  say  nothing  of  the  time  beyond 
that — we  have  had  two  centuries  of  almost  incessant  wars.  In  Europe,  in  Asia,  in 
Africa,  in  North  America,  in  South  America,  and  in  some  portion  of  the  Australian 
colonies,  in  China,  wherever  you  look  all  over  the  map —  if  you  had  a  map  before 
you  with  a  red  cross  at  every  point  where  the  blood  of  your  countrymen  has  been 
poured  out,  and  generally  poured  out  for  no  real  object  or  service  to  your  country — 
I  think  you  would  be  astounded  at  the  exhibition  that  that  map  would  make ;  and 
during  these  wars  we  have  spent  thousands  of  millions  of  treasure,  produced  by  the 
toil  and  the  sweat  and  often  by  the  misery  of  millions  of  our  countrymen,  and  sacri- 
ficed hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives,  with  an  amount  of  agony  which  no  imagination 
can  picture,  and  with  a  sacrifice  of  blood  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  gauge.  Now, 
I  want  to  know  how  it  comes  that  with  so  much  of  real,  and  so  much  more  of 
what  may  be  termed  merely  the  profession  of,  Christianity  in  this  country 
—  how  is  it,  with  all  the  great  authority  of  this  Established  Church,  which  was 
intended  to  guide  the  nation  and  the  State  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  that  on  the 
whole  you  have  seen  no  check  to,  and  heard  no  condemnation  of,  a  policy  which 
to  us  now  appears  so  unnecessary  and  so  fearful  ?  There  are  no  protests — at  least, 
I  have  never  seen  one — there  are  no  protests,  so  far  as  I  know,  on  the  records  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  there  has  been  no  great  protest  from  these  good  people  through 
the  Press.  I  recollect  an  anecdote,  which  just  occurs  to  me,  that  will  in  a  little 
way  explain  this.  Less  than  thirty^  years  ago  many  of  you  will  remember  that  the 
country  was  engaged  in  a  sanguinary  struggle  with  the  Empire  of  Russia.  The 
late  Bishop  of  Winchester  (Bishop  Wilberforce)  was  a  man  with  whom  I  had  often 
pleasant  conversation  on  public  questions,  and  I  met  him  occasionally  at  dinner,  and 
he  was  always  extremely  friendly  to  me,  although  in  some  things  we  were  so 
far  apart.  He  told  me  that  with  regard  to  the  Crimean  war  his  opinion  agreed  with 
mine.  He  thought  it  unnecessary  and  unjust,  and  greatly  to  be  lamented.  I 
suggested  to  him  whether  it  might  not  be  good  for  him  and  for  the  country  if  he 
would  take  some  opportunity,  in  his  place  in  the  House  of  Lords,  of  addressing  to 
the  House,  and  to  the  Government,  and  to  the  nation,  a  speech  upon  that  question 
corresponding  with  the  views  that  he  had  then,  explained  to  me.  Well,  he  looked 
serious — and  I  have  no  doubt  he  felt  the  question  to  be  a  very  serious  one — and  he 
said  that  he  had  taken  that  matter  into  his  deliberation,  and  he  had  not  been  able  to 
convince  himself  that  taking  that  course  would  be  productive  of  more  good  than 
it  would  of  harm,  and,  therefore,  that  he  had  remained  silent.  Now,  it  is  easy  to 
understand  how  he  might  with  perfect  honesty  come  to  that  opinion.  He  might  feel 
that  in  the  hurry  of  the  passion  that  pervaded  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  even  of 
many  of  those  in  the  circle  in  which  he  lived,  probably  or  possibly  he  might  not  do 
very  much  good  in  the  vray  of  peace,  as  in  a  fever  of  that  kind  no  man  can,  but  that 
he  might  diminish  his  own  power  of  usefulness  in  the  particular  channel  in  which  it 
was  more  especially  his  duty  to  employ  himself.  I  do  not  mention  this  for  the  pur- 
pose of  throwing  the  slightest  blame  upon  the  bishop,  but  I  can  see  how,  in  his 
position  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Lords  and  a  dignitary  of  the  State  Church,  he 


1883.]  THE    CHCTRCH   AND   WAR.  541 

might  find  it  extremely  difficult  to  rise  in  his  place  and  to  make  a  speech  at  variance 
with  the  Ministers  who  sat  by  him,  at  variance  with  the  vast  majority  of  the  House, 
and  at  variance,  as  I  suppose  he  would  conclude  it  would  be,  with  the  immense  pre- 
ponderance of  opinion  in  the  Church  of  which  he  was  so  eminent  a  member.  Now — 
and  I  hope  those  who  will  criticise  what  I  say,  and  they  are  not  a  few,  and  they  who 
disagree  with  me,  and  perhaps  condemn  me — I  wish  they  would  tell  me  why  it  is 
that  the  Christian  Church  in  this  kingdom  as  against  the  crimes  of  the  State  such  as 
I  have  described — and  I  might  add  others — that  the  Christian  Church  and  its  bishops 
and  its  clergy  for  the  most  part  are  dumb  ?  About  five  hundred  years  ago  there 
lived  a  Franciscan  monk  at  the  Court,  I  think,  of  Louis  of  Bavaria.  His  name  wa? 
William  Occam,  and  he  deserves  to  be  remembered  for  the  large  amount  of  truth 
that  he  put  into  a  very  few  words.  He  said,  addressing  the  Emperor,  '  Thou 
defendest  me  with  the  sword,  and  I  will  defend  thee  with  the  pen,'  and  if  you  will 
trace  the  course  of  history  for  the  500  years  that  have  since  passed  over,  you  will 
find  that  where  there  has  been  a  Church  influencing  the  people  allied  with  the  State, 
it  has  almost  uniformly  defended  whatever  was  the  policy  of  the  potentate  or  the 
Government,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  Church  has  been  supported,  not  by  the 
sword  only,  but  by  all  the  influence  of  the  Government  with  which  it  was  allied.  I 
won't  dwell  upon  anything  further  that  has  taken  place  so  far  back  as  500  years.  I 
will  come  to  our  own  time,  and  I  will  refer  to  what  took  place  so  late  a.s  September 
last,  an  event,  as  you  know — whatever  may  be  said  about  its  necessity,  whatever 
preceded  it,  whatever  will  be  the  result — an  event  in  our  history  very  sad  and  very 
lamentable.  There  was  a  city  bombarded  and  burnt,  and  there  was  a  battle  fought. 
Now,  the  Church  has  not  been  dumb  upon  that  question.  You  know,  of  course, 
that  what  I  may  call  an  ecclesiastical  prince  and  a  great  ruler  in  the  Church  spoke 
to  the  people  in  regard  to  that  question.  What  did  he  say  ? — because  what  a  man 
of  that  mark  says  must  be  understood  to  represent  what  a  great  many  people  are 
supposed  to  think.  In  a  letter  to  the  Churches  he  made  observations  which  were 
introductory,  or  recommendatory,  of  a  prayer  which  he  coffered  for  their  acceptance. 
In  the  letter  he  spoke  in  this  manner.  He  said,  '  Mourning  as  we  do  for  those  who 
have  fallen  for  their  country ' — well,  we  all  mourn,  I  hope,  for  those  that  have  fallen 
•for  their  country.  But  this  Christian  minister,  apparently,  had  not  in  his  mind  at 
all  the  ten  Egyptians  who  fell  for  every  one  Englishman.  I  do  not  comprehend  that 
kind  of  mourning.  I  mourn  for  them  all.  Well,  then,  he  said  further,  that  '  our 
war  against  anarchy  was  an  inevitable  war.'  I  am  not  going  to  contest  that,  or  to 
argue  the  question  in  the  least.  You  know,  of  course,  my  opinion.  I  am  only  at 
liberty  to  say  this,  that  I  believe  those  who  know  most  about  it  believe  that  it  was 
not  an  inevitable  war.  But  I  leave  that,  because  it  is  quite  possible,  and,  indeed, 
very  likely,  that  there  are  differences  of  opinion  in  this  vast  assembly  on  this  question. 
I  come  now  to  the  words  of  the  prayer,  and  that  is  what  I  ask  you  to  consider 
for  a  moment.  I  had  wished  that  I  could  have  avoided  mentioning  this  on  this 
occasion ;  but  I  felt  that  it  would  be  an  abandonment  of  duty  if  I  let  this 
opportunity  pass  without  expressing  to  you  somewhat  of  the  feeling  which  this 
matter  excited  in  my  own  mind.  An  ancient  heathen  poet — I  am  not  sure  whether 
the  most  ancient  of  them  all — who  dealt  a  good  deal  in  narratives  of  war,  said — 

'  Unhallowed  is  the  voice 
Of  loud  thanksgiving  over  slaughtered  men. 

And  if  that  could  be  said  some  thousands  of  years  ago  by  a  heathen  writer, 
at  least  we  might  expect  some  little  consideration  from  a  dignitary  of  a 
Christian  Church  in  this  century  of  the  Christian  era.  Now,  these  are  the 
words  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention.  In  the  prayer  he  says — and  this 
was  sent  round  to  all  the  churches  —  I  know  some  cases,  I  have  heard  of  them, 
in  which  the  clergymen  were  too  much  shocked  to  permit  them  to  be  read — he 
said,  addressing  the  Supreme  Ruler,  '  Teach  us  to  see  that  Thy  hand  hath  done 
it,  that  Thou  wast  in  the  midst  of  our  camp  to  deliver  us,  and  to  give  up  our 
enemies  before  us.'  You  see  what  this  is,  put  into  plain  words— that  ironclad 
ships,  bursting  shells,  a  blazing  town,  the  roar  of  artillery,  the  charge  of 
bayonets,  the  ghastly  heaps  of  the  mangled  and  the  dead — these  were  manifesta- 
tions of  the  hand  of  the  God  of  Mercy.  But  I  must  remind  you  that  these,  or 
something  like  these,  have  been  the  words  which  have  been  offered  from  high 
dignitaries  of  the  Church  during  the  last  200  years,  probably  on  every  occasion 
of  our  wars,  be  they  just  or  unjust  to  the  last  degree.  Now,  I  won't  describe 
that  language  by  words  that  present  themselves  to  me,  for  1  do  not  want  to 
say  anything  that  is  unnecessarily  harsh  or  likely  to  hurt  the  feelings  of  such, 


542  LIFE   AND  TIMES   OP   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1883. 

if  there  be  such,  as  differ  from  me  upon  this  question.  But  1  venture  to  ask 
you,  and  I  would  ask  the  dignitary  of  the  Church  who  used  this  language,  and 
those  who  read  it  from  their  pulpits,  is  there  no  reason  why  the  millions  of  people 
of  this  country  absent  themselves  from  the  Churches  ?  Is  it  possible  that  men 
with  sentiments  like  these,  daring  to  approach  the  Throne  of  the  Eternal  with 
thanksgiving  for  acts  of  this  kind,  can  go  down  to  the  depths  of  society  and 
bring  up  the  poor  and  miserable,  the  abject,  the  forsaken,  and  the  hopeless, 
who  surround  us  on  every  side  ?  I  only  think  it  proves  the  indestructible  quality 
there  is  in  the  Christian  faith,  that  it  should  have  so  long  survived  the  treason 
of  those  who  pretend  to  teach  it.  But  I  pass  now,  before  I  conclude,  to  one  or 
two  other  matters  of  a  very  different  kind,  and  in  which  Ave  observe  an  entirely 
different  line  of  conduct.  For  example,  three  years  ago,  I  think  it  is,  the  Houses 
of  Parliament  passed  a  Bill  which  many  Nonconformists  were  greatly  interested 
in,  called  the  Burials  Bill.  You  will  remember,  probably,  that  it  was  said 
that  not  less  than  fourteen  or  fifteen  thousand  clergy  of  the  Church  of 
England  protested  to  the  late  archbishop  against  his  course,  and  against  the 
course  of  the  Government  and  Parliament,  in  supporting  and  passing  that 
measure.  The  late  archbishop  was  not  merely  an  archbishop  and  a  Christian 
archbishop,  but  he  was  a  statesman  influenced  to  a  large  extent,  I  believe, 
by  Christian  principles.  He  had  much  to  do  with  the  passing  of  that  Bill,  and 
prevailing  upon  persons  likely  to  be  hostile  to  it  to  view  it  at  least  with  some- 
thing like  acquiescence,  if  they  could  not  entirely  approve.  But  the  clergy  found 
their  tongues.  They  co-operated,  they  conspired,  they  signed  memorials,  they 
joined  in  a  great  demonstration  against  that  Bill.  Let  us  come  to  another 
question  that  is  just  now— or  coming  just  now — before  Parliament.  There  are 
two  questions.  I  think  it  probable  that  the  one  you  are  just  now  taking  an 
interest  in  is  the  question  of  the  admission  of  men  to  the  House  of  Commons 
who  shall  not  be  required  to  take  an  oath;  and  I  have  seen  much  lately  that 
convinces  me  that  many  men  are  more  willing  to  worry  a  Government  than  to 
honour  God.  On  this  question,  no  doubt — I  judge  only  from  the  public  papers — 
clerical  organisations  are  actively  employed  to  thwart  the  purpose  of  that 
measure.  But  there  is  another  question  that  is  coming  before  Parliament" 
soon,  and  which  has  been  before  Parliament  almost  all  the  time  that  I  have 
been  there — that  is,  a  reform  of  the  marriage  laws,  which  is  necessary  for  the 
comfort  and  happiness  of  some  thousands  of  families  in  this  nation.  You  know 
that  there  is  a  sort  of  clerical  Parliament  that  has  been  sitting  lately,  which  ia 
called  Convocation.  I  can  never  see  anything  there  that  tends  to  what  I 
should  call  freedom  and  justice  and  reasonable  concession  to  the  people.  On 
/.his  question  they  are  passing  resolutions  of,  I  was  going  to  say,  an  audacious 
positiveness.  They  seem  to  think  it  amazing  that  anybody  should  take  a 
different  view,  and  yet  at  this  very  moment,  if  statements  I  have  heard  are 
not  erroneous,  there  is  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Lords  in  favour  of  that 
Bill.  It  would  have  passed  last  session  if  only  the  temporal  peers  had  had 
the  vote.  The  bishops,  the  representatives  of  a  section  of  the  English  people, 
were  the  opponents,  and  I  am  told — though  I  have  not  examined  the  list 
myself,  but  I  think  it  is  stated  on  good  authority — that  their  votes  rejected  the 
BUI.  But  whether  there  be  a  majority  there  or  not,  this,  at  any  rate,  is  certain, 
that  if  the  House  of  Commons  were  assembled  with  its  650  members  there  is  a 
majority  of  more  than  150,  I  am  told  of  200,  in  favour  of  that  Bill.  And  yet 
with  this  vast  pronouncement  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  a  few, 
a  handful  of  ecclesiastics,  twenty  or  four  or  five-ana-twenty  in  number,  sitting 
in  one  House  of  Parliament,  reject  this  measure,  condemn  thousands  of  families 
to  unhappiness  during  their  lifetime,  and  condemn  thousands  of  children, 
wholly  guiltless,  as  I  believe  their  parents  are  guiltless— yes,  I  say,  condemn 
thousands  of  children,  innocent,  as  I  believe  their  parents  are  innocent,  to  the 
brand  of  illegitimacy.  I  hope  nobody  will  suppose  that  I  am  ignorant  of  the 
fact — nay,  I  believe  it  most  fully— that  there  are  bishops  who  are  excellent  men, 
and  that  there  are  thousands  of  clergymen  of  the  Established  Church  who  in 
their  various  parishes  and  offices,  as  far  as  they  know,  do  honestly  perform 
their  duties,  and  do  wish  to  be  what  the  theory  intends  they  should  be — 
lights  to  guide  their  parishioners  in  the  better  way;  and,  of  course,  we  all 
know  that  amongst  the  vast  Church  population  in  this  country,  men  and 
women,  there  are  multitudes  who  can  claim  to  be  possessed  of  and  to  exercise 
every  virtue  at  least  on  an  equality  with  the  best  of  such  amongst  the 
Nonconformists.  But  then  there  comes  the  question  of  the  alliance  with  the 


1883.]  A    DISESTABLISHED    CHURCH.  643 

State.  The  Established  Church,  if  it  were  not  established,  would  still  be  a. 
Church.  For  anything  I  know  it  would  be  two  Churches,  and  the  bishops, 
I  presume,  would  be  bishops  as  the  bishops  in  Ireland  are  still  bishops,  and 
the  clergy  would  have  their  congregations,  and  there  is  not  one  particular 
in  which  you  could  show  that  the  actual  useful  work  of  any  bishop^  or  clergy- 
man would  be  less  than  it  is  now,  and  less  fruitful  for  everything  that  is 
good.  But,  then,  when  they  are  allied  with  the  State  they  are  dumb,  as  I 
have  said,  when  the  State  does  anything  wrong ;  and  you  only  hear  them  in  any 
transaction  of  the  State  when  the  State  is  willing  to  do  some  act  of  justice  to  the 
people.  I  think  that  this  mode  of  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  clergy  and  the  great 
powers  of  a  great  establishment  is  one  which  is  not  calculated  to  elevate  the  Christian 
idea  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  but  rather  to  shut  out  vast  numbers  of  the  people 
from  any  fair  and  open  consideration  of  the  claims  of  the  Christian  faith.  Now,  I 
complain,  then,  of  the  Established  Church  in  this  broad  manner,  that  it  does  nothing 
to  guide  the  State  in  the  way  of  righteousness ;  that  it  is  in  certain  respects  the  bond 
slave  of  the  State ;  that  in  all  the  great  matters  which  most  affect  our  country  the 
bishops  and  the  clergy  are  dumb,  and  their  activity  is  shown  when  any  comparatively 
small  measure  is  discussed  which  they  think  treads  a  little  upon  their  position  and 
their  supremacy.  Well,  now,  what  will  come  ?  I  cannot  hope,  and  many  here  can- 
not hope,  to  five  to  see  it,  but  probably  many  here  will  see  it.  Looking  at  the 
growth  of  your  cause  as  manifested  here  to-night,  and  by  many  other  tokens ; 
looking  to  the  bondage  of  the  Church,  and  the  great  schism  which  is  continually 
widening  within  its  borders;  looking  to  the  growing  earnestness  which  I  believe 

there  seem  to  me 
of  peers 

early  but  not  very  remote — 
triumph  of  your  cause.  The  Church  as  an  Establishment  will  perish.  But  as  a 
Church,  when  that  event  has  taken  place,  it  will  flourish  far  more  in  the  right  way 
of  nourishing  than  it  has  done  when  tended  by  the  State.  When  free  it  will  look  back 
with  horror  on  the  chains  from  which  it  has  been  delivered,  and  it  will  exult  with 
unspeakable  rejoicing  at  the  freedom  by  which  it  has  been  enriched.  And  the  people 
will  have  additional  reasons  for  clinging  to  it,  and  I  do  not  doubt  for  a  moment — I 
speak  with  as  solemn  a  belief  as  I  have  ever  uttered  upon  any  question — that  the 
religion,  the  Christian  religion,  taught  by  the  Free  Churches  of  England,  will  be  far 
more  acceptable  hereafter  to  the  millions  of  our  population." 

On  the  30th  of  May  Mr.  John  Bright  was  present  at  the 
marriage  of  his  eldest  son,  Mr.  John  Albert  Bright,  to  Miss 
Edith  Eckersley  Shawcross,  daughter  of  Mr.  W.  T.  Shawcross, 
manufacturer,  Foxholes,  Rochdale.  The  ceremony  was  per- 
formed at  the  Unitarian  Chapel,  Blackwater  Street,  Rochdale, 
the  place  of  worship  attended  by  the  bride's  family.  Thousands 
of  persons  assembled  near  the  chapel,  but  the  building  accom- 
modated only  about  250  persons,  and  the  invited  guests 
numbered  about  70.  The  newly-married  couple  and  Mr.  John 
Bright  and  guests  passed  through  the  crowded  streets  in  twenty- 
two  carriages  amidst  continued  cheering.  After  their  honeymoon 
tour,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J  .A.  Bright  made  their  home  at  Rose  Hill, 
a  villa  close  by  "  One  Ash." 


CHAPTER    XLVT. 

A    XOBLE    TRIBUTE    TO    BRIGHT. 

The  Completion  of  Mr.  Bright's  Twenty-Fifth  Year  as  Member  for  Birmingham — 
— A  Memorable  Meeting  in  Bingley  Hall — Banquet  at  the  Town  Hall — Earl 
Granville's  Comments  on  Mr.  Bright's  Career — Mr.  Bright  Entertained  by  the 
Mayor — The  Junior  Liberal  Club — The  Departure — Charged  with  Breach  of 
Privilege — His  Defence — The  Motion  Defeated. 

IN  August,  1882,  Mr.  Bright  completed  the  twenty-fifth  year  of 
his  representation  of  Birmingham  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
long  before  this  date  his  constituents  had  determined  to  com- 
memorate the  event  by  a  public  demonstration  and  other  marks 
of  gratitude  for  his  faithful  services.  Mr.  Bright  at  first,  with 
his  usual  delicacy,  tried  to  evade  a  public  demonstration,  but  his 
constituents  were  firm  in  their  resolve ;  and  after  the  date  was 
deferred,  it  was  at  last  fixed  to  commence  on  Monday,  June  llth, 
1883,  and  extend  over  the  whole  week.  On  the  previous  Saturday 
evening,  Mr.  Bright  arrived  at  Stratford-ou-Avon  from  London, 
and  was  met  at  the  railway  station  by  Mr.  Richard  Curry,  his 
son-in-law,  with  whom  he  stayed  until  the  Monday  morning.  At 
half-past  twelve  on  the  day  fixed  he  arrived  at  Small  Heath 
station,  accompanied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Curry,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John 
Albert  Bright,  and  Mrs.  Bernard  Roth,  and  they  received  a 
princely  greeting,  and  were  met  by  the  Mayor  of  Birmingham 
(Mr.  Alderman  White),  Mr.  George  Dixon  (President  of  the 
Birmingham  Liberal  Association),  Dr.  R.  W.  Dale,  Mr.  Jesse 
Collings,  M.P.,  Mr.  Wiggin,  M.P.,  and  a  large  number  of  other 
gentlemen.  Mr.  Dixon  presented  to  Mr.  Bright  a  gold  medal 
struck  for  the  occasion,  which  bore  the  portrait  of  Mr.  Bright, 
and  on  the  reverse  side  the  arms  and  motto  of  the  borough, 
"Forward,"  and  the  inscription:  "Birmingham  Liberal  Asso- 
ciation, Bright  Celebration,  June,  1883.  The  Right  Hon.  John 
Bright,  elected  M.P.  for  Birmingham  August,  1857.  Peace, 
Retrenchment,  and  Reform.'' 

The  Mayor  welcomed  Mr.  Bright,  on  behalf  of  the  corpora- 
tion and  the  inhabitants  of  Birmingham,  assuring  him  that  his 
visit  would  gladden  many  hearts.  Mr.  Bright,  in  the  course  of 
his  reply,  said — 

"  All  the  time  I  have  been  member  for  Birmingham  I  have  been  treated  with  a 
generosity  and  sympathy  and  assistance  which  perhaps  no  other  representative  in 


1883.J  A   MONSTER    PROCESSION.  645 

Parliament — few  certainly — has  received  from  his  constituents.  Mr.  Dixon  has  been 
kind  enough  to  hand  me  this  medal,  which  is  of  a  very  valuable  metal,  a  metal  which 
I  suppose  is  perpetual  in  its  duration,  if  it  is  not  intentionally  got  rid  of.  (Laughter.) 
I  hope  it  will  remain  with  my  son,  or  with  others  of  my  children,  and  that  they  may 
bear  in  mind  at  some  time  when  I  am  not  with  them,  that  it  was  presented  to  me  on 
a  remarkable  occasion,  and  by  gentlemen,  friends  of  mine,  to  whom  I  owe  a  debt  of 
gratitude,  which,  however  long  I  may  live,  I  shall  never  be  able  to  repay." 

The  procession,  a  mile  and  a  half  long1,  was  then  marshalled 
into  order  with  its  numerous  bands  of  music,  and  Mr.  Bright, 
amidst  vociferous  cheering,  entered  an  open  carriage,  with  his 
two  daughters  and  the  Mayor,  and  rode  in  the  rear  of  the 
procession  through  the  principal  streets  of  the  borough.  The 
route  was  crowded  throughout,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  county  had 
proclaimed  a  holiday.  Countless  thousands  had  also  arrived 
from  distant  towns  to  witness  the  memorable  event,  and  the 
processionists  were  heartily  cheered.  A  notable  feature  was  a 
carriage  containing  the  surviving  members  of  the  1832  Political 
Union .  There  were  thirty-five  of  the  veterans,  and  the  youngest  of 
the  party  was  seventy- two  years  of  age.  They  carried  with  them 
the  battered  banner  of  the  Union,  and  the  drum  which  heralded 
the  news  in  Birmingham  of  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  of 
1832. 

Before  the  procession  arrived  at  its  destination,  Mr.  Bright's 
carriage  took  a  short  cut,  and  reached  the  office  of  the  Aston  Local 
Board  before  the  head  of  the  cortege  arrived,  and  Mr.  Bright  him- 
self took  up  a  position  at  one  of  the  windows.  The  whole  of  the 
procession  thus  passed  in  review  before  him,  every  person  un- 
covering and  saluting  him  in  passing.  At  the  end  of  a  four  or 
five  miles'  march,  the  processionists  entered  the  Aston  Lower 
Grounds,  where  in  the  evening  a  series  of  entertainments  took 
place  in  the  great  hall ;  concerts  were  given  by  the  Canadian 
Jubilee  Singers,  and  out  of  doors  a  minstrel  troupe  and  several 
military  bands  gave  performances.  After  the  concerts  there  was 
dancing  in  the  meadow,  in  the  wood,  and  in  the  great  hall. 

Mr.  Bright  became  the  guest  of  Mr.  George  Dixon,  his 
former  colleague,  and  spent  the  day  following  in  his  host's 
suburban  retreat  at  Edgbaston. 

One  of  the  prominent  features  of  the  celebration  was  the 
immense  gathering  in  Bingley  Hall  on  the  Wednesday  evening, 
for  it  was  computed  that  at  least  20,000  persons  were  present, 
and,  although  15,000  were  admitted  without  tickets,  there 
seemed  to  be  a  wonderful  unanimity  of  feeling  towards  the  hero 
of  the  evening.  The  approach  of  Mr.  Bright  was  heralded  with 
an  ovation  of  cheering  such  as  is  seldom  heard.  He  was 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Dixon,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  M.P.,  the  Mayor, 
J  J 


546  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN  BRIGHT. 

Mr.  Duncan  Mf  Laren,  and  Dr.  Dale.  A  band  struck  up  "  Auld 
Lang  Syne/'  and  the  vast  assembly  joined  in  singing  this  Scot- 
tish song,  which  touched  the  tender  theme  of  old  acquaintance, 
and  moistened  many  an  eye.  Mr.  George  Dixon  presided,  and 
explaining  the  object  of  the  meeting,  presented  to  Mr.  Bright 
an  address  from  the  Birmingham  Liberal  Association  in  which 
occurred  the  following : — 

"  Birmingham  invited  you  to  become  its  representative  solely  on  the  ground  of 
your  great  services  to  the  nation,  and  for  your  known  devotion  to  the  cause  of  pro- 
gress and  reform ;  you  accepted  the  call,  trusting  to  the  traditions  of  the  town,  and 
to  the  fidelity  of  its  people.  These  were  the  relations  of  representative  and  consti- 
tuents established  at  the  outset  of  our  association.  These  relations  have  remained 
unbroken  and  unaltered  from  that  day  to  this.  Neither  upon  our  part  nor  upon 
yours  has  there  even  passed  so  much  as  a  shadow  of  wavering  or  distrust.  With  the 
lapse  of  years  our  confidence  has  grown  into  an  instinct,  and  our  esteem  has 
deepened  into  affection.  We  count  it  one  of  the  chief  distinctions  of  Birmingham, 
we  regard  it  as  one  of  our  most  precious  memories,-  that  so  large  a  portion  of  your 
public  life  should  have  been  bound  up  with  ours.  We  cherish  the  hope  that,  so  long 
as  your  life  endures,  the  bond  now  existing  between  us  will  never  be  broken.  We 
need  not  recall  the  vital  questions  which  have  been  raised  and  settled,  the  beneficent 
reforms  which  have  been  effected,  and  the  measure  of  progress  which  has  been 
achieved  during  the  period  of  your  services  as  one  of  the  members  for  Birmingham. 
These  are  written  in  the  history  of  our  country ;  and  there,  also,  is  imperishably 
recorded  the  great  share  which  you  have  had  in  bringing  them  about.  There  is 
no  reform  for  which  you  have  pleaded  that  has  not  received  support  from  your 
countrymen,  and  recognition  from  the  legislature.  The  freedom  of  commerce,  the 
extension  of  the  franchise,  the  liberation  of  the  press  from  unwise  restrictions,  the 
completion  of  the  rights  of  citizenship  by  the  promotion  of  religious  equality,  the 
claims  of  the  peoples  of  India  to  just  administration,  the  concession  of  ecclesiastical 
and  agrarian  reforms  in  Ireland,  the  maintenance  of  the  Liberal  watchwords  of 
Peace,  Retrenchment,  and  Reform — these  have  been  the  objects  of  your  ceaseless 
endeavours ;  to  these  you  have  been  faithful  in  all  vicissitudes  of  political  fortune, 
and  under  all  circumstances  of  personal  trial,  undismayed  by  momentary  failure — 
undeterred  by  persistent  obloquy.  And,  thanks  in  a  great  measure  to  your  advo- 
cacy, the  principles  for  which  you  have  contended  from  your  entrance  into  Parlia- 
ment until  now  are  largely  embodied  in  acts  of  legislation.  :  .  .  .  For  oar  own 
share,  we  desire  to  keep  this  day  in  perpetual  remembrance  by  the  erection  of  a 
memorial  statue  in  our  town,  so  that  our  children  and  our  children's  children,  for 
generations  to  come,  may  know  the  form  and  features  of  one  of  whose  long-con- 
tinued and  faithful  service  Birmingham  is  proud,  whose  name  it  cherishes  as  a  house- 
hold word,  and  whose  memory  it  will  revere." 

Dr.  R.  W.  Dale  next  presented,  on  behalf  of  the  Liberals  of 
Birmingham,  Mr.  Frank  HolFs  portrait  of  Mr.  Bright,  and  a 
silver  dessert  service,  which  had  cost  600  guineas,  and  was  one  of 
Elkington's  masterpieces.  It  consists  of  a  centre-piece,,  a  plateau, 
two  end-pieces,  and  four  compotiers  en  suite  in  the  Renaissance 
style.  The  work  is  of  oxydised  silver,  relieved  with  dead  gilding, 
and  the  artistic  execution  of  the  details  is  the  best  'the  country 
can  produce.  There  are  figures  with  an  olive  branch  representing 
Peace,  others  with  a  laurel  wreath  representing  Plenty,  and 
youthful  bearers  of  cornucopia.  The  classic  pillars  supporting 
the  glass  dishes,  specially  designed  by  Osier,  are  ornamented 
with  roses  and  other  flowers.  On  the  base  of  the  shield,  wreathed 


1883.]  GIFTS.  547 

with  myosotis  and  forget-me-nots,  is  the  recipient's  monogram. 
The  plinth  of  the  centre  plateau  gives  in  relief  a  view  of  Bir- 
mingham Town  Hall,  a  record  of  the  occasion,  the  monogram  of 
the  Liberal  Association,  and  the  borough  arms.  There  is  inscribed 
"  Presented  to  the  Right  Hon.  John  Bright,  M.P.,  by  the 
Birmingham  Liberal  Association,  on  the  completion  of  his 
twenty-tifth  year  as  Member  for  the  Borough.  June,  1883." 

"We,  who  have  heard  him  so  often,"  said  Mr.  Dale,  "  can  never  forget  the  music 
of  his  voice,  the  simplicity  and  noble  strength  of  his  English  style,  the  admiration 
of  scholars,  and  intelligible  to  the  least  cultivated  of  the  people.  We  have  laughed 
many  a  time  at  his  humour,  which  has  exhilarated  his  friends,  and  has  inflicted  so 
often  pleasant  and  wholesome  torment  on  his  political  opponents.  We  have  been 
charmed  by  the  felicity  of  his  illustrations,  drawn  sometimes  from  the  most  famous 
of  Engiish  poets,  and  sometimes  from  the  most  obscure,  but  by  preference  from  those 
ancient  and  venerable  Scriptures  which  are  dearer  than  all  other  books  besides  to  the 
hearts  of  the  English  people.  Again  and  again  we  have  felt  the  force  of  his  massive 
common  sense,  we  have  been  moved  to  tears  by  his  pathos,  and  we  have  been  kindled 
to  passion  by  his  glorious  declamation.  But,  Sir,  the  hearts  of  a  great  population 
are  not  to  be  won  by  eloquence  alone,  no  matter  how  splendid,  and  still  less  can 
eloquence  hold  fast  their  loyalty  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  five-and-tweuty 
years.  We  are  here  to  acknowledge  that  Mr.  Bright  has  rendered  immense  and 
incontestable  services  to  ourselves  and  to  the  whole  country.  These  services  it  is  not 
for  me  to  attempt  to  recite  to-night.  For  nearly  forty  years,  largely  as  the  result 
of  his  labours,  bread  has  been  more  plentiful  in  the  homes  of  the  poor  all  England 
over.  (Cheers.)  Since  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  in  1846  we  have  never  known 
the  miseries  of  famine.  (Applause.)  If  our  harvests  have  failed  we  have  been  fed 
with  the  harvests  of  all  the  world.  (Cheers.)  These  services  alone  would  have  been 
sufficient  to  secure  for  Mr.  Bright  lasting  gratitude  and  renown.  But  in  addition  to 
this  he,  beyond  all  other  men  who  took  part  in  the  great  struggle  for  reform, 
achieved  the  political  emancipation  of  thousands  of  Englishmen  in  all  our  great 
towns.  (Applause.)  But,  Sir,  I  venture  to  say  that  the  affection  and  the  veneration 
which  Mr.  Bright  has  inspired  are  not  fully  explained  either  by  his  eloquence  or  by 
the  magnificent  services  that  he  has  rendered  to  the  country.  The  man  is  greater 
than  his  eloquence,  the  man  is  nobler  than  his  services.  (Loud  cheers.)  We  forget 
the  genius  of  the  orator  and  the  political  achievements  of  the  statesman  in  our 
admiration  for  himself.  (Applause.)  And  the  reason  of  this  is  plain  :  in  the  heart 
of  every  one  of  us  there  is  an  invincible  conviction  that  the  true  nobility  and  glory 
of  human  life  come  from  courageous  fidelity  to  duty,  and  in  circumstances  of  great 
peril  Mr.  Bright  has  always  been  loyal  to  his  conscience.  Slander  never  turned  him 
aside — (hear,  hear) — from  what  he  believed  to  be  the  path  of  righteousness,  nor 
mockery,  nor  insult,  nor  hatred.  He  never  quailed  before  the  power  of  the  great, 
and  when  for  a  time  fidelity  to  conscience  brought  upon  him  storms  of  unpopularity, 
and  he  lost  the  confidence  of  the  people  he  loved  and  served,  Mr.  Bright  remained 
faithful  still.  (Cheers,  renewed  again  and  again.)  I  believe  that  he  has 
elevated  the  national  ideal  of  political  morality — (hear,  hear) — and  the  value 
of  that  service  cannot  be  measured.  His  incorruptible  integrity  is  the  chief 
secret  of  the  confidence  and  enthusiastic  loyalty  with  wliich  we  have  come  to  regard 
him.  (Cheers.)  To  a  man  like  Mr.  Bright,  with  powers  so  great,  with  an  influence 
in  this  nation  so  immense,  the  review  of  his  public  life  to  which  he  is  called  to-night 
must  have  a  certain  solemnity  in  it.  We  hope  indeed  that  for  a  long  while  to  com? 
— (hear,  hear) — his  integrity,  hia  sagacity,  his  knowledge  of  public  affairs  will 
continue  to  guide  and  to  strengthen  the  great  Liberal  party.  (Cheers.)  But  we  are 
reminded,  by  the  grey  hairs  on  his  head,  which  to  him,  being  found  in  the  way  of 
righteousness,  are  a  crown  of  honour — (loud  and  prolonged  cheering) — we  are  re- 
minded, I  say,  that  he  has  reached  the  age  when  the  limits  of  this  mortal  life  begin 
to  melt  into  a  wider  horizon.  He  must  sometimes  anticipate  the  judgment  of  pos- 
terity on  hia  public  services,  and  sometimes  he  must  anticipate  a  judgment  still  more 
awful  and  august.  But  for  ourselves  we  are  here  to  say  that,  in  our  judgment,  ho 
has  discharged  his  great  trust  with  a  noble  courage,  and  with  a  stainless  honesty — 
served  us  and  the  nation  well.  (Loud  cheering.)  And  now, 


(loud  cheers) — and 
J  3 


648  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1883. 

Mr.  Bright,  it  is  my  great  honour,  on  behalf  of  the  Liberal  party  in  Birmingham, 
to  offer  to  you  the  gifts  on  the  table  before  me,  and  the  portrait  of  yourself  now 
'hanging  on  the  walls  of  the  Royal  Academy.  We  ask  you  to  accept  these  gifts  as 
expressions  of  our  affection,  of  our  confidence,  of  our  veneration.  We  ask  you  to 
accept  them  as  lasting  memorials  of  the  pride  and  the  gratitude  with  which  we  look 
back  upon  the  five-and-twenty  years  during  which  you  have  represented  us  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  ([Cheers.)  We  trust  that  these  gifts  will  remind  your  children 
and  your  children's  children  of  the  high  place  you  held  in  the  hearts  of  your  fellow- 
countrymen.  (Hear,  hear.)  The  grateful  blessings  of  the  poor  were  yours,  for  you 
have  lessened  their  miseries.  (Cheers.)  The  confidence  of  the  great  mass  of  your 
fellow-countrymen  is  yours,  for  you  have  redressed  their  political  wrongs.  (Cheers.) 
You  have  won  the  respect  of  the  most  worthy  of  your  opponents,  and  you  have  won 
the  enthusiastic  devotion  of  your  friends.  In  every  land  where  the  English  tongue 
is  spoken  you  are  honoured  as  the  foremost  champion  in  these  times  of  truth,  of 
freedom,  of  justice,  and  of  peace.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  These,  Sir,  are  glories 
which  surpass  the  most  splendid  rewards  of  mere  personal  ambition.  They 

'  Make  the  pageantries  of  kings  like  shadows  seem 
An  unsubstantial  dream.' " 
(Loud  cheers.) 

One  hundred  and  fifty  addresses  were  next  presented  to  Mr. 
Bright ;  they  were  brought  by  an  army  of  delegates,  who  felt 
it  an  honour  to  be  the  bearers  of  such  appreciative  testimony 
from  their  respective  towns.  The  National  Liberal  Club  sent 
one,  and  it  was  signed  by  Mr.  Gladstone.  The  one  presented 
by  the  National  Reform  Union  (Manchester)  related  that : — 

"  There  are  amongst  us,  Sir,  men  who  have  been  active  members  for  the  Union 
since  it  was  founded  in  1864  by  your  friend  and  colleague  in  the  Anti- Corn-Law 
League,  Mr.  George  Wilson ;  and  they  remember  well  the  leading  part  you  took  in 
the  first  great  agitation  which  the  Union  was  called  upon  to  promote,  that,  viz. ,  for 
securing  a  wider  and  more  equitable  distribution  of  political  power.  Some  there  are 
also — but,  alas !  now  few  in  number — who  worked  under  the  leadership  of  yourself, 
Mr.  Cobden,  and  Mr.  Wilson,  in  that  earlier  struggle  for  free  trade ;  while  others  of 
us  only  began  to  take  an  active  part  in  politics  after  you  had  reached  and  passed  the 
meridian  of  your  life.  But  to  all  of  us  alike — whether  we  have  grown  old  with  you, 
and  have  thus  had  the  advantage  of  marching  by  your  side  along  the  path  of  pro- 
gress, or  whether  we  have  only  been  able  to  follow  in  your  footsteps — your  life  has 
been  an  ensample,  your  career  an  encouragement,  your  name  a  stronghold  of 
political  faith.  There  have  been  times  when  the  great  party  to  which  we  all  belong 
has  been  in  danger  of  losing  sight  of  the  end  and  aim  of  its  existence.  Then  your 
singleness  of  purpose  shone  forth  like  a  beacon  to  keep  us  in  the  right  course.  When 
the  principles  which  we  all  profess  have  been  temporarily  obscured  by  the  passion 
of  party  or  by  consideration  of  so-called  national  expediency,  your  fidelity  to  prin- 
ciple has  raised  us  above  the  influences  of  the  moment.  If  we  have  ever  felt  uncer- 
tain and  doubtful  as  to  a  particular  course  of  political  action,  our  confidence  has 
been  restored,  or  our  doubt  made  certainty,  by  the  attitude  you  have  assumed — so 
strong  has  been  our  faith  in  your  political  sagacity  and  in  the  purity  of  your  motives. 
It  would  be  vain  to  attempt  to  enumerate  all  the  great  and  beneficial  movements 
which  you  have  led  or  taken  a  leading  part  in  promoting.  With  your  name  will 
ever  be  associated  the  acquisition  by  your  fellow-countrymen  of  the  blessings  of 
free  trade,  a  free  press,  and  an  extended  franchise.  Your  voice  was  raised  to  plead 
for  justice  to  Ireland,  when  few  were  found  to  hear  your  pleas,  and  fewer  still  to  dare 
to  echo  them.  The  cause  of  liberty  has  ever  found  in  you  a  ready  and  an  uncom- 
promising champion ;  and  you  have  often  striven,  with  a  courage  greater  than  that 
of  the  soldier,  to  stem  the  tide  of  war,  even  when  it  flowed  with  the  full  passion  of 
a  nation.  Secure  of  popularity  alike  by  the  services  you  have  rendered  to  the  people 
and  by  the  gift  of  marvellous  eloquence  with  which  God  has  endowed  you,  tha 
breath  of  popular  favour  has  never  swayed  your  course,  the  influence  of  popular 
prejudice  has  never  shaken  your  resolution.  Basing  your  own  conduct,  in  public  as 
well  as  in  private  life,  on  the  firm  and  immutable  foundations  of  morality,  you  have 
consistently  endeavoured  to  shape  England's  policy  and  secure  her  well-being  by  a 


1883.J  HONOURS.  649 


strict  application  of  the  same  principles  to  her  national  life.    .    .     .    There  lie 

ad  vast 
and  have 

iiman  life  is  gener- 
ally restricted,  yet  we  would  fain  hope  that  you  may  be  spared  to  guide  us  through 
them,  and  to  see  the  fulfilment  of  aspirations  which  you  have  done  so  much  to  create, 
and  which  so  largely  depend  on  you  for  their  achievement." 


strict  application  01  tne  same  principles  to  her  national  life.  .  .  .  The 
before  us  in  the  immediate  future  political  problems  of  great  difficulty  and 
importance ;  and,  although  you  have  grown  grey  in  your  country's  service,  anc 
already  passed  the  threescore  years  and  ten  to  which  the  span  of  human  life  is  g 


The  other  addresses  were  presented  by  delegates  from  Man- 
chester, Salford,  Rochdale,  Durham,  Leeds,  Liverpool,  Sheffield, 
Bradford,  Oldham,  Bolton,  Blackburn,  Birkenhead,  Halifax, 
Stockport,  York,  Hull,  Bury,  Warrington,  Ashton-uuder-Lyne, 
Scarborough,  Wakefield,  Bootle,  Bacup,  Staly bridge,  Duckin- 
field,  Crewe,  Doncaster,  Llandudno,  Greenock,  Helensburgh, 
Hawick,  Jedburgh,  Wigan,  Todmorden,  Accrington,  Barrow-in- 
Furness,  Carnarvonshire,  Dumfries,  Chester,  Londonderry, 
Coleraine,  Armagh,  and  many  other  towns.  The  addresses,  as 
they  were  received  from  the  delegates,  were  placed  on  a  table, 
where  they  grew  to  an  enormous  pile,  and  showed  how  their 
recipient  had  not  lived  in  vain,  and  how  he  was  respected  by 
every  good  man. 

When  Mr.  Bright  rose  to  speak,  the  vast  audience  rising 
with  him  cheered  joyfully.  He*  was  deeply  affected  by  the  warmth 
of  -the  reception,  and  this  unmistakable  evidence  of  public  grati- 
tude, which  "  beamed  forth  to  gild  the  evening  of  his  day/'  When 
the  cheering  died  away,  and  the  listeners  subsided  into  an  atti- 
tude of  hushed  expectation,  he  began  in  his  clear,  strong,  musical 
voice  to  emphasise  terse  sentences ;  and  the  humorous  sentences, 
received  with  instant  appreciation  and  laughter,  came  easily,  and 
as  if  the  speaker  enjoyed  them  as  much  as  the  hearers.  He 
referred  to  the  freedom  of  industry,  to  the  obnoxious  Corn  Laws, 
pointing  out — 

"  That  meat  was  made  for  mouths — that  God  sent  not 
Corn  for  the  rich  men  only." 

He  next  alluded  to  the  improvement  which  has  taken  place  in 
the  condition  of  the  agricultural  labourer  and  the  mechanic,  to 
the  cheapening  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  to  the  spread  of  educa- 
tion, and  to  many  other  advantages,  which  in  the  old  telling 
manner  he  claimed  to  have  come  to  the  working  classes  mainly 
through  the  action  of  the  vast  changes  which  took  place  when 
the  portals  of  industry  were  thrown  open,  and  all  the  world  was 
invited  to  supply  our  markets.  He  spent  more  than  half  an 
hour  in  this  interesting  review  of  legislation  attempted  and 
progress  achieved,  warming  into  fine  eloquence  as  he  spoke  of 
the  United  States,  the  heralded  solution  of  the  question  there 
between  a  protective  tariff  and  a  revenue  tariff,  the  abolition  of 


560  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BEIGHT. 

slavery,  and  the  future  that  lies  before  the  great  Republic 
when  she  shall  have  established  a  perfect  system  of  free 
industry.  — 

"  Perhaps,  though  I  am  speaking  to  this  vast  assembly  of  my  own  countrymen," 
said  Mr.  Bright,  ' '  I  may  be  permitted  to  address  a  word  to  the  working  artisan  class 
of  the  United  States  of  America.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  am  not  an  enemy  of  the  United 
States.  (Renewed  cheers.)  I  have  fought  her  battle  in  this  country— (cheers) — 
when,  for  a  time,  I  was  not  sure  that  the  contest  would  not  go  against  us.  (Hear, 
hear.)  I  have  as  much  sympathy  with  the  United  States  now  as  I  had  then;  and 
as  much,  I  think,  almost  as  if  I  had  been  born  upon  her  soil.  (Cheers.)  Well,  I 
will  say  this  to  the  working  men  and  artisans  of  the  United  States,  that  centuries  of 
legislation  in  this  country — preceding  centuries — have  not  done  so  much,  have  not 
conferred  so  great  benefits  upon  the  labour  of  England  as  have  been  conferred  by 
the  great  Minister  of  forty  years  ago,  Sir  Robert  Peel — (cheers)— and  by  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, the  great  Minister  of  to-day.  (Loud  cheers.)  Will  you  permit  me  to  dwell 
for  a  sentence  or  two  upon  the  question  as  it  affects  the  United  States,  in  which  we, 
and  they,  and  all  the  world  are  greatly  interested  ?  I  believe  that  the  question  in  the 
United  States  as  between  a  high  protective  tariff  and  a  merely  revenue  tariff  is 
nearing  its  solution.  (Hear,  hear.)  Opinion  is  growing — facts,  economic  facts, 
which  are  irresistible,  are  coming  to  the  front,  and  are  offering  themselves  to  the 
consideration  of  statesmen  there,  and  of  every  intelligent  man  in  that  great  Republic. 
There  is  an  extraordinary  condition  of  things  there,  which  no  other  country  in  any 
age  of  the  world  has  ever  experienced  or  even  dreamt  of.  There  is  an  actual  surplus 
revenue  of  thirty  millions  sterling.  Why,  our  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  potters 
about  with  a  million  or  two  millions.  (Laughter.)  He  puts  a  penny  on  the  income 
tax  one  day,  and  another  day  takes  it  off  again ;  one  day  he  proposes  to  give  a 
quarter  of  a  million  to  the  country  gentlemen  to  help  them  to  repair  their  roads,  and 
then  finds  he  cannot  get  the  money  and  does  not  do  it.  (Laughter.)  The  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  of  the  United  States,  monarch,  apparently,  of  all  he  surveys,  deals 
with  a  lump  sum,  the  magnitude  of  which  you  cannot  measure  and  cannot  conceive, 
but  a  lump  sum  of  thirty  millions  sterling.  Now,  this  thirty  millions  is  fatal  to  the 
high  protection  party.  The  Government  does  not  know  very  well  what  to  do  with  it. 
It  must  either  throw  it  away  or  spend  it  in  something  foolish  and  unnecessary,  or 
else  it  must  refuse  to  receive  it — by  reducing  the  duties.  And  there  are  other 
matters,  which  I  need  not  go  into,  connected  with  their  system  of  bonds,  and  with 
their  banks,  which  I  will  not  attempt  to  explain ;  but  I  think  this  is  very  certain, 
that  next  year — although  this  year  they  have  made  a  little  alteration  in  their  tariff — • 
next  year  the  difficulty  will  be  greater,  and  in  two  years  there  will  be  an  election  of 
President  of  the  great  Republic.  When  that  contest  comes  there  must  be  some 
question  to  divide  parties.  They  could  hardly  fight  if  there  was  no  qtiestion. 
(Laughter.)  And  now  the  great  question  of  slavery  has  been  settled  for  ever. 
(Applause.)  It  has  been  written  for  ever  in  the  blood  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men  that  slavery  shall  never  again  exist  upon  that  continent.  (Cheers.)  And  the 
negroes  in  the  South,  who,  they  said,  would  die  off  if  they  were  free — they  are  more 
numerous  than  ever — (laughter) — and  being  the  only  people  in  the  South  who  did 
work  before  the  war,  they  work  now  better  than  ever,  because  they  receive  the 
reward,  the  honest  reward,  of  their  labour.  (Hear,  hear.)  Now,  when  that  question 
comes  to  be  discussed  in  the  great  forum  of  a  nation  of  fifty  millions  of  people,  what 
must  be  the  result  ?  A  very  intelligent  member  of  Parliament  told  me  two  or  three 
years  ago — I  am  not  sure  that  I  ever  quoted  his  opinion  before,  but  it  is  worth 
hearing,  I  think — he  said  that  his  Liberal  opinions  had  been  greatly  strengthened  by 
what  he  observed  in  the  United  States.  (Hear,  hear.)  He  said  '  If  you  note  what 
they  do — a  great  many  of  them  talk  wildly  and  foolishly,  but,'  he  said,  '  they  always 
act  very  wisely. '  (Laughter  and  applause. )  Well,  two  years  hence,  I  believe  that  there 
will  be  a  good  deal  of  talk,  and,  perhaps,  a  good  deal  of  it  wild  and  foolish,  but 
when  that  great  people  are  brought  to  the  issue,  whether,  having  struck  off  the  chain 
from  the  negro,  they  are  to  leave  the  fetters  of  protection  upon  the  industry  of  their 
countrymen,  I  believe  they  will  do  before  long  what  we  have  don& — (cheers) — and 
they  will  declare  it  to  be  the  inalienable  right  of  every  American,  as  it  is  the  inalien- 
able right  of  every  Englishman,  to  spend  his  money  in  the  cheapest  market  in  the 
world.  (Loud  cheers.)  Now,  Mr.  Dixon  and  my  friends,  if  you  will  allow  me,  I 
think  I  am  going  rather  to  transgress  what  I  mentioned  at  first.  (Cries  of  '  No  '  and 
'Go  on.')  I  am  very  much  tempted — not  to  satisfy  the  critics  of  whom  I  have 


1883.]  TWO    CURSES    OF   EUROPE.  661 

spoken— (laughter)— but  to  satisfy  my  mind  in  the  train  of  argument  into  which  I 
have  been  led — I  feel  almost  disposed  to  enter  for  a  moment  upon  the  region  of 
prophecy.  (Laughter.)  Tome — perhaps  I  am  sanguine,  perhaps  more  ignorant  than  I 
deem  myself — there  opens  before  me  a  grand  vision  of  the  future.  England  and  her 
colonies  and  dependencies  at  this  moment  have  a  population  of  fifty  millions  of  persons. 
I  won't  go  over  the  colonies  where  they  are  dwelling ;  but  you  know  that  there  are,  I 
suppose,  five  or  six  and  thirty  millions  in  this  country ;  the  United  States  by  the  last 
census  had  also  fifty  millions,  they  are  supposed  now  to  have  fifty-five  millions,  and 
good  judges  say  that  by  the  end  of  the  century,  that  by  the  time  when  a  man  of 
fifty  in  this  audience  reaches  my  age,  the  United  States  will  possess  a  population  of 
100,000,000;  India — a  dependency  of  this  country  governed  by  our  Government — 
India  possessed  250,000,000  of  souls — India  is  a  Free-trade  country — (hear) — with 
only  one  exception,  its  ports  are  open  to  all  produce  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
Now,  what  I  want  to  suggest  to  you  is  this — that  if  it  should  come,  as  I  believe  it 
will  come,  that  the  United  States  will  go  down  to  a  sensible  revenue  tariff,  whatever 
that  may  be — I  don't  point  the  sum  or  the  amount,  but  I  mean  a  tariff  which  will 
permit  large  freedom  of  trade  with  all  the  nations  of  the  world — then,  if  England, 
with  our  50,000,000,  and  if  America  with  her  50,000,000,  growing  rapidly  to 
100,000,000 — if  they  take  this  course,  what  will  be  the  effect  upon  other  nations  of 
the  globe  ?  What  do  Protectionists  in  Europe  say  now  ?  They  say  '  It  is  all  very 
well  to  tell  us  that  England  is  in  favour  of  Free-trade.  Look  at  America.  There 
is  a  popular  Government,  a  Republic,  every  man  voting — (hear,  hear) — and  there 
they  have  a  system  of  protection  most  strenuous  and  most  severe,'  and  therefore 
they  say  we,  at  any  rate,  may  not  be  set  down  as  fools  and  ignorant  if  we  have 
protection  here  and  follow  the  example  of  the  free  Government  and  the  free  people 
of  North  America.  But,  if  the  United  States  should  make  the  change  which  I  be- 
lieve is  impending,  then  the  United  States  and  England,  with  their  hundred  millions 
and  more — they  will  be  an  argument  of  a  different  kind  and  of  a  different  force  to 
the  nations  of  Europe.  The  Free-traders  of  every  country  will  say — 'Why  the 
people  in  England,  living  under  an  ancient  monarchy,  are  prospering  with  Free- 
trade,  and  the  people  of  the  United  States,  living  under  the  flag  of  the  Republic, 
have  followed  the  example  of  England,'  and  they  will  say,  'We  are  trying  to  follow 
these  countries  in  political  freedom ;  why  should  we  not  follow  them  in  the  not  less 
magnificent  and  beneficent  path  of  a  perfect  freedom  of  industry  ? '  (Loud  cheers.) 
Now,  one  word  to  which  this  argument  or  picture  leads  me.  May  I  ask  you  what, 
at  this  moment,  are  the  two  great  curses  of  Europe  ?  The  one  is  the  system  of  high 
tariffs,  the  war  of  tariffs ;  and  the  other  is  the  war  of  arms,  of  armies.  (Cheers.) 
The  one  is  burdensome;  in  fact,  both  are  burdensome  at  all  times;  the  war  of 
armies  at  times  more  than  burdensome,  if  employed  in  destruction  and  slaughter.  If 
you  were  to  destroy  the  tariffs  of  Europe,  you  would  destroy  the  pretence  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  great  armies  of  Europe.  (Hear,  hear.)  But  as  I  discuss  it  and 
consider  it,  the  vision  seems  to  grow  upon  me.  Nations  would  become  one  in  interest, 
the  very  jealousies  would  vanish  as  their  ignorance  of  each  other  would  vanish.  If 
France  and  Germany  in  the  year  1870 — France  and  Prussia — if  they  had  had  no  tariffs, 
if  their  people  were  trading  from  day  to  day  between  the  two  countries  as  the  French 
traded  between  the  departments  of  France,  and  as  we  trade  with  Scotland,  do  you  think 
it  would  have  been  possible  to  have  brought  these  two  great  nations  into  a  sanguinary 
war  upon  this  stupid  and  foolish  question,  What  prince  in  Europe  shall  be  invited 
to  occupy  the  throne  of  Spain  ? — (laughter) — a  question  in  which  neither  Prussia  nor 
France,  in  my  opinion,  had  the  smallest  possible  interest ;  and  if  thirty  years  ago 
Russia  had  had  no  tariff  more  than  we  had — if  all  the  productions  of  England 
and  her  manufactures  could  have  gone  freely  to  Russia  as  the  produce  of  Russia 
came  freely  to  England,  do  you  suppose  it  would  have  been  possible  in  our  manufac- 
turing population  to  have  excited  the  frenzy  and  the  ferocity  which  were  displayed 
during  the  continuance  of  that  deplorable  struggle  ?  The  fact  is,  neither  emperors, 
nor  kings,  nor  statesmen,  nor  the  public  press  will  be  able  to  bring  nations  into  war 
when  those  nations  are  united  in  their  interest  by  perfect  freedom  of  interests  between 
them.  (Loud  applause.)  And  then  the  pretence  for  armies  will  be  gone — I  don't 
mean  the  pretence  for  armies  which  may  be  necessary  for  internal  peace  in  some_ca_ses, 
as  in  some  degree  a  police  force — but  those  vast  armies  of  Europe,  now  four  mill  ions 
of  men — four  millions  of  men,  I  will  not  say  eating  their  own  neads  off,  but  eating 
other  people's  heads  off — (laughter) — living  on  the  industry  of  others,  when  they 
might  be  living  honestly  and  happily  at  home  upon  their  own  industry.  (Applause.) 
But  when  this  shall  come — and  I  think  it  will  come — in  that  time  the  taxes  upon  all 
these  peoples  will  be  greatly  lessened  ;  their  comfort  will  be  increased ;  education. 


552  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  [188S. 

you  majr  rely  upon  it,  will  be  more  general ;  and  the  barbarity  and  the  cruelty  which 
distinguish  Governments  and  people  too  much  will  be  discouraged  and  denounced. 
In  fact,  if  one  may  allow  one's  imagination  a  little  play,  I  should  say  that  we  should 
have  not  a  new  heaven,  but  we  should  have  a  new  earth.  It  would  not  be  geo- 
graphically greater  than  it  is  at  present,  but  it  would  be  greater  in  wealth,  in  com- 
fort, and  in  human  happiness.  Forgive  me  if  I  dream ;  it  may  be  so,  but  I  will 
believe  in  a  better  time  ;  if  Christianity  be  not  a  fable,  as  I  believe  and  you  believe 
that  it  is  not,  then  that  better  time  must  come.  (Applause.) 

'  Earth's  kindreds  shall  not  always  sleep, 
The  nations  shall  not  always  weep.'  " 

(Loud  and  continued  cheering.) 

Mr.  Chamberlain,  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  also 
addressed  the  meeting,  and  the  gathering  soon  after  dispersed. 

On  Thursday  evening  Mr.  Bright  was  entertained  by  the 
members  of  the  Birmingham  Liberal  Association  at  a  banquet 
in  the  Town  Hall.  The  Mayor  presided  over  a  large  gathering. 
Earl  Granville,  in  proposing  the  health  of  Mr.  Bright,  ob- 
served : — 

"  Now,  I  was  not  so  intimately  acquainted  with  Mr.  Bright  until  he  became  an 
official  colleague  of  mine.  I  have  now  had  a  very  loug  acquaintance  with  him.  I 
have  very  often  conversed  on  some  serious  subjects  with  him,  and  I  have  more  con- 
stantly been  the  victim — the  willing  victim — of  his  cheery  and  racy  chaff — (laughter) 
but  I  never  attempted  repartee,  and,  indeed,  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  give  a 
repartee  to  Mr.  Bright.  I  never  heard  Mr.  Bright  beaten  in  repartee  except  by  one 
person,  and  that  was  a  bishop.  (Eenewed  laughter.)  Now,  as  regards  Mr. 
Bright's  entrance  into  official  life,  I  remember  in  1853,  when  Lord  Aberdeen  did  me 
the  honour  of  asking  me  to  join  his  Administration,  and  told  me  the  composition  of 
his  future  Cabinet,  that  I  ventured  to  say  to  him  :  '  If  you  intend  to  make  your 
Cabinet  so  comprehensive,  why  don't  you  make  an  attempt  to  obtain  the  services  of 
Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Bright  ? '  (Cheers.)  Lord  Aberdeen  said  that  that  was  his 
personal  wish,  and  I  am  not  surprised  at  it,  because  nobody  appreciated  Mr.  Bright 
more  than  that  great  statesman  did.  Lord  Aberdeen  said  he  should  have  liked  it 
himself,  but  he  feared  it  would  alarm  public  opinion.  (Laughter.)  Now,  this 
answer  of  Lord  Aberdeen  has  recurred  to  me  each  time  that  Mr.  Bright  has 
entered,  or  rather  has  been  pressed  to  enter,  the  Cabinet  on  three  different  occasions. 
It  appeared  to  me  that,  instead  of  exciting  alarm,  Mr.  Bright's  entry  into  official  life 
was  a  matter  of  satisfaction  to  many  millions  of  his  countrymen.  (Cheers.)  In  the 
same  way,  when  Mr.  Bright  retired  three  times — once  on  account  of  bad  health, 
secondly  on  account  of  our  disastrous  electoral  defeats,  and  thirdly,  I  regret  to  say, 
in  consequence  of  conscientious  difference  upon  one  subject,  and  one  subject  alone, 
with  his  colleagues,  he  retired  with  the  goodwill  of  all ;  and  I  must  say,  when  I 
just  allude  to  what  I  thought  an  act  very  graceful  and  in  excellent  taste,  Loi-d 
Salisbury,  who  we  know  has  no  exaggerated  prejudices  in  favour  of  the  Liberal 
party — (laughter) — paid  as  graceful  and  as  true  a  compliment  to  Mr.  Bright  as  has 
really  been  paid  in  Birmingham  during  the  present  week.  (Cheers.)  This  is  the 
place  and  the  time  for  giving  a  magnificent  reception  to  Mr.  Bright.  Between  forty 
and  fifty  years  ago  Mr.  Bright  wooed  and  obtained  the  love  of  a  stately  dame,  then 
of  a  high  .name  and  of  great  wealth  and  great  power.  Of  course  it  is  true 
to  say  that  that  love  on  her  part  continues  to  this  very  day,  but  in  one 
moment  of  fickleness,  not  peculiar  I  am  afraid  to  her  sex — (laughter) — on  a 
difference  of  a  character  which  may  happen  in  the  best-regulated  families— 
(renewed  laughter) — that  stately  dame  rejected  Mr.  Bright;  and  this  great 
metropolis  of  the  Midland  Counties  resolved  to  take  Mr.  Bright  as  her  own.  (Loud 
cheers.)  I  read  the  other  day  a  quotation  from  a  great  German  poet  in  which  he  said 
that  the  celebration  of  a  marriage  was  a  thing  of  bad  odour.  (Laughter.)  Now,  I 
trust  that  the  great  majority  here  present  have  learnt  like  myself  that  that  is  a  poetical 
delusion.  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  But  be  that  as  it  may,  it  does  not  apply  to  the 
tiling  that  has  been  going  on  this  week.  (Cheers.)  Mr.  Bright  at  the  time  I  have 
alluded  to  had  incurred  some  unpopularity  from  his  fearlessness  and  conscientious 


1883.]  LOOKING    BACK.  553 

adherence  to  what  he  thought  right.  As  regarded  his  intellectual  and  physical 
strength  there  was  at  that  trine  some  doubt  whether  it  could  be  maintained.  Mr. 
Bright  had  not  even  strength  enough  to  woo  in  person  the  new  love,  Birmingham, 
the  great  metropolis  of  the  Midland  Counties,  rich  in  her  diversified  industries,  in 
her  institutions,  in  her  public  buildings,  in  her  libraries,  her  great  schools,  in  her 
enlightened  and  full  municipal  life,  in  the  excellence  and  ability  of  her  press,  with 
her  leading  men  noted  for  their  public  spirit,  and  the  inhabitants  generally  for  their 
bold  and  fearless  intelligence — "RirmingVia.ni  has  decided  to  celebrate  this  silver  wed- 
ding. That  event  had  every  element  of  a  love-match.  It  also  had  the  character  of 
a  marriage,  for  the  highest  reason.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  Mr.  Bright  has  re- 
turned his  love  to  Birmingham.  So  far  it  is  not  quite  the  love  described  by  Shakspeare 
in  '  King  Lear ' : — 

'  A  love  that  makes  breath  poor,  and  speech  unable.' 

It  has  not  had  that  effect  on  Mr.  Bright,  who  remains  one  of  the  greatest  orators 
ever  found  on  an  English  platform  or  perfected  in  an  English  Parliament.  Mr. 
Bright  is  a  master  of  his  own  mother  tongue — (hear,  hear) — he  has  knowledge ;  he 
has  power  of  reason,  of  pathos,  of  humour ;  he  has  a  manner  which  charms  in  public 
as  it  does  in  social  life ;  he  has  a  voice  which  attracts  and  which  dominates.  I  can- 
not help  thinking  that  Mr.  Bright  may  wish  to  make  use  of  some  of  those  qualifi- 
cations this  evening ;  that  he  may  wish  to  express  to  the  thousands  before  me,  as  he 
did  to  the  tens  of  thousands  yesterday,  the  value  he  attaches  to  this  extraordinary 
and  unprecedented  reception,  which  is  given  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the  great  ser- 
vices which  he  has  rendered  to  his  sovereign,  to  whom  his  chivalrous  loyalty  has 
always  been  of  the  warmest  and  most  sincere  kind,  to  his  constituency,  and  his 
country."  (Loud  cheers.) 

Mr.  Bright  then  responded  : — 

"  I  suppose  that  I  may  fairly  presume  that  my  friends  in  Birmingham,  and  others 
from  a  distance,  who  have  been  at  these  meetings,  are  in  the  main  persuaded 
that  I  have  been  actuated  in  my  public  life  by  an  honest  desire  in  all  cases  to 
support  what  I  believe  to  be  right — (cheers) — and  also,  perhaps,  they  give  me 
credit  for  a  not  unintelligent  apprehension  of  the  public  questions  with  which  I 
have  meddled.  (Hear,  hear.)  And  yet,  notwithstanding  this — and  looking  back, 
I  think,  on  several  occasions  I  have  been  right — I  am  sometimes  struck  with  the 
strange  fact  that  at  every  step  there  has  been  great  opposition  on  the  part  of 
powerful  individuals  and  powerful  interests.  During  the  whole  of  the  forty  years 
that  I  have  been  in  public  life,  and  in*  Parliamentary  life,  a  large  majority  of  that 
House  to  which  Lord  Granville  belongs  have  been  hostile  to  the  views  which  I  have 
entertained,  and  on  not  a  few  occasions  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons  has 
also  differed  from  me.  And,  more  than  that,  I  suppose  if  I  were  to  canvass  the 
military  classes — (laughter) — the  clerical  classes — (laughter) — the  official  classes,  and 
the  professional  classes,  I  am  not  quite  sure  whether  in  any  one  of  these  could  have 
been  found  generally  a  majority  to  support  the  views  which  I  had  taken  upon  me 
the  liberty  of  expounding  to  my  fellow-countrymen.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  ask  myself 
why  there  should  be  this  great  difference  of  opinion.  I  may  have  had  different 
opportunities  and  a  different  way  of  working  out  public  questions,  and  I  believe  that 
was  really  the  fact.  I  have  never  been  influenced  in  any  considerable  question  by 
the  views  of  the  Prime  Minister  of  the  day — (hear,  hear) — or  by  the  views  of  the 
distinguished  leaders  of  Her  Majesty's  Opposition.  (Renewed  laughter.)  I  have 
thought  that  political  questions  generally  are  not  of  that  pbtruse  character  that  a 
sensible  and  moderately  well-informed  man  could  not  of  himself  come  to  a  conclu- 
sion as  to  the  right  or  the  wrong  of  them.  (Cheers.)  ....  Now,  fifty  years 
ago  it  was  my  duty  and  practice  from  week  to  week  to  pay  wages  to  a  large  number, 
many  scores,  perhaps  two  or  three  hundred,  handloom  weavers,  and  those  persons  lived 
in  the  villages  in  the  neighbourhood  where  I  lived.  They  brought  their  work  in 
once  a  week,  and  after  it  was  examined  they  were  paid  for  it.  The  payment  was  not 
large,  the  labour  was  continuous,  and  I  had  great  sympathy  for  persons  to  whom,  if 
it  had  been  possible,  I  should  have  been  glad  to  have  paid  a  higher  rate  of  wages. 
But  then,  when  a  weaver  had  taken  home  his  money  to  his  wife  and  children  who 
during  the  next  week  were  to  live  upon  his  wages,  I  found  out — it  was  not  difficult 
to  find  it  out — that  he  was  not  allowed  to  buy  the  articles  required  for  his  sustenance 
in  the  cheapest  market.  It  was  perfectly  well  known  that  the  farmer  in  the  United 


564  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BEIGHT.  [.1883. 

States  will  give  the  weaver  twice  as  much  bread  for  his  wages  as  the  farmer  in 
Lincolnshire ;  but  it  was  then  said  '  the  weaver  must  not  go  to  the  United  States  for 
his  bread,  but  to  the  farmer  in  Lincolnshire.'  That  was  done  under  the  pretence 
that  the  farmers  were  to  be  protected,  and  that  the  labourers  were  to  be  better  off ; 
and  this  poor  weaver,  at  his  work  week  after  week,  year  after  year,  was  compelled 
to  expend  the  small  wages  he  received,  not  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  as  he  ought 
to  have  done,  but  in  this  bread  market,  which  the  laws  of  our  country  had  fenced 
round,  and  in  which  alone  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  expend  the  earnings  of  the  week. 
Now  I  thought  this  was  a  very  strange  law.  Whatever  it  might  do  for  the  land- 
owner or  farmer,  it  was  only  a  law  of  direct  and  serious  oppression  to  the  weavers,  with 
whom  I  came  in  contact  from  week  to  week ;  and  I  complained  and  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  in  all  certainty  it  was  a  most  unjust  law.  Having  got  my  eyes  a  little 
opened  with  regard  to  this  one  question,  they  opened  still  more,  as  men's  eyes  do 
after  they  get  to  see  a  little  light.  They  opened  more  and  more  into  the  perfect  day, 
and  by  and  by  we  found  that  it  was  very  wrong  that  cattle  should  be  kept  out 
of  the  country  and  that  sugar  should  only  come  to  us  from  the  West  Indies  and 
from  Cuba  and  Brazil  except  at  a  rate  of  duty  which  practically  excluded  it.  But 
then  there  was  the  question  of  timber  on  which  there  was  also  a  protective  duty,  and 
there  was  the  protection  upon  ships.  One  after  another  of  these  things  were  found 
out  to  be  unjust  and  evil,  and  under  the  pressure  of  public  necessity  and  public 
opinion,  all  these  things  have  been  entirely  redressed."  (Cheers.) 

On  Friday  morning  the  Mayor  entertained  Mr.  Bright 
and  about  150  gentlemen  who  had  been  attending  the  celebra- 
tion during  the  week  to  breakfast  in  the  Council  House.  In 
reply  to  an  address  of  welcome,  Mr.  Bright  spoke  of  the 
necessity  which  existed  for  us  to  inquire  into  what  was  our 
duty  with  regard  to  other  nations.  In  this  view,  he  said, 
there  were  two  questions  at  present  with  regard  to  France 
which  deserved  most  careful  attention.  The  first  was  the 
question  of  a  new  Suez  Canal,  which  had  been  rendered 
necessary  by  the  ever-increasing  traffic  passing  through  the 
present  water-way.  '  He  did  not  doubt  that  Lord  Granville 
would  endeavour  to  do  all  that  was  judicious  and  would  not 
be  led  away  by  speculators;  for  great  national  interests  were 
at  stake,  and  also  the  concord  of  t.wo  nations.  The  next 
question  was  the  Channel  Tunnel.  He  ridiculed  the  fears  of 
the  military  authorities,  and  said  his  impression  was  that  the 
tunnel  would  be  of  enormous  value  to  this  country  and  to 
France.  Every  man,  woman,  and  child  had  an  interest  in  the 
tunnel  being  made,  and  he  hoped  _that  the  extraordinary 
suggestions  of  alarm  which  had  been  offered  would  be  utterly 
disregarded  and  repudiated  by  common  sense.  He  concluded 
by  saying  :— 

"I  do  implore  you — I  don't  ask  you  to  adopt  what  may  be  called  extra- 
ordinary and  abstract  opinions  on  the  question  of  war — I  ask  you  to  agree  with 
Lord  Derby,  who  made  an  observation  before  he  left  the  previous  Government 
which  ought  never  to  be  forgotten,  that  the  greatest  interest  of  England  is 
peace.  (Cheers.)  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  wars  of  our  predecessors,  or  the 
wars  within  two  centuries  of  our  time,  it  is  impossible  to  say — if  the  efforts  of 
our  statesmen  had  been  directed  to  an  improvement  of  the  internal  condition 
of  our  country  —  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  great  would  have  been  the 
Difference  in  the  present  position  of  the  millions  of  the  labouring  classes  amongst 


1883.J  BREACH    OF   PRIVILEGE.  656 

» 

us.  It  is  for  them  I  care  most.  They  toil  and  they  sweat,  they  work  from 
early  morn  till  even-time.  Their  reward — as  far  as  our  expenditure  is  compared 
with  their  reward — is  generally  but  small,  because  although  they  have  not  many 
of  them  the  same  power  of  impressing  upon  the  Government  their  views  that 
we  have,  I  say,  looking  at  their  condition,  we  are  bound  by  all  that  is  sacred  if 
possible  to  bring  together  the  nations  of  Europe  and  the  nations  of  the  North 
American  continent,  into  a  firm,  constant,  enduring,  and  blessed  alliance  with 
the  people  of  our  country;  and  it  is  for  the  sake  of  this  that  I  have  made  these 
observations,  and  I  trust  that  all  that  has  been  said  here  to-day,  and  what  may 
be  said  on  other  occasions  and  felt  and  partly  expressed,  may  not  be  without 
some  result  upon  the  public  opinion  of  the  country.  (Cheers.)  For  your  address, 
Mr.  Mayor,  I  have  only  to  thank  you.  I  have  exhausted  in  the  course  of  the 
week  the  language  of  what  I  may  call  gratitude  and  thanksgiving,  and  I  have 
no  more  words  to  use  than  those  that  I  have  already  employed.  I  have  had  a 
reception  here  in  Birmingham  such  as  I  could  not  have  possibly  contemplated, 
such  as  perhaps  no  other  man  has  had  at  any  time.  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.) 
I  am  humiliated  when  I  think  how  much  you  have  overrated  anything  that 
I  have  done.  ('No,  no.')  I  plead  only  that  I  have  been,  as  far  as  I  know, 
honest  in  the  pursuit  of  public  objects — (hear,  hear) — without  ambition  for 
preferment;  and  if  I  have  been  compelled  to  separate  myself  from  colleagues 
for  whom  I  have  the  greatest  respect,  you  may  be  quite,  sure  it  has  only 
been  done  because  I  believed  my  duty  to  you  and  the  public,  and,  what  is 
still  higher,  my  duty  to  my  conscience,  made  it  necessary  that  I  should  leave  an 
official  position — ay,  in  a  country  like  this,  with  dignity  and  emoluments  con- 
nected with  it;  but  dignity  and  emoluments,  and  all  that  office  can  give,  are 
valueless  unless  they  are  accompanied  by  the  belief  that  they  are  held  in  con- 
sistency with  one's  duty,  and  with  the  honest  endeavour  to  serve  the  people 
who  have  given  me  and  shown  me  so  much  of  their  trust."  (Loud  and  continued 
cheering.) 

On  the  Saturday  morning  Mr.  Bright  was  entertained  to 
breakfast  by  the  committee  of  the  Birmingham  Junior  Liberal 
Club,  and  in  his  speech  he  gave  an  interesting  sketch  of  his 
early  connections  with  politics,  and  the  state  of  the  country 
before  the  passing  of  the  first  Reform  Bill.  At  noon  he  left  by 
train  for  Stratford-on-Avon,  and  was  heartily  cheered  by  his 
friends  who  had  assembled  to  witness  his  departure.  The 
remainder  of  Saturday  and  Sunday  he  spent  at  the  residence  of 
his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Curry,  and  on  Monday  morning  he  left  for 
London,  and  was  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  evening,  to 
defend  himself  against  a  charge  made  by  Sir  Stafford  Northcote 
of  breach  of  privilege,  for  he  had  in  one  of  his  speeches  in  Bir- 
mingham accused  the  Conservative  members  with  being  in 
alliance  with  the  "  Irish  rebel  party/'  for  the  purpose  of  making 
it  impossible  for  the  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  do 
any  good  work  for  the  country.  The  leader  of  the  Conserva- 
tives had  not  been  speaking  many  minutes  when  it  became  clear 
that  the  charge  was  very  weak.  Mr.  Bright  expressed  himself 
not  surprised  that  some  of  the  passages  in  his  speeches  should 
have  caused  what  in  ancient  phraseology  was  said  to  be  "  search- 
ing of  hearts  "  among  his  opponents.  He  admitted  that  there 
was  a  sense  in  which  the  word  "  alliance  "  might  be  offensive 
and  inapplicable,  but  he  had  not  pointed  to  any  compact.  He 


656  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  BRIGHT.  [1883. 

maintained,  however,  that  the  Conservatives  and  the  followers 
of  Mr.  Parnell  did,  as  a  rule,  practically  act  together  in  obstruc- 
tion, and  being  asked  to  quote  an  instance,  he  gave  two — viz., 
the  unduly  protracted  debate  on  the  Affirmation  Bill,  and  the 
waste  of  Government  time  by  the  appropriation  of  Government 
nights — questions  and  debates  arising  thereon.  The  motion  was 
defeated  by  a  majority  of  thirty-four,  and  Mr.  Bright's  friends 
cheered  heartily. 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 

ME.    BEIGHT'S   OBATOEY,  &o. 

Mr.  Bright's  Personal  Appearance — His  Audiences — His  Beception — Oratory — 
Earnestness — Gesture — Pathos  — Invective— Irony — Sarcasm — Simile — Allegory 
— Fable — Parable — Humour — Quotations — Perorations — Mr.  Bright  and  Mr 
Cobden  as  Counterparts — The  Art  of  Public  Speaking — The  Cobden  Club — 
At  Hawarden  Castle. 

THIS  biography  which  is  now  drawing  to  a  close  would  be  in- 
complete without  a  description  of  the  personal  appearance, 
oratorical  delivery,  and  moral  manifestations  of  its  hero. 

The  great  orator  and  friend  of  the  working  class  has  been  so 
often  seen  in  public,  and  so  repeatedly  photographed,  that  his 
lineaments  and  figure  are  familar  to  the  civilised  world.  He  may 
be  described  as  robust  of  frame,  five  feet  nine  inches  in  height, 
broad  chested,  and  of  graceful  deportment.  His  face  is  broad 
and  full,  and  decidedly  Saxon;  his  forehead  high,  expansive, 
and  prominent,  bordered  with  venerable  locks  silvered  by  time. 
Dark  and  heavy  brows  overhang  his  keen  eyes,  which  are  of  a 
tender  blue,  full  of  sweet  gravity,  and  wonderfully  intellectual, 
which  can  flash  fire,  or  melt  into  tears,  and  captivate  all  who 
come  within  the  sphere  of  their  influence.  His  mouth, 
though  large,  is  firm  and  indicative  of  the  greatness  of  his 
heart,  and  has  an  expression  of  good  humour.  The  lips  have, 
in  their  fleshy  and  massive  outline,  abundant  marks  of 
habitual  reflection  and  intellectual  occupation.  "  The  streak  of 
the  unfaded  rose  still  enlivens  his  cheeks/'  When  animated 
during  a  speech  his  comely  Saxon  features  brighten  into  unmis- 
takable beauty,  and  when  seen  in  the  profile  are  even  finer  than 
when  viewed  from  the  front.  The  whole  has  an  expression  of 
fine  intellectual  dignity,  candour,  serenity,  and  lofty,  gentlemanly 
repose. 

For  the  last  thirty  years  or  more  his  oratory  has  been  so 
popular  that  when  he  has  given  his  promise  to  address  a 
meeting  in  any  town,  the  number  of  persons  applying  for  admis- 
sion tickets  has  exceeded  by  thousands  that  which  the  building 
could  accommodate.  The  consequence  is  that  thousands  asjemble 
round  the  door  for  the  purpose  of  even  obtaining  a  glance  at  the 
great  orator ;  and  so  valuable  are  his  speeches  considered  that  at 
these  meetings  about  sixty  reporters  are  present  to  record  every 


558  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF  JOHN  BRIGHT. 

sentence,  and  herald  his  speech,  not  only  through  the  United 
Kingdom,  but  even  across  the  broad  Atlantic.  As  soon  as 
he  arrives  the  mass  of  people  outside  the  building  huzza 
vigorously,  and  this  joyful  announcement  is  heard  with  pleasure 
by  the  more  fortunate  assembled  inside,  who  at  once  rise  to  their 
feet  and  direct  their  eager  attention  to  the  door  by  which  he  is 
expected.  As  soon  as  the  hero  of  the  evening  is  seen,  he  is 
welcomed  with  deafening  cheers,  and  waving  of  hats  and 
handkerchiefs.  He  walks  quietly  towards  the  table,  apparently 
unaffected  by  the  excited  reception,  but  a  close  observer  might 
detect  that  it  is  with  difficulty  he  suppresses  his  emotion.  So 
anxious  are  they  to  hear  him  speak  that  the  preliminaries  of  the 
meeting  are  hurried  through,  and  at  length  the  orator  stands  up. 
He  is  received  with  rapturous  and  sustained  applause,  and  while 
they  are  enthusiastically  greeting  him  he  quietly  arranges  his 
position,  places  his  hat  on  the  table  before  him,  and  on  the  rim 
of  it  lays  his  scanty  notes,  and  then  surveys  the  vast  assembly 
with  subdued  emotion.  Then  he  appears  abstracted,  as  if 
summoning  the  mental  powers  to  their  work.  As  soon  as 
there  is  a  perfect  calm  he  begins  his  speech  in  a  low,  quiet 
tone,  which  gradually  gathers  force,  and  increases  in  volume. 
It  is  the  medium  pitch,  or  conversational  key,  which  is  the 
most  easy  and  harmonious  both  for  speaker  and  hearer.  The 
tone  is  natural,  with  graceful  variations  of  the  voice  accord- 
ing to  the  subject  upon  which  he  speaks.  It  is  of  great 
compass,  but  exquisitely  modulated,  and  from  his  lips  the  most 
trifling  sentence  becomes  impressive.  It  is  clear,  round,  full, 
mellow-toned,  with  a  peculiar  musical  vibration  in  it  which 
penetrates  the  air,  and  enables  him  to  be  heard  with  distinctness 
at  a  great  distance  with  apparently  little  effort.  His  accents  flow 
with  artless  ease,  like  a  stream  which  gurgles  its  own  music 
as  it  runs.  He  can  equally  sound  the  depths  of  pathos  or 
scale  the  heights  of  indignation.  His  delivery  is  slow,  candid, 
manly,  weighty,  and  unhesitating,  though  he  sometimes  pauses 
as  if  to  select  words,  which  are  "exquisitely  sought/'  often 
consisting  of  one  or  two  syllables,  which  are  distinctly  pro- 
nounced, and  the  full  sound  given  to  them.  The  simplicity  and 
strength  of  the  language  strikes  its  meaning  direct  into  the 
mind.  He  goes  direct  into  his  subject  as  an  arrow  flies,  with  no 
more  curve  than  is  necessary  for  hitting  the  mark,  and  this 
absence  of  prelude  gives  him  an  immediate  grasp  upon  the 
attention  of  his  hearers.  He  expresses  himself  with  such  forcible 
clearness  that  the  highly  cultivated  and  the  unlettered  alike 
feel  its  force  and  charm.  The  general  effect  is  one  of  perfect 


HIS   EABNESTNESS.  669 

naturalness — a  movement  of  mind  upon  mind  free  from 
mannerism,  and  he  gives  his  hearers  sufficient  time  to  think  as 
he  proceeds.  Not  a  single  link  in  the  chain  of  reasoning  is  lost  by 
dropping  the  voice,  or  by  haste  in  pressing  along  to  the  next 
sentence.  His  logic  is  never  confused,  nor  his  resources  common- 
place, and  there  is  a  fine  sense  of  proportion  in  his  speeches. 

As  soon  as  he  begins  to  speak  he  becomes  animated,  and 
his  countenance,  dilating  in  every  fibre,  is  impressed  with  a 
character  of  peculiar  energy.  He  has  the  courage  of  Gideon, 
and  his  deportment  gives  an  insight  into  the  nature  of  his 
ardent  mind.  He  seems  alive  only  to  the  truth,  which  is 
the  central  quality  of  his  speeches  and  the  very  soul  of  his 
eloquence.  He  is  impressed  with  the  importance  of  what  he 
speaks,  and  of  the  consequences  dependent  upon  it.  Some 
critics  were  of  opinion  that  his  intense  earnestness  was  in- 
compatible with  elevated  statesmanship,  but  all  history  teaches 
that  those  who  have  brought  about  great  good  for  mankind 
were  men  of  intense  and  earnest  natures.  Further,  it  is  well 
known  that  when  a  speaker  is  sensibly  touched  he  easily 
influences  his  audience.  No  living  statesman  is  more  thoroughly 
imbued  with  moral  enthusiasm  than  Mr.  Bright,  and  it  was 
the  fervour  of  his  nature  which  Lord  Palmerston  meant  to 
sneer  down  when  he  addressed  him  as  "the  honourable  and 
reverend  gentleman/' 

"I  consider  that  when  I  stand  upon  a  platform,  as  I  do  now,  I  am  engaged  in  as 
solemn  a  labour  as  Mr.  Dale  when  he  addresses  his  congregation,"  admitted  Mr. 
Bright  in  one  of  his  speeches ;  remarking  further :  "It  is  not  only  upon  the  affairs  of 
the  other  world  that  men  must  be  true  to  themselves  and  to  their  consciences.  (Ap- 
plause, and  hear,  hear.)  The  heart  itself  is  often  in  these  matters  more  at  fault  than 
the  head ;  but  if  people  would  obey  the  true  impulses  of  their  consciences  and  their 
hearts,  the  progress  of  nations  would  be  less  interrupted  than  it  is  now,  the  misery 
of  populations  would  be  diminished,  the  unwisdom  of  our  Governments  would  be 
checked,  and  we  should  find  over  all  the  earth  a  growth  and  a  progress  towards  that 
brighter  and  happier  day  of  which  we  see  now  only  glimpses  and  the  dawning,  but 
of  which  more  shall  be  seen  by  some  generations  that  shall  succeed  us." 

The  serenity  of  Mr.  Bright's  brow  during  the  passionate 
earnestness  of  his  appeals  imparts  additional  weight  to  his 
influence  by  giving  the  idea  of  innate  strength — of  the  repose 
which  is  imagined  in  the  rock  when  the  tempest  is  around  it. 
His  speech  is  the  natural  expression  of  a  mind  at  once  beautiful 
and  strong. 

The  whole  of  his  characteristics  point  to  the  conclusion  that 
nature  designed  him  for  an  orator,  and  his  quick  apprehensions 
of  the  wrongs  which  weigh  upon  the  poorer  classes  and  the 
oppressed^  seem  to  have  given  their  point  and  direction  to  the 
powers  of  his  oratory,  for  it  has  been  the  study  of  his  life  to  try 


560  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN  BRIGHT. 

to  remove  the  cause  of  suffering,  or  alleviate  the  woes  and 
sorrows  of  the  poor,  the  helpless,  and  the  down-trodden.  Posses- 
sing the  poetical  temperament,  he  is  able  to  clothe  his  sentiments 
in  language  that  goes  at  once  to  the  understanding  and  the 
heart.  His  demeanour  impresses  his  hearers  that  he  is  in  earnest, 
for  the  whole  man  speaks,  and  convinces  them  that  there  is 
credit  in  his  words,  and  that  his  main  object  is  to  improve 
humanity,  and  banish  squalid  poverty.  Patriotism  and  deep 
though  subdued  earnestness  are  features  of  his  strength. 

The  profound  and  meditative  gravity  of  his  expression,  the 
natural  play  of  his  features,  his  sustained  and  measured  utter- 
ance, the  weighing  of  every  reason,  the  deliberation  of  his  tones, 
his  self-collectedness  and  concentration, and  the  look  of  superiority 
by  which  he  is  characterised,  fix  a  universal  gaze  upon  him,  and 
excite  general  curiosity.  From  whatever  point  of  view  his  hearer 
looks  upon  his  subject,  he  can  make  him  see  it  by  just  and  clear 
reasoning;  and  possessing  the  superior  and  master  power  by 
which  all  emotions  are  swayed,  he  succeeds  in  charming  the 
listening  ear,  and  in  allaying  self-interest  and  prejudice. 

His  habit  in  speaking  is  to  hold  his  head  rather  more  back- 
ward than  erect.  He  prefers  also  to  speak  to  an  audience  whose 
seats  are  graduated  in  height,  rather  than  to  have  them  on  a 
level  lower  than  himself.  This  position,  no  doubt,  allows  the 
free  action  of  the  organs  of  the  voice. 

He  owes  his  oratorical  success  not  to  any  one  quality,  but  to 
a  combination  of  qualities,  like  the  light  and  shade  of  a  picture. 
He  speaks  with  a  composed  air,  and  unfolds  his  facts  easily  and 
yet  correctly,  exhibiting,  a  thorough  grasp  of  his  subject  matter. 
His  narrative  is  excellent,  and  it  is  impossible  to  expose  the  details 
of  a  complicated  subject  more  luminously.  His  speeches  are 
models  of  clear  and  persuasive  statements,  and  are  cast  in  a  single 
and  symmetrical  mould.  They  are  eminent  for  their  unlaboured 
clearness  and  compactness  of  reasoning,  and  for  the  noble  and 
unaffected  simplicity  of  their  style.  No  affected  brevity  or  terse- 
ness, still  less  of  "  linked  dullness  long  drawn  out."  His  speeches 
have  force,  fervour,  passion,  and  grandeur,  and  touch  the  heart, 
the  conscience,  and  the  intellect. 

His  information  on  affairs  is  accurate  and  wide.  There  is  a 
ripeness  in  his  knowledge  which  bears  witness  that  it  is  not 
forced  for  the  occasion,  but  is  the  fruit  of  years.  A  memory 
which  lets  nothing  escape  that  he  has  once  considered,  whether 
large  in  size  or  imperceptibly  small,  and  a  penetration  that  never 
leaves  the  point  of  his  own  case  unexplored.  He  weighs  things 
with  the  greatest  impartiality,  and  comes  to  the  most  rational 


HIS   LOVE   OP   TRUTH.  561 

conclusion.  He  repeats  the  lesson  of  experience,  and  displays 
things  as  they  are.  The  turn  of  his  intellect  and  the  bent  of 
his  character  are  obviously  practical,  and  he  aims  at  the  attain- 
ment of  real  good.  His  thoughts  are  always  just,  and  somewhat 
novel ;  but  although  generally  he  speaks  with  precision  of  words 
and  compression  of  ideas  which  characterise  a  deep  thinker,  he 
expresses  himself  with  that  perspicuity  which  can  only  be  attained 
from  practice,  and  his  poetical  diction  imparts  warmth  and 
brilliancy  even  to  the  coldest  reasoning.  His  opinions  have  the 
authority  of  evidently  proceeding  from  deep  and  settled  principles. 
His  utterances  are  never  dry,  and  his  fancy  is  lively  enough  to 
shed  light  upon  the  darkest  subject,  and  to  strew  flowers  and 
fruit  round  the  most  barren  tracks  of  inquiry,  and  light  it  up 
with  pleasantry.  The  extraordinary  depth  of  his  detached 
views,  the  penetrating  sagacity  which  he  occasionally  applies  to 
the  affairs  of  men  and  their  motives,  and  the  curious  felicity  of 
expression  with  which  he.  unfolds  principles  and  traces  resem- 
blances and  relations,  are  separately  the  gift  of  few,  and  in 
their  union  probably  without  any  example.  He  speaks  some- 
times in  tones  of  warning,  and  even  suppressed  menace;  but 
more  often  he  appeals  to  reason.  A  want  of  speaking  plainly 
has  never  been  his  fault.  He  has  power  of  hard,  stringent  rea- 
soning and  cogent  argument.  He  always  concedes  what  is  un- 
deniable in  fact  and  clear  to  an  unprejudiced  mind,  not  glossing 
it  over  or  leaving  it  untouched.  He  never  raises  a  cloud  between 
himself  and  the  truth,  nor  does  he  seek  to  blind  his  opponents, 
or  bewilder  them.  Yet  he  can  flit  over  his  opponent's  arguments 
as  lightly  as  a  sunbeam  on  the  water>  equally  master  of  the 
jocular  and  serious,  of  the  playful  and  severe.  He  can  either 
bring  his  masses  of  information  to  bear  directly  upon  the  sub- 
ject to  which  they  severally  belong,  or  he  can  turn  any  portion 
of  them  to  account  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  his  theme. 
His  views  range  over  all  the  cognate  subjects.  His  reasonings 
derived  from  principles  applicable  to  other  theories  as  well  as 
the  one  in  hand.  Arguments  pour  in  from  all  sides,  which  are 
the  natural  growth  of  the  path  he  is  leading  his  audience  over ; 
while  to  throw  light  round  their  steps  or  to  serve  for  their  recrea- 
tion, illustrations  are  fetched  from  different  quarters;  and  an 
imagination  marvellously  quick  to  detect  unthought-of  resem- 
blances enables  him  to  turn  his  information  to  the  greatest  use. 

He  is  not  sparing  of  the  figures  of  rhetoric,  yet  when  he  uses 
them  they  are  happily  brought  in.  One  of  these  felicitous 
figures  occurred  in  his  speech  on  Reform  at  a  meeting  at  St. 
James's  Hall,  London,  in  1866  : — 

K     K 


502  LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP   JOHN  BBIGHT. 

"These  opponents  of  ours,  many  of  them  in  Parliament  openly,  and  many  of 
them  secretly  in  the  press,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  "  have  charged  us  with  being  the  pro- 
moters of  a  dangerous  excitement.  They  say  we  are  the  source  of  the  danger  which 
threatens ;  they  have  absolutely  the  effrontery  to  charge  me  with  being  the  friend  of 
public  disorder.  I  am  one  of  the  people.  Surely,  if  there  be  one  thong  in  a  free 
country  more  clear  Ulan  another,  it  is  that  any  one  of  the  people  may  speak  openly 
to  the  people.  If  I  speak  to  the  people  of  their  rights,  and  indicate  to  them  the 
way  to  secure  them — if  I  speak  of  their  danger  to  the  monopolists  of  power — am 
I  not  a  wise  counsellor,  both  to  the  people  and  to  their  rulers  ?  Suppose  I  stood  at 
the  foot  of  Vesuvius  or  Etna,  and,  seeing  a  hamlet  or  homestead  planted  on  its  slope, 
I  said  to  the  dwellers  in  that  hamlet  or  in  that  homestead,  '  You  see  that  vapour 
which  ascends  from  the  summit  of  the  mountain — that  vapour  may  become  a  dense, 
black  smoke  that  will  obscure  the  sky.  You  see  that  trickling  of  lava  from  the 
crevices  or  fissures  in  the  side  of  the  mountain — that  trickling  of  lava  may  become  a 
river  of  fire.  You  hear  that  muttering  in  the  bowels  of  the  mountain — that 
muttering  may  become  a  bellowing  thunder,  the  voice  of  a  violent  convulsion  that 
nray  shake  half  a  continent.  You  know  that  at  your  feet  is  the  grave  of  great 
cities  for  which  there  is  no  resurrection,  as  history  tells  us  that  dynasties  and 
aristocracies  have  passed  away,  and  their  name  has  been  known  no  more  forever.' 
If  I  say  this  to  the  dwellers  upon  the  slope  of  the  mountain,  and  if  there  comes 
hereafter  a  catastrophe  which  makes  the  world  to  shudder,  am  I  responsible  for  that 
catastrophe  ?  I  did  not  build  the  mountain,  or  fill  it  with  explosive  materials. 
I  merely  warned  the  men  that  they  were  in  danger.  So,  now,  it  is  not  I  who  am 
stimulating  men  to  the  violent  pursuit  of  their  acknowledged  constitutional  rights.  We 
are  merely  about  our  lawful  business ;  and  you  are  the  citizens  of  a  country  that 
calls  itself  free,  yet  you  are  citizens  to  whom  is  denied  the  greatest  and  the  first 
blessing  of  the  constitution  under  which  you  live.  If  the  truth  must  be  told,  the 
Tory  party  is  the  turbulent  party  of  this  nation." 

While  Mr.  Bright  was  delivering  this  beautiful  passage 
there  was  a  deep  stillness,  and  when  the  pause  came  the 
audience,  moved  by  an  irresistible  and  unanimous  impulse, 
sprang  to  their  feet,  and  greeted  the  orator  with  rounds  of 
deafening  cheers. 

His  main  weapons  of  attack  are  invective,  irony,  sarcasm, 
simile,  drawn  out  to  allegory,  allusion,  quotation,  fable,  and 
parable.  A  fine  poetic  vein  runs  through  numberless  passages 
of  his  speeches,  and  his  hearers  often  feel  the  impression 
of  true  poetry ;  in  fact  his  greatest  speeches  not  unf requently 
appear  like  a  poem.  If  there  be  cold  ascetics  in  the  world  who 
scout  everything  that  a  line  cannot  measure  and  a  diagram 
demonstrate,  still  there  are  others  left  who  can  appreciate  the 
mighty  visions  of  the  imagination.  The  best  relation  of  facts 
accurately  given  in  cold  narrative  would  not  do  half  as  much  in 
any  good  cause  as  when  embellished  by  the  graces  of  style  and 
eloquence,  which  touch  the  passions  and  affect  men  to  noble 
exertion  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  Ideal  goodness  must  be  con- 
templated if  we  would  avoid  retrograding.  A  route  as  trackless 
as  the  eagle's  must  be  followed  to  keep  hope  alive.  Mr.  Bright 
possesses  the  great  materials  of  poetry,  and  preserves  an  ascendant 
tone  of  inspiration  through  all  his  speeches,  yet  he  does  not 
always  speak  in  the  same  character  of  style.  His  passion  for 
poetry  is  lofty  and  pure,  and  often  he  weaves  beautiful  couplets' 


PATHOS.  663 

into  the  texture  of  his  speeches.  In  description  he  can  hardly 
be  surpassed,  for  he  has  all  the  qualities  that  conduce  to  it — 
ardour  of  purpose,  vivid  but  not  too  luxuriant  fancy,  clear  con- 
ception, and  the  faculty  of  shedding  over  mere  inanimate  scenery 
the  glow  imparted  by  moral  association.  His  charming  pictures 
represent  all  objects  with  so  much  truth,  and  his  choice  expres- 
sions are  so  perfect,  that  "  fair  trains  of  imagery  before  us  rise/'' 
and  as  we  listen  we  seem  to  hear  a  voice  touched  to  aerial  sweet- 
ness, like  soft  music  over  a  tract  of  waters,  or  feel  to  breathe 
the  air  of  the  mountain,  or  witness  the  panorama  of  the  valley, 
or  inhale  the  perfume  of  flowers;  or  he  can  portray  with  truthful 
vividness  the  wretched  condition  of  the  suffering  poor. 

The  prevailing  characteristic  of  his  oratory  is  pathos,  which 
sometimes  deepens  into  touching  melancholy,  and  he  can,  with 
apparently  little  effort,  move  his  audience  to  tears.  It  is  like 
music  wakening  slumbering  memory  by  some  welcome  string,  or 
the  mind  soaring  o'er  departed  scenes  with  outstretched  wing, 
and  fascinatingly  recalling  incidents  of  nearly  forgotten  years. 
As  an  illustration  of  this  we  may  mention  that  in  the  month  of 
August,  1877,  he  delivered  a  masterly  speech  at  Bradford  on 
the  life  of  his  departed  friend,  Richard  Cobden.  He  spoke  as  if 
inspired,  and  the  minds  of  the  audience  could  not  help  wandering 
to  that  peaceful  sweet  spot  in  West  Lavington  churchyard, 
where  Cobden  is  interred. 

"  Methinks  I  hear  his  voice !  sweet  as  the  breath 
Of  balmy  ground  flowers,  stealing  from  a  spot 
Of  sunshine  sacred    .     .     .    f 
To  everlasting  spring  " 

"Well,  it  was  at  that  time  that  I  was  at  Leamington,"  said  Mr.  Bright, 
"and  one  day  Mr.  Cobden  called  upon  me,  for  he  happened  to  be  there  also  on 
a  visit  to  some  relatives.  I  was  there  in  the  depth  of  grief,  and  I  might  almost 
say  of  despair,  for  the  light  and  sunshine  of  my  house  had  been  extinguished. 
All  that  was  left  on  earth  of  my  young  wife,  except  the  memory  of  a  sainted 
life,  and  of  a  too  brief  happiness,  was  lying  still  and  cold  in  the  chamber  above 
us.  Mr.  Cobden  called  upon  me  as  his  friend,  and  addressed  me,  as  you  might 
suppose,  with  words  of  condolence.  After  a  time  he  looked  up  and  said, 
'  There  are  thousands  of  houses  in  England  at  this  moment  where  wives, 
mothers,  and  children  are  dying  of  hunger.  Now,  when  the  first  paroxysm  of 
your  grief  is  passed,  I  would  advise  you  to  come  with  me,  and  we  will  never 
rest  until  the  Corn  Law  is  repealed.'  (Cheers.)  I  accepted  his  invitation." 
(Cheers.) 

The  effect  of  this  beautiful  passage,  "  immortal  in  its 
tenderness,"  touched  the  hearts  of  every  one  present,  and  even  the 
reporters,  who  by  usage  manage  in  most  cases  to  keep  their 
sympathetic  feelings  under  complete  control,  vainly  tried  to  re- 
frain from  shedding  tears.  These  strong  impressions  cannot  be 
conveyed  to  the  minds  of  others,  except  when  the  mind  pro- 
K  K  2 


564  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

dueing  them  is  instinct  with  truth  and  nature.  It  is  feeling  alone 
that  electrifies  an  audience.  It  is  true  that  the  original  master- 
touches  that  go  to  the  heart  must  come  from  it. 

"  Some  chord  in  unison  with  what  we  hear 
Is  touched  within  us;  and  the  heart  replies." 

"On  this  point  I  wish  to  refer  to  a  letter  which  I  received  a  few  days  ago 
from  a  most  esteemed  citizen  of  Dunlin,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright  in  one  of  his 
speeches  in  Ireland.  ' '  He  told  me  that  he  believed  that  a  very  large  portion  of 
what  he  called  the  poor,  amongst  Irishmen,  sympathised  with  any  scheme  or 
any  proposition  that  was  adverse  to  the  Imperial  Government.  He  said  further, 
that  the  people  here  are  rather  in  the  country  than  of  it,  and  that  they  are 
looking  more  to  America  than  they  are  looking  to  England.  I  think  there  is  a 
good  deal  in  that.  When  we  consider  how  many  Irishmen  have  found  a  refuge 
in  America,  I  do  not  know,  how  we  can  wonder  at  that  statement.  You  will 
recollect  that  when  the  ancient  Hebrew  prophet  prayed  in  his  captivity  he 
prayed  with  his  window  opened  towards  Jerusalem.  You  know  that  the  followers 
of  Mohammed,  when  they  pray,  turn  their  faces  towards  Mecca.  When  the  Irish 
peasant  asks  for  food,  and  freedom,  and  blessing,  his  eye  follows  the  setting  sun ; 
the  aspirations  of  his  heart  reach  beyond  the  wide  Atlantic,  and  in  spirit  he  grasps 
hands  with  the  great  Republic  of  the  West." 

With  the  hearts  and  ears  of  his  audience  at  his  command, 
Mr.  Bright  can  as  easily  excite  another  chord  of  feeling. 
With  a  slight  touch  of  sarcasm  he  can  arouse  ridicule  or  in- 
dignation, and  scathe  the  object  of  his  scorn  more  terribly 
than  by  the  bitterest  or  most  violent  invective.  He  is  most 
exquisite  in  his  tone  of  irony,  and  by  a  mere  inflection  of 
his  voice  he  can  express  the  intensest  scorn,  which  would  take 
some  time  to  explain  in  words. 

Another  phase  of  oratory  for  which  he  is  noted  is  his  humour, 
but  it  is  not  used  merely  for  the  sake  of  amusing.  It  is 
peculiarly  his  own,  varied,  always  agreeable,  and  seldom  severe ; 
it  is  lively,  playful,  and  directed  to  ridicule  rather  than  lacerate. 
He  confuses  rather  than  wounds  his  opponent  unless  he  chooses 
to  be  strongly  sarcastic.  Many  of  them  are  home  thrusts, 
and  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  to  do  them  justice, 
are  always  obliged  to  any  one  who  by  smart  humour  amuses 
them.  His  mirth  is  always  tempered  with  sensibility,  and  is 
of  that  kind  which  is  built,  not  on  a  paucity,  but  upon  a  su  er- 
abundance,  of  feeling.  It  is  a  droll,  quiet,  cutting,  and  sarcastic 
style,  but  never  coarse ;  and  while  he  delivers  his  sparkling  bon 
mot,  which  make  his  audience  roar  with  laughter,  and  while 

"All  around 

Catch  the  contagion,  and  return  the  sound — 
Convulsive  mirth  on  every  cheek  appears," 

he  seems  the  least  affected  by  it,  so  perfect  is  his  self-control. 
When  he  is  contemplating  an  amusing  passage,  there  is  no 
indication  in  his  manner  of  what  is  approaching,  but  a  close 


HUMOUR.  665 

observer  would  notice  a  pleasant  agitation  in  the  neighbourhood 
ef  his  eye. 

His  power  in  comic  description  is  remarkable.  It  is  not  like 
painting  a  picture,  but  unrolling  it.  Sometimes  a  sentence  or 
two,  aided  by  the  quaintuess  of  the  style,  flashes  a  whole  picture 
at  once  on  the  view. 

" I  recollect  a  little  time  ago,"  related  Mr.  Bright  in  the  House  of  Commons,  "a 
gentleman  writing  about  the  serious  things  which  had  happened  in  his  time,  and  he 
said,  amongst  other  things,  that  there  was  a  man  down  in  the  same  country — I  don't 
know  whether  it  was  in  Buckinghamshire  or  where  it  was — (laughter) — and  the 
man  was  not  a  Cabinet  Minister,  he  was  only  a  mountebank — (renewed  laughter) — 
but  he  set  up  a  stall  and  offered  to  the  country  people  to  sell  them  pills  that  were 
very  good  against  earthquakes."  (Roars  of  laughter!) 

Again,  when  referring  to  Lord  Derby's  professions  about 
Reform  in  1858,  he  said : — 

"It  would  be  like  the  sort  of  feast  that  a  Spanish  host  sets  before  his  guests, 
consisting  of  little  meat  and  a  great  deal  of  table-cloth." 

Another  is  the  joke  about  the  Syrian  monks,  to  whom  "  tears 
were  as  natural  as  perspiration."  Then  there  was  the  sarcasm 
hidden  in  the  parenthetical  remark  about  the  gentleman's  ances- 
tors who  came  over  with  the  Conqueror — "  I  never  heard  that 
they  did  anything  else." 

He  once  described  Mr.  Disraeli  as  "  the  mystery  man  of  the 
Tory  Party/'  Speaking  of  the  Conservative  Leader,  he  said : — 

"If  they  had  been  in  the  wilderness  he  would  have  complained  of  the  Ten 
Commandments  as  a  harassing  piece  of  legislation." 

During  the  American  war  an  attempt  was  made  to  keep  some 
of  the  mill  hands  partially  employed  by  the  use  of  Indian  cotton, 
known  as  "  Surat,"  which  was  the  most  difficult  and  troublesome 
to  work.  Mr.  Bright  related  that  on  one  Sunday  morning  a 
minister  was  praying  that  merciful  Heaven  would  grant  a 
plentiful  supply  of  cotton,  when  a  man  in  the  congregation,  a 
cotton  spinner,  cried  out — "  Yes,  Lord,  but  not  Surat." 

Another  instance  is  the  story  of  the  old  gentleman  who  used 
to  say  that  "  a  hole  would  last  longer  than  a  patch." 

In  a  speech  on  Reform,  Mr.  Bright  remarked : — 

"  For,  after  all,  the  Bill  of  the  last  session,  honest  and  well  intended  and  valuable 
as  it  was,  was  still  but  a  tinkering  of  a  very  bad  system.  But  the  Tory  party  re- 
fused even  to  have  it  tinkered.  They  remind  me  very  much  of  a  wealthy  but  a 
most  penurious  old  gentleman,  who  lived  some  years  ago  in  my  neighbourhood,  and 
who  objected,  amongst  other  expenses,  very  much  to  a  tailor's  bill,  and  he  said  ho 
had  found  out  that  a  hole  would  last  longer  than  a  patch.  I  am  not  sure  that  this 
is  not  the  case  with  Lord  Derby  and  his  friends ;  for  it  was  one  of  their  great  argu- 
ments that  if  the  Bill  of  the  Government  passed,  it  would  inevitably  follow  that 
Bomething  more  would  almost  immediately  be  demanded." 


566  LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF   JOHN    BRIGHT. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  in  relating  for  this  biography  an  anecdote, 
states : — 

"  I  remember  an  expression  of  Mr.  Blight's  about  Mr.  Cobden.  There  was  a  dis- 
cussion of  some  Church  matter  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Some  one  pleading  with 
Mr.  Bright  said  that  Cobden  was  favourable  to  the  Church  view  of  it.  '  Oh, 
yes,"  said  he,  '  Cobden  is  turned  Puseyite.'  I  need  hardly  say  he  did  not  mean  thia 
to  be  taken  literally." 

Sir  R.  Peel,  when  he  was  Irish  Secretary,  extolled  the  "  gen- 
tlemen "  of  South  America  during  the  civil  war,  and  demanded 
the  recognition  of  the  South,  and  bitterly  attacked  the  North.  In 
a  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  Mr.  Bright  said  : — 

"The  other  day,  not  a  week  since,  a  member  of  the  present  Government — he  is 
not  a  statesman,  he  is  the  son  of  a  great  statesman,  and  occupies  the  position  of  the 
Secretary  for  Ireland — dared  to  say  to  an  English  audience  that  he  wished  the  Re- 
public to  be  divided,  and  that  the  South  should  become  an  independent  State.  If 
that  Island  which,  I  suppose,  in  punishment  for  some  of  its  offences  has  been  committed 
to  his  care — if  that  Island  were  to  attempt  to  secede,  not  to  set  up  a  slave  kingdom 
but  a  kingdom  more  free  than  it  has  ever  been,  the  Government  of  which  he  is  a 
member  would  sack  its  cities  and  drench  its  soil  with  blood  before  they  would  allow 
such  a  kingdom  to  be  established." 

The  following  are  specimens  of  his  wit : — 

"Gentlemen  will  consent  to  be  made  the  instrument  to  reimpose  upon  the 
country  the  excise  duties  which  have  been  repealed,  or  the  import  duties  which  in 
past  times  inflicted  such  enormous  injury  upon  trade,"  said  Mr.  Bright  in  his  speech 
in  March,  1854.  "  The  property-tax  is  the  lever,  or  the  weapon,  with  which  the  pro- 
prietors of  lands  and  houses  in  this  kingdom  will  have  to  support  the  '  integrity  and 
independence '  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  Gentlemen,  I  congratulate  you,  that  every 
man  of  you  has  a  Turk  upon  his  shoulders." 

"  There  is  a  curious  affinity  between  the  Turkish  language  and  our  own  which  I 
noticed,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright  in  1854.  "  You  observed  there  was  an  emeute — a  dis- 
turbance in  Constantinople  a  while  ago.  A  great  number  of  people  made  a  disturb- 
ance, and  were  very  anxious  to  go  to  war,  and  to  force  the  Government  to  war,  and 
not  treat  at  all  according  to  the  recommendations  of  the  ambassadors ;  and  the  Sultan, 
it  is  said,  determined  that  half  of  them  should  join  the  army  in  Roumelia,  and  the 
other  half  should  go  to  the  fleet.  Well,  that  class  of  persons  were  called  '  Softas ' — 
(laughter) — in  English  (and  here  is  the  remarkable  affinity  between  the  two  langua- 

fes)  we  merely  call  them  softy s.  (Laughter.)  Now  I  have  not  the  least  objection, 
confess,  that  our  foreign  enlistment  act  should  be  suspended — that  every  man  who 
feels  a  burning — I  don't  exactly  know  what  to  call  it — something  that  on  subjects  of 
this  kind  I  never  felt  myself — but  every  man  who  has  a  burning  desire  to  be  avenged 
upon  Russia,  or  some  high  mission  to  save  Turkey,  I  should  like  him  to  be  at  perfect 
liberty  to  go.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  Now  in  all  the  enthusiasm  that  I  have  heard 
of,  I  have  not  met  with  a  single  man  who  offers  to  go."  (Laughter.) 

"A  great  many  people  in  this  country,"  said  Mr.  Bright,  in  speaking  on  'Fair- 
trade' — "I  hope  a  diminishing  number — think  that  because  other  countries  do  not 
allow  us  to  send  our  goods  into  their  markets  free  of  duty,  therefore  we  should  not 
allow  them  to  send  their  goods  to  this  market  free  of  duty.  They  think  that  two  bad 
things  are  better  than  one.  They  remind  me  very  much  of  what  it  would  be  if  a 
man  had  got  a  sound  box  on  the  side  of  his  head,  and  he  was  to  go  about  com- 
plaining that  nobody  gave  him  Another  sound  box  on  the  other  side." 

"  One  of  the  candidates  for  the  inferior  position  of  minority  member  for  Bir- 
mingham," said  Mr.  Bright  in  November,  1868,  "  complained  on  a  recent  occasion 
that  I  had  not  read  the  speeches  of  his  colleague  in  the  candidature,  and  that  I  had 
not,  in  duty  bound,  undertaken  to  answer  him.  The  fact  is,  I  am  too  busy  in  these 
days  to  dwell  very  much  on  works  of  fiction.  The  speeches  of  Mr.  Lloyd  are  what 
I  call  dull  fiction,  and  the  speeches  of  his  colleague,  though  not  less  fiction,  are 
certainly  of  a  rather  more  sparkling  and  sensational  character." 


WIT.  567 

"There  was  a  dear  old  friend  of  mine,  the  late  Colonel  Perronet  Thompson," 
related  Mr.  Bright,  ' '  who  once  said  to  me  when  there  had  heen  some  talk  somewhere 
of  a  revolt  of  troops,  that  it  is  a  very  dangerous  thiug  when  the  extinguisher 
takes  fire.  He  thought  there  was  not  much  chance  of  the  conflagration  being  put 
out." 

"  By-the-by,  the  valour  of  the  yeomanry  has  never  been  more  conspicuous,"  said 
Mr.  Bright,  in  a  speech  in  July,  1844  :  "it  was  once  proposed,  in  an  Act  which  was 
passed  to  raise  a  troop  of  yeomanry,  that  they  should  never  be  allowed  to  go  out  of 
the  country,  except  in  the  case  of  an  invasion." 

His  rising  in  the  House  of  Commons  is  always  an  event. 
There  is  a  difference  between  his  two  styles  of  oratory  as 
displayed  inside  and  outside  the  walls  of  Parliament.  He  is' 
more  argumentative  in  the  House,  whereas  at  public  meetings  he 
indulges  in  a  more  eloquent  style  of  speaking.  In  premeditated 
speeches  he  is  great  and  convincing,  and  is  always  ready  to  take 
part  in  any  debate  that  may  suddenly  arise  in  the  House.  In  the 
course  of  the  discussion  he  is  constantly  on  the  alert  to  detect 
salient  points,  in  order  that  he  may  either  contradict  or  eulogise 
them,  and  with  the  matter  thus  collected  he  is  able  to  deliver  an 
admirable  speech.  Before  he  rises  to  address  the  Houses,  he  has 
been  noticed,  as  previous  speakers  were  proceeding,  to  write  short 
notes  with  a  pencil  on  a  piece  of  paper.  He  shows  signs  of 
nervousness  by  a  restlessness  on  his  seat,  crossing  his  legs, 
smoothing  his  hair,  but  as  soon  as  he  has  risen  he  appears 
cool  and  collected.  He  is  greeted  with  a  sudden  cheer,  and  in  an 
instant  there  is  a  hush,  except  a  slight  bustle  caused  by  the 
rush  of  members  to  their  seats.  The  absent  in  the  library  and 
tea-room  are  suddenly  apprised  "  that  Bright  is  up,"  and  there 
is  a  general  exodus  for  the  House,  and  in  less  than  five  minutes 
every  seat  is  filled.  No  wonder  that  those  who  have  once  heard 
that  clear  and  powerful  voice,  beheld  that  manly  figure  and 
those  unaffected  but  imposing  attitudes,  who  have  seen  the 
lightning  of  his  eye,  and  been  borne  along  by  the  majestic  flow  of 
his  distinctly  articulated  words,  will  be  the  first  to  seize  an  oppor- 
tunity of  enjoying  the  treat  again.  His  great  ally,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, has  described  him  as  ".the  man  whose  voice  the  House 
loves  to  hear."  His  name  is  worthily  associated  with  the  names 
of  Chatham,  Burke,  Fox,  and  Gladstone.  Edmund  Burke's  oratory 
was  chivalrous  and  classic,  while  Bright's  is  distinguished  by  a 
noble  simplicity,  unbroken  chain  of  reasoning,  illumined  by  flashes 
of  wit,  humour,  and  grand  imagery.  If  he  is  interrupted  while 
speaking,  he  promptly  replies  in  such  a  manner  as  to  show  that 
he  thoroughly  understands  his  argument,  and  is  not  to  be 
diverted  from  it  by  any  interference  whatever,  the  result  being 
that  his  opponent  is  utterly  discomfited.  Mr.  Bright  then  coolly 
resumes  the  thread  of  his  discourse  and  proceeds  with  his  argu- 


668  LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

ment.  He  can  put  the  most  difficult  question  clearly  before  his 
audience,  for  his  words  are  plain  and  his  meaning  transparent,  and 
the  driest  subject  under  his  management  becomes  interesting.  In 
every  part  of  his  speech  the  most  just  and  constitutional  principles 
of  policy  are  enforced,  and  he  throughout  displays  that  curious 
felicity,  which,  in  its  application  to  the  mere  concern  of  diction, 
is  an  exquisite  accomplishment,  but  which,  when  directed  to  the 
more  important  task  of  selecting,  arranging,  and  mutually  har- 
monising the  topics  and  arguments  belonging  to  the  whole 
subject,  rises  into  the  very  highest  sphere  of  oratorical  excellence. 
Sometimes  it  is  his  custom  to  direct  his  address  more  particularly 
to  his  opponents  in  politics  who  are  before  him,  and  his  eye 
ranges  calmly  along  their  ranks,  and  he  speaks  to  them 
almost  individually.  The  book  of  experience,  the  lessons  of 
history  he  points  out,  are  to  them  a  sealed  volume ;  that  with 
unvarying  obstinacy  they  rejected  its  dictates,  spurned  its  pre- 
cepts, and  disregarded  its  warnings.  He  reminds  them  that  he 
has  been  right  on  all  the  great  questions  of  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  forcibly  puts  the  question  whether  it  is  not  possible 
that  he  is  right  also  on  the  subject  under  discussion,  and  that 
they,  Proteus-like,  would  again  shift  their  ground.  The  ready 
"  No,  no,"  escapes  the  lips  of  his  opponents,  but  Mr.  Bright, 
nothing  daunted,  pursues  his  course  and  manfully  proves  his 
position.  He  analyses  the  Conservatives  with  the  greatest  freedom, 
reminding  them  with  a  bitterly  emphasised  "  you,  at  such  a  time, 
did  this,  in  such  circumstances  you  did  that,  at  the  present  time, 
if  we  would  let  you,  you  would  do  anything  equally  bad/' 
Preserving  the  most  perfect  self-possession,  he  summons  up 
modern  English  history  as  a  record  of  progress,  points  out 
the  decayed  monuments  of  error,  and  the  wonderfully  long 
list  of  triumphs  are  all  clearly  enumerated,  and  he  shows  that 
past  opinions,  advocated  by  himself,  which  they  had  at  first 
strenuously  resisted,  had  ultimately  been  adopted  by  his  political 
opponents,  and  converted  into  Acts  of  Parliament;  that  these 
measures  they  now  tried  to  claim  as  their  own,  and  that  their 
leader  had  deceived  them  with  the  tinsel  of  language,  as  they 
could  not  discern  the  sterling  ore  of  thought.  There  is  no  dis- 
puting the  fact  that  the  great  measures  of  the  last  forty  years 
are  to  a  considerable  degree  connected  with  his  name,  and  that 
whatever  development  of  opinion  years  have  made,  there  has  been 
no  departure  from  the  principles  avowed  at  the  beginning,  and 
his  opponents  are  further  aware  that  he  never  changes  his 
opinions  after  they  have  been  maturely  formed ;  further,  that 
his  political  sagacity  and  forethought  have  been  even  more  re- 


HIS    AMBITION.  569 

markable  than  his  accomplishments,  and  there  is  no  denying 
that  his  triumphs  have  placed  him  foremost  among  the  states- 
men of  the  age.  Men  have  no  distrust  of  the  ground  which 
feels  solid  under  their  feet.  They  also  follow  a  leader  who 
not  only  gains  triumphs,  but  never  vacillates  in  his  strategy. 

"  My  conscience  tells  me  that  I  have  laboured  honestly  only  to  destroy  that 
which  is  evil  and  to  build  up  that  which  is  good,"  he  reminded  the  House  on  one 
occasion,  adding :  "  The  political  gains  of  the  last  twenty-five  years,  as  they  were 
summed  up  the  other  night  by  the  hon.  member  for  Wick,  are  my  political  gains,  if 
they  can  be  called  the  gains  in  any  degree  of  any  living  Englishman.  And  if  now, 
in  all  the  great  centres  of  our  population — in  Birmingham  with  its  busy  district,  in 
Manchester  with  its  encircling  towns,  in  the  population  of  the  West  Riding  of  York- 
shire, in  Glasgow,  and  amidst  the  vast  industries  of  the  West  of  Scotland,  and  in 
this  great  Babylon  in  which  we  are  assembled — if  we  do  not  find  ourselves  sur- 
rounded by  hungry  and  exasperated  multitudes ;  if  now  more  than  at  any  time 
during  the  last  hundred  years  it  may  be  said,  quoting  the  beautiful  words  of  Mr. 
Sheridan,  '  Content  sits  basking  on  the  cheeks  of  toil ; '  if  this  House  and  its  states- 
men glory  in  the  change,  have  not  I  as  much  as  any  living  man  some  claim  to  par- 
take of  that  glory  ?  " 

Many  statesmen  and  many  writers  may  justly  share  with 
him  in  such  glory,  but  Bright,  Cobden,  and  Gladstone,  have  per 
formed  the  greatest  share  in  the  noble  work.  It  has  been  the 
ambition  of  Mr.  Bright's  life  that  England  may  long  be 
pointed  out  as  the  abode  of  tranquillity,  freedom,  industry,  free 
trade,  and  rational  enjoyment;  that  its  inhabitants  may  be 
adorned  with  every  great  and  good  qualification,  and  made  the 
chosen  instruments  for  the  support  and  diffusion  of  truth,  justice, 
and  religion.  Distinctions  such  as  these,  he  has  confidence, 
would  add  lustre  to  our  days  of  glory,  and  that  the  preservation 
of  them  would  be  the  surest  means  to  arrest  or  avert  the  hour 
of  our  decline. 

In  these  discussions  he  carefully  upholds  the  dignity  of 
debate,  and  looks  at  the  questions  honestly  on  all  sides.  Party 
has  not  blinded  his  judgment,  his  attention  having  been  directed 
more  to  class  than  to  party  questions.  He  is  particularly  careful 
not  to  speak  on  subjects  he  has  not  thoroughly  mastered ;  and 
his  speeches  are  founded  on  a  solid  substratum  of  hard  facts, 
embellished  by  the  flowers  of  rhetoric.  His  opinions  have  been 
received  as  always  resulting  from  general  principles  deliberately 
applied  to  each  emergency ;  and  they  have  been  looked  upon  as 
forming  a  connected  system  of  doctrines,  by  which  his  own  senti- 
ments and  conduct  were  regulated,  and  from  which  after  times 
may  derive  the  lessons  of  practical  wisdom. 

With  such  a  rare  combination  of  qualities  he  can  safely  use 
imagery  which  few  other  members  of  the  House  dare  to  employ. 
In  pathos  he  stands  positively  pre-eminent,  and  no  member  dare 
venture  with  impunity  to  touch  such  a  chord  except  a  master  of 


570  LIFE   AND  TIMES   OF   JOHN    BRIGHT. 

the  art.  Bright  has  heart  as  well  as  brain,  and  the  House 
yields  itself  to  his  spell,  and  in  softened  accents  and  with  inex- 
pressible tenderness  he  appeals  to  the  conscience  of  men  of  all 
parties,  and  he  touches,  amidst  the  most  hushed  silence,  the  ten- 
derest  chords  of  the  human  heart.  At  such  times  his  earnestness 
is  overpowering,  and  no  one  can  listen  to  him  wholly  unmoved  ; 
and  no  matter  how  a  hearer  may  dissent  from  every  opinion  he 
maintains,  it  is  yet  impossible  not  to  yield  some  tribute  of  ad- 
miration. 

He  almost  seems  to  foresee  the  future  results  of  current 
events.  He,  like  the  seers  of  old,  and  with  the  gift  of  genius 
approaching  to  the  powers  of  divination,  and  the  prophetic  soul 
of  Daniel,  launches  out  into  the  sea  of  futurity,  brings  home 
from  the  remotest  shores  spoils  of  which  we  are  only  yet  learning 
the  value  and  meaning,  and  delights  in  announcing  that  the  day 
of  light  and  liberty  is  approaching.  He  opens  to  the  admiring 
gaze  of  his  hearers  a  flood  of  riches,  those  better  riches  which 
grow  naturally  upon  the  earth's  surface,  and  not  the  fictitious 
wealth  which  is  derived  from  war.  History,  however,  is  his 
guide,  for  he  believes  that  "  the  best  prophet  of  the  future  is  the 
past,"  and  that  "certain  signs  precede  certain  events;"  and  the 
best  of  it  is  there  has  been  a  realisation  of  these  prophecies  once 
derided,  and  the  acceptance  of  proposals  once  despised.  The 
words  he  uttered  in  1862,  when  the  future  of  the  North  was  at 
its  darkest  in  the  great  American  struggle,  were  an  illustra- 
tion : — 

"  The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  (Mr.  Gladstone)  as  a  speaker  is  not  surpassed 
by  any  man  in  England,  and  he  is  a  great  statesman ;  he  believes  the  cause  of  the 
North  to  be  hopeless,  and  that  their  enterprise  cannot  succeed,"  said  Mr.  Bright. 
....  "I  have  another  and  a  far  brighter  vision  before  my  gaze.  It  may  be  a 
vision,  but  I  will  cherish  it.  I  see  one  vast  confederation  stretching  from  the  frozen 
North  in  unbroken  line  to  the  glowing  South,  and  from  the  wild  billows  of  the 
Atlantic  westward  to  the  calmer  waters  of  the  Pacific  main ;  and  I  see  one  people  and 
one  language,  and  one  law  and  one  faith,  aud  over  all  that  wide  continent  the  home 
of  freedom  and  a  refuge  for  the  oppressed  of  every  race  and  of  every  clime." 

The  uniform  care  he  bestows  on  the  perorations,  which 
are  brief  and  powerful,  and  given  with  breadth,  depth,  and 
solemnity,  adds  greatly  to  the  impressiveness  of  his  speeches. 
They  sweep  along,  gathering  grandeur  as  they  rise  beautifully 
to  a  climax.  The  tide  of  clear,  strong  English  rolls  on,  evincing 
more  beauty  as  it  proceeds,  period  after  period  of  exalted  and 
swelling  thought,  with  the  cumulative  power  of  wave  on  wave, 
until  the  tone  rises  to  a  sonorous  and  majestic  height  to  fall 
in  a  solemn  cadence,  even  as  the  uttermost  billow  lifts  its 
weight  of  crested  thunder  to  break  and  die  along  the  shore.  The 
hearer  is  spell-bound  and  filled  with  admiration,  and  the 


HIS    SPEECHES.  671 

huzzas  generally  are  of  the  most  enthusiastic  kind,  and  taken  up 
again  and  again,  and  are  by  no  means  confined  to  one  side  of  the 
House,  for  the  Conservatives,  however  little  they  might  agree 
with  his  speeches,  are  not  so  ungenerous  as  to  refuse  the,  tribute 
to  the  singular  oratorical  powers  which  he  displays. 

Speeches,  when  transposed  through  the  cold  medium  of  the 
Press,  inevitably  suffer  from  the  loss  of  the  inspiration  and 
energy  of  the  speaker,  from  the  absence  of  the  immediate  action 
of  the  mind  upon  mind,  from  the  want  of  the  inexpressible 
touching  tones  of  his  voice  and  the  sympathetic  flow  of  the 
emotions  that  agitate  a  great  assembly.  The  united  effect  of 
his  speaking  is  now  attractive,  now  touching,  now  pleasing, 
now  fearful,  sometimes  crushing,  and  occasionally  enrapturing. 
All  these  effects  evaporate  to  a  great  extent  in  the  transcript, 
although  every  word  is  faithfully  recorded.  The  difference 
between  his  spoken  and  published  speeches  is  the  difference 
between  the  House  of  Commons  in  daylight  laid  open  to  the 
studious  contemplation  of  a  solitary  visitant,  and  the  same 
edifice  beheld  lighted  up,  when  thronged  by  excited  members 
listening  in  breathless  silence  to  majestic  eloquence,  which 
is  occasionally  interrupted  by  bursts  of  cheering.  Still,  the 
intellectual  eye  will  find  in  reading  his  speeches  that  they  are 
high  models  of  rhetorical  composition,  and,  as  specimens  of 
popular  English  declamation,  his  efforts  rank  high;  and,  as 
they  float  on  the  bosom  of  time,  they  will  delight,  and  carry 
the  riches  of  the  English  language  wherever  they  flow. 

"I  believe  that  ignorance  and  suffering  might  be  lessened  to  an  incalculable 
extent,  and  that  many  an  Eden,  beauteous  ill  flowers  and  rich  in  fruits,  might  be 
raised  up  in  the  waste  wilderness  which  spreads  before  us,"  said  Mr.  Bright  in  a 
peroration  on  Reform  at  Glasgow.  "But  no  class  can  do  that.  The  class  which 
has  hitherto  ruled  in  this  country  has  failed  miserably.  It  revels  in  power  and 
wealth,  whilst  at  its  feet,  a  terrible  peril  for  its  future,  lies  the  multitude  which  it 
has  neglected.  If  a  class  has  failed,  let  us  try  the  nation.  (Great  cheering.)  That 
is  our  faith,  that  is  our  purpose,  that  is  our  cry — Let  us  try  the  nation.  (Renewed 
cheering.)  This  it  is  which  has  called  together  these  countless  numbers  of  the  people 
to  demand  a  change ;  and,  as  I  think  of  it,  and  of  these  gatherings,  sublime  in  their 
vastness  and  in  their  resolution,  I  think  I  see,  as  it  were,  above  the  hill-tops  of  time, 
the  glimmerings  of  the  dawn  of  a  better  and  a  nobler  day  for  the  country  and  for  the 
people  that  I  love  so  well."  (Enthusiastic  cheering.) 

"  It  is  a  fact,"  said  Mr.  Bright  in  concluding  his  speech  at  Birmingham  in  1870, 
"  that  no  Government,  that  no  Administration,  that  no  laws,  and  that  no  amount  of 
industry  or  commerce,  that  no  extent  of  freedom  can  give  prosperity  and  solid  com- 
fort in  the  homes  of  the  people,  unless  there  be  in  those  homes  economy,  temperance, 
and  the  practice  of  virtue.  This  is  needful  for  all ;  but  it  is  especially  needful,  most 
needful  in  some  respects,  for  those  whose  possessions  are  the  least  abundant  and  the 
least  secured.  If  we  could  subtract  from  the  ignorance,  the  poverty,  the  suffering, 
the  sickness,  and  the  crime  which  are  now  witnessed  amongst  us,  the  ignorance,  the 
poverty,  the  suffering,  the  sickness,  and  the  crime  which  are  caused  by  the  single,  but 
the  most  prevalent,  liabit  or  vice  of  di-inkiug  needlessly,  which  destroys  the  body  and 
mind  and  home  and  family,  do  we  not  all  feel  that  this  country  would  bo  so  changed,  and 
so  changed  for  the  better,  that  it  would  almost  be  impossible  for  us  to  know  it  again  ? 
Let  me,  then,  in  conclusion  say  what  is  upon  my  heart  to  say,  what  I  know  to  be  true, 


672  LIFE   AND  TIMES   OF   JOHN   BBIGHT. 

what  I  have  felt  every  hour  of  my  life  when  I  have  been  discussing  great  questions 
affecting  the  condition  of  the  working  classes — let  me  say  this  to  all  the  people : 
that  it  is  by  a  combination  of  a  wise  G-overnuieiit  and  a  virtuous  people,  and  not 
otherwise,  that  we  may  hope  to  make  some  steps  towards  that  blessed  time  when 
there  shall  be  no  longer  complaining  in  our  streets,  and  when  our  garners  shall  be 
full,  affording  all  manner  of  store." 

"These  men  are  in  error  who  tell  you  that  nothing  has  been  done,  and  that 
all  remains  to  be  done,"  said  Mr.  Bright  at  Birmingham  in  October,  1873, 
adding:  "  those  men  are  not  less  in  error  who  tell  you  that  what  has  been  done 
is  evil,  and  that  it  is  evil  to  do  anything  more.  What  you  should  do  is  to  act 
upon  the  principles  and  the  rules  of  past  years,  steadily  advancing  in  favour  of 
questions  which  the  public  has  thoroughly  discussed,  which  it  thoroughly  com- 
prehends, and  which  Parliament  can  honestly  put  into  law.  For  my  part,  looking 
back  over  these  forty  years,  I  feel  some  little  sense  of  content.  But  it  does 
not  in  the  least  degree  lessen,  on  the  contrary,  it  rather  adds  to  and  strengthens, 
my  hope  for  the  future.  The  history  of  the  last  forty  years  of  this  country, 
judged  fairly — I  speak  of  its  legislation — is  mainly  a  history  of  the  conquests  of 
freedom.  It  will  be  a  grand  volume  that  tells  the  story,  and  your  name  and 
mine,  if  I  mistake  not,  will  be  found  in  some  of  its  pages.  (Cheers.)  For  me, 
the  final  chapter  is  now  writing.  It  may  be  already  written;  but  for  you, 
this  great  constituency,  you  have  a  perpetual  youth  and  a  perpetual  future.  I 
pray  Heaven  that  in  years  to  come,  when  my  voice  is  hushed,  you  may  be 
granted  strength,  and  moderation,  and  wisdom,  to  influence  the  councils  of  your 
country  by  righteous  means  for  none  other  than  noble  and  righteous  ends." 
(Cheers.) 

"The  fact  is  the  world,  as  we  are  in  it  but  for  a  very  short  time,  does  not 
seem  to  go  on  very  fast,  and  we  must  be  satisfied  if  we  can  only  move  it  a 
little,"  remarked  Mr.  Bright,  in  speaking  on  Free-trade  and  the  prevention  of 
wars,  in  Bradford,  on  the  25th  of  July,  1877;  "but  the  interests  of  all  mankind 
are  so  bound  up  in  this  question  that  it  only  wants  that  you  should  dispel  the 
sort  of  fog  which  intercepts  their  vision,  when  they  would  come  at  once  to  see 
a  promised  land  which  was  within  their  reach,  and  a  fruit  which  they  have  never 
tasted  within  their  grasp,  and  if  this  view  could  once  be  opened  up  to  the  intelli- 
gent people  in  these  countries,  I  have  a  confident  belief  that  the  time  will  come, 
that  it  must  come,  when  these  vast  evils  shall  be  suppressed,  and  men  shall 
not  learn  war  any  more,  and  God's  earth  shall  not  be  made,  as  it  is,  a  charnel 
house  by  the  constant  murder  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  His  creatures." 

"I  am  a  plain  and  simple  citizen,  sent  here  by  one  of  the  foremost  con- 
stituencies of  the  Empire,"  said  Mr.  Bright  in  concluding  a  speech  in  the  House 
of  Commons  in  December,  1854,  against  the  war  with  Russia,  "representing 
feebly,  perhaps,  but  honestly,  I  dare  aver,  the  opinions  of  very  many,  and  the 
true  interests  of  all  those  who  have  sent  me  here.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  I  am 
alone  in  my  condemnation  of  this  war,  and  of  this  incapable  and  guilty  Ad- 
ministration. And  even  if  I  were  alone,  if  mine  was  a  solitary  voice,  raised 
amid  the  din  of  arms  and  clamours  of  a  venal  press,  I  should  have  the  consola- 
tion I  have  to-night-jand  which  I  trust  will  be  mine  to  the  last  moment  of 
my  existence — the  priceless  consolation  that  no  word  of  mine  has  tended  to 
promote  the  squandering  of  my  country's  treasure  or  the  spilling  of  one  single 
drop  of  my  country's  blood." 

"But  let  me  add,  that  this  which  you  have  erected  to-day,"  said  Mr.  Bright 
when  performing  the  ceremony  of  unveiling  the  statue  of  Richard  Cobden  at 
Bradford  on  the  25th  of  July,  1877,  "which  is  erected  in  your  midst,  is  by  no 
means  the  greatest  monument  that  has  been  built  up  to  him.  There  is  one  far 
grander  and  of  wider  significance.  There  is  not  in  the  country  a  homestead  in 
which  there  is  not  added  comfort  from  his  labours,  not  a  cottage  the  dwellers 
in  which  have  not  steadier  employment,  higher  wages,  and  a  more  solid  inde- 
pendence. This  is  his  enduring  monument.  He  worked  for  these  ends,  and  for 
these  great  purposes,  and  he  worked  even  almost  to  the  very  day  when  the 
lamp  of  light  went  out.  He  is  gone;  but  his  character,  his  deeds,  his  life,  his 
example,  remains  a  possession  to  his  countrymen.  And  let  this  be  said  of  him 
for  generations  to  come,  as  long  as  the  great  men  of  England  are  spoken  of  in 
the  English  language ;  let  it  be  said  of  him  that  Richard  Cobden  gave  the 
labours  of  a  life  that  he  might  confer  upon  his  countrymen  perfect  freedom  of 
industry,  and  with  it  not  that  blessing  only,  but  its  attendant  blessings  of  plenty 
and  of  peace." 


PEE  ORATIONS.  573 

When  Mr.  Bright  has  fini  ;hed  his  speech  and  sat  down,  he 
impresses  his  audience  with  the  idea  that  he  has  by  no  means 
exhausted  his  subject,  but  that  he  could,  if  he  had  pleased,  have 
said  a  great  deal  more  and  equally  effective.  His  audience  feel 
the  sense  of  the  fulness  of  his  knowledge  on  the  great  subjects, 
and  are  confident  of  the  exactness  of  his  facts,  and  that  his  views 
are  perfectly  clear  and  defined.  There  are  very  few  topics3 
whether  of  home  or  foreign  policy,  on  which  he  has  not 
expressed  his  opinion ;  yet,  after  so  many  years  of  public  speak- 
ing, he  admitted  a  short  time  ago  that  he  was  always  happier 
the  morning  after  a  meeting  than  before  it,  showing  that  even 
with  all  his  practice  he,  in  common  with  other  great  orators, 
suffers  slightly  from  nervousness. 

So  exclusively  does  he  express  himself  in  vigorous  Saxon 
that  a  word  of  Greek,  Latin,  or  French  is  rarely  heard  from  him. 
It  is  a  stream  of  pure  unadulterated  English,  flowing  copiously. 
Still,  though  the  texture  of  his  language  is  homely  Saxon,  some- 
times he  resorts  to  the  Latin  element  of  our  composite  tongue. 
"  The  august  mother  of  free  nations  "  is  one  instance  in  which 
he  used  a  word  of  Latin  origin,  which  gave  grandeur  to  the 
sentence.  He  is  often  cited  as  an  example  of  the  uselessness  of 
studying  the  dead  languages.  He  is  a  master  of  the  art  of 
investing  plain  facts  and  statistics  with  interest.  This  he  does 
by  comparisons,  by  which  he  not  only  rivets  the  attention  of  his 
audience,  but  makes  his  statement  perfectly  plain  to  the  simplest 
intelligence. 

For  a  long  period  he  has  stored  his  mind  with  treasures  of 
the  English  poets  as  well  as  the  classics  of  other  countries,  and 
his  attention  has  been  absorbed  in  the  finest  imagery,  fables,  and 
comparisons.  His  quotations  have  been  chiefly  from  the  Bible, 
Dante,  Chaucer,  Milton,  Shakspeare,  Byron,  Wordsworth, 
Southey,  and  other  poets  congenial  to  his  cast  of  mind.  He, 
amongst  other  things,  studied  the  objects  which  these  poets 
sought.  Chaucer,  the  father  of  English  poetry,  he  observed, 
painted  the  manners  of  his  age;  Shakspeare  mirrored  humanity; 
Milton  vindicated  the  ways  of  God ;  Wordsworth  showed  the 
poetry  and  divinity  that  are  in  grass  and  weeds — the  thoughts 
too  deep  for  tears  enfolded  in  the  meanest  flower  ;  Byron  dashed 
defiance  in  the  face  of  man  and  God ;  Shelley  sincerely  sought 
in  his  own  wild,  impracticable  way  to  elevate  his  species ;  Crabbe 
pleaded,  like  himself,  the  cause  of  the  poor  by  photographing 
their  manners;  and  Southey  taught  a  Christian  morality  through 
the  medium  of  the  gigantic  myths  of  India  and  Arabia. 

For  years,  while  studying  the  poets,  it  has  also  been  Mr. 


574  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF  JOHN   BEIGHT. 

Bright's  practice  to  write  select  quotations  in  a  small  book.  These 
extracts  are  remarkable  for  point,  polish;  and  for  pathetic  beauty, 
and  in  addition  he  has  a  fine  taste  for  other  descriptions  of 
literature.  There  is  much  of  the  old  Puritan  about  him.  If  he 
does  not,  like  the  old  Puritan,  often  quote  the  language  of 
scripture,  he  has  almost  always  in  his  finest  passages,  like 
pleasing  anthems,  some  reference  to  a  Bible  phrase,  and  a  fine 
vein  of  righteousness  runs  through  some  of  his  arguments. 

When  he  rises  to  speak  it  is  because  he  has  something  worth 
listening  to,  not  because  he  wishes  to  display  oratorical  power ; 
and  his  remarks  are  made  in  a  clear,  business  style.  One  of  his 
characteristics  is  that  of  quiet  strength,  giving  the  impression 
of  great  power.  He  was  the  first  to  approach  subjects  of 
public  interest  in  a  fair  and  impartial  spirit.  There  is  an 
absence  of  personalities  in  his  speeches.  If  he  refers  to  public 
men,  he  does  so  simply  because  of  the  utterances  they  have 
made  in  a  public  capacity.  He  is  seen  at  his  best  when  he 
is  attacking  that  which  he  thinks  is  an  abuse,  and  then  his 
remarks  are  very  crushing,  and  are  calculated  to  confound  the 
sophistical.  When  he  is  explaining  how  a  measure  might  be 
improved  and  accepted  for  what  it  is  worth,  he  is  interesting, 
and  in  both  capacities  it  is  the  critical  element  of  his  character 
that  comes  into  play.  Iconoclastic  he  certainly  is,  but  his 
object  is  to  improve  upon  that  which  exists.  There  is  no  attempt 
to  evade  the  difficulties  of  a  question,  but  he  will  even  exhibit  them 
in  all  their  naked  literalness,  and  wrestle  with  them  as  an  intellec- 
tual athlete,  "  for  the  brave  man  never  despairs/7  Wrhen,  then, 
such  a  one  is  free  to  exercise  his  own  faculties,  he  creates,  forms, 
quickens,  organises,  blessing  what  he  produces  by  communicating 
to  it  the  essential  qualities  of  his  own  life.  The  measures  he 
advocated  were  no  wild  experiments,  but  the  measures  of  a  master 
mind,  for  directing  in  the  best  channels  the  energies  of  the 
people.  They  were  all  connected  with  the  public  benefit,  which 
was  the  result  of  sound  judgment  and  superior  comprehension. 
He  has  taken  up  large  questions,  and  dealt  with  them  in  a  way 
that  was  not  without  a  greatness  of  its  own.  His  fame  is  con- 
nected with  every  interest  of  his  country,  whether  in  domestic  or 
foreign  policy,  and  he  has  stamped  on  his  age  the  genius  of  his 
character.  He  has  bravely  striven  for  right  and  justice  with  an 
honesty  which  is  partly  the  result  of  his  domestic  training,  and 
partly  the  gift  of  nature.  He  avowed  his  opinions  openly  and 
unreservedly.  If.  statesmanship  consists  in  wide  and  varied 
political  knowledge,  in  the  firm  grasp  and  intelligent  exposition 
of  great  principles,  in  the  possession  and  proclamation  of  advanced 


HIS   INFLUENCE.  675 

convictions,  which,  though  unpopular  at  first,  have  passed  at 
length  into  the  public  opinion  of  the  nation,  then  Mr.  Bright 
has  established  his  claim  to  stand  in  the  front  rank  of  modern 
statesmen. 

His  life  has  been  consistent  throughout,  and  very  few  states- 
men can  look  back  with  such  unmingled  satisfaction  on  the  work 
he  has  done  for  the  good  of  his  country.  Far  as  he  yet  is  from 
having  carried  the  whole  of  his  ideas  fully  into  effect,  he  knows 
that  every  past  year  has  chronicled  some  step  in  advance.  The 
past  thus  becomes  the  pledge  of  the  future,  and  he  can  allow  his 
opinions  to  unfold  themselves  naturally  and  gradually.  His 
penetration  led  him  to  fling  behind  him  the  prejudices  of  the 
past,  and  steer  his  course  by  the  light  of  better  principles.  He 
has  left  a  triumphant  and  brilliant  example  for  his  successors  to 
follow,  and  England  will  inscribe  his  among  the  lofty  intellects 
and  famous  names  that  will  figure  in  the  scroll  of  her  prouder 
history.  Numberless  students  will  linger  over  his  speeches  of 
majestic  march  of  reason  and  modulated  music  of  expression  long 
after  the  resonant  tones  which  gave  them  their  final  charm  have 
sunk  into  the  silence  which  awaits  all  human  voices. 

There  are  other  members  of  Parliament  who  can  speak  good 
English,  and  turn  neat  periods,  and  strike  off  smart  antitheses, 
who  are  yet  not  very  influential  in  the  promotion  of  public 
opinion,  and  their  public  addresses  do  not  usually  make  any  great 
impression.  Mr.  Bright,  on  the  other  hand,  is  sure  to  have 
all  England  for  his  audience,  and  is  invariably  reported  in  the 
first  person,  and  this  is  the  result  not  only  of  his  eloquence 
but  even  more  of  the  honesty  of  his  purpose  and  the  plain- 
spoken  truth  of  his  politics.  There  are  more  who  read  and 
reflect  now  than  ever ;  there  are  fewer  now  who  will  take  the 
ipse  dixit  of  another  upon  any  subject  of  importance  withoiit 
thinking  something  about  it  themselves.  They  form  silently 
their  judgment  from  the  conflicting  parties,  and  often  set  right 
those  who  are  ostensibly  their  preceptors.  No  fact  in  history  is 
more  striking  than  the  indifference  with  which  even  the  lives  of 
common  men  were  formerly  regarded;  but  now  they,  and  all 
other  classes  and  bodies  of  .men,  have  become  better  acquainted 
with  their  own  power,  and  are  daily  pressing  forward  to  better 
times. 

Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Bright  were  admirable  counterparts 
of  each  other,  and  invariably  worked  in  unison.  Their  usual 
custom  was  for  Mr.  Cobden  to  speak  first,  grappling  with  the 
financial  and  economic  aspects  of  the  subject  In  due  course 
Mr.  Bright  would  rise,  after  other  members  had  expressed  their 


576  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OP   JOHN    BRIGHT. 

opinions,  and  would  truly  tear  to  shreds  the  flimsy  arguments  of 
those  opponents  by  his  irresistible  persuasiveness  and  a  strong 
battery  of  facts.  The  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  Forster,  M.P.,  during 
the  earlier  part  of  1877,  related  a  circumstance  that  came  under 
his  own  observation.  He  said  : — 

"I  remember  very  well  talking  to  Mr.  Cobden  about  some  debate  in  which  he 
took  a  great  interest.  Mr.  Cobden  said,  '  I  don't  know  how  I  shall  get  on,  for 
I  am  afraid  Bright  will  not  be  there.'  I  replied,  '  I  should  have  thought  you  could 
have  done  very  well  without  him.'  He  said,  'No,  I  am  always  used  to  acting 
with  him.  I  begin,  but  he  always  comes  in  at  the  end,  and  I  know  that  whoever 
attacks  me  in  the  course  of  the  debate  always  gets  the  worst  of  it.'" 

Cobden  gave  the  prose  of  eloquence  and  Bright  the  poetry, 
as  well  as  wit  and  metaphor.  Cobden' s  style  was  his  own,  and 
in  it  he  had  no  equal  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He  at  once 
won  the  attention  of  audiences,  for  he  only  sought  to  deal  with 
facts  and  arguments.  He  never  spoke  without  maturing  what 
he  had  to  say ;  not  in  the  way  of  elaboration,  but  in  the  way 
of  turning  the  subject  over  and  over  in  his  own  mind,  and  in 
considering,  as  he  phrased  it,  "  the  best  way  of  putting  it." 

As  a  rule,  Cobden  did  not  indulge  in  sarcasm,,  especially  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  where  he  thought  all  should  be  serious 
and  earnest.  Yet  he  could  do  a  little  of  the  scathing  when 
he  chose,  as  was  evident  from  his  vigorous  speeches  delivered  at 
various  times  during  the  French-invasion  panics,  in  one  of 
which,  at  Edinburgh,  he  turned  the  tables  on  our  friend  Punch 
with  capital  effect.  Punch  had  displayed  Cobden  in  a  cartoon, 
with  the  ears  of  an  ass,  looking  into  the  muzzle  of  a  cannon, 
and  declaring  that  it  was  harmless  ;  but  the  invasion  fever  at 
last  subsided,  and  Cobden  created  "roars  of  laughter"  by 
asking  his  audience,  "  Who  has  got  the  long  ears  and  the  fool's 
cap  now  ?  "  In  his  speeches  he  adapted  himself  to  his  audience, 
who  felt  quite  at  home  with  him,  for  he  had  the  air  of  one 
arguing  alone  and  familiarly  with  himself;  and  while  he  was 
speaking,  they  felt  it  almost  impossible  not  to  range  themselves 
on  his  side.  His  unaffected  good-nature,  his  natural  pleasantry, 
were  irresistible. 

Cobden  and  Bright  derived  pleasure  from  the  inspiration  of 
their  subjects  and  the  good  work  they  were  conferring  on  the 
poor.  They,  like  the  sun  and  light,  were  diffusive  and  glad  to 
see  poverty — whether  in  friend  or  foreigner — relieved.  They 
glanced  over  the  busy  world  detected  error  and  mischief,  and 
pointed  out  modes  of  improvement.  The  grandeur  of  their  work 
was  an  argument  with  them  not  to  stop  short,  but  to  proceed. 
They,  like  Arnault,  although  growing  old,  were  not  desirous  to 
rest,  for  they  had  all  eternity  to  rest  in. 


BRIGHT   AND   COBDEN.  677 

Mr.  Bright,  having  received  from  a  student  in  a  Non- 
conformist college  a  letter  asking  his  opinion  on  the  art  of 
public  speaking  and  on  reading  sermons,  returned  the  following 
answer : — 

"  You  ask  me  two  questions,  to  one  of  which  I  can  give  a  ready  answer.  I  have 
never  been  in  the  habit  of  writing  out  my  speeches ;  certainly  not  for  more  than 
thirty  years  past.  The  labour  of  writing  is  bad  enough,  and  the  labour  of  com- 
mitting to  memory  would  be  intolerable ;  and  speeches  '  read '  to  a  meeting  are  not 
likely  to  be  received  with  much  favour.  It  is  enough  to  think  over  what  is  to  be 
said,  and  to  form  an  outline  in  a  few  brief  notes.  But  first  of  all,  a  real  knowledge 
of  the  subject  to  be  spoken  of  is  required ;  with  that,  practice  should  make  speaking 
easy.  As  to  what  is  best  for  the  pulpit  I  may  not  venture  to  say  much.  It  would 
seem  that  rules  applicable  to  other  speaking  will  be  equally  applicable  to  the  pulpit. 
But  in  a  pulpit  a  mau  is  expected  to  speak  for  a  given  time,  on  a  great  theme,  and 
with  less  exact  material  than 'is  obtainable  on  other  occasions  and  on  ordinary  sub- 
jects. And  further,  a  majority  of  preachers  are  not  good  speakers,  and  perhaps 
could  not  be  made  such.  They  have  no  natural  gift  for  good  speaking ;  they  are 
not  logical  in  mind ;  not  full  of  ideas  nor  free  of  speech ;  and  they  have  none  of 
that  natural  readiness  which  is  essential  to  a  powerful  and  interesting  speaker.  It 
is  possible,  nay,  perhaps  very  probable,  that  if  reading  sermons  were  abolished, 
while  some  sermons  would  be  better  than  they  now  are,  the  majority  of  them  would 
be  simply  chaos,  and  utterly  unendurable  to  the  most  patient  congregation.  Given 
a  man  with  knowledge  of  his  subject  and  a  gift  for  public  speaking,  then  I  think 
reading  a  mischief;  but  given  a  man  who  knows  htile  and  who  has  no  gift  of 
speaking,  then  reading  seems  to  be  inevitable,  because  speaking,  as  I  deem,  it,  is 
impossible.  But  it  must  be  a  terrible  thing  to  have  to  read  or  speak  a  sermon  every  »/ 
week  on  the  same  topic  to  the  same  people ;  terrible  to  the  speaker  and  hardly  less  X 
so  to  the  hearers.  Only  men  of  great  mind,  great  knowledge,  and  great  power,  caa  '  / 
do  this  with  great  success.  I  wonder  that  any  man  can  do  it.  I  forbear,  therefore, 
from  giving  a  strong  opinion  on  the  point  you  submit  to  me.  When  a  man  can  speak 
let  him  speak — it  is,  no  doubt,  most  effective ;  but  when  a  man  cannot  speak  he 
must  read.  Is  not  this  the  sum  of  the  whole  matter  ?  " 

A  few  years  ago  Mr.  E.  Potter,  M.P.,  informed  the  members 
of  the  Carlisle  Debating  Club,  at  one  of  their  meetings,  that 
he  heard  Mr.  Bright  say  at  a  dinner  party  that : — 

"  The  whole  secret  of  effective  speaking  is  here— of  course,  if  you  mean  to  speak, 
you  first  know  what  you  are  going  to  say ;  and  when  you  have  resolved  on  that,  the 
next  point  is  to  speak  very  deliberately— every  word,  in  fact  every  syllable,  should 
be  expressed.'  And  Mr.  Bright  added,  '  If  you  do  this,  and  if  you  have  matter 
worth  listening  to,  you  will  be  listened  to,  and  you  will  acquire  a  confidence  and 
ease  you  won't  acquire  in  any  other  way.'  That  he  (Mr.  Potter)  thought  good 
advice,  and  he  was  sorry  they  could  not  at  all  times  attend  to  it,  because  one  was 
sometimes  in  the  habit  of  slurring  over  one's  speaking,  under  the  idea  that  the 
audience  were  getting  impatient." 

Mr.  Gladstone  has  contributed  the  following  incident  to  this 
biography  : — "  Mr.  Bright  was  on  a  visit  at  Hawarden,  when  1 
was  residing  there  under  the  roof  of  my  brother-in-law,  Sir  C. 
J.  Glynne,  who  had  other  guests,  amongst  them  a  distinguished 
Tory  publisher  and  an  archdeacon  of  the  High  Church  school, 
a  man  universally  respected  and  beloved.  On  the  evening  before 
his  departure  Mr.  Bright  and  I  went  into  a  side  room  for  a 
political  conversation.  When  we  returned  these  two  guests  had 
L  L 


578  LITE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BEIGE  fT. 

retired  to  their  rooms,  and  Mr.  Bright  was  vexed  at  not  having 
bid  them  farewell.  Some  one  took  notice  of  his  remarks,  and  let 
them  know.  Presently  they  reappeared ;  the  archdeacon  had 
assumed  his  costume  as  a  dignitary  of  the  Church,  and  the  pub 
lisher  was  extremely  well  got  up  in  a  comfortable  winter  dressing- 
gown.  It  was  on  all  sides  a  pleasant  exhibition  of  personal  good 
feeling." 

At  a  local  pastime  known  as  "  Rushbearing  "  it  is  customary 
for  children  to  carry  from  house  to  house  garlands  of  pretty 
device  to  exhibit,  and  <(  One  Ash  "  has  always  been  a  favourite 
place  at  which  to  display  them.  If  Mr.  Bright  is  not  at 
home  to  admire  them,  and  contribute  his  annual  gift,  some 
of  his  daughters,  with  his  grandchildren,  are  generally  present 
to  witness  the  sight,  and  encourage  the  exhibition. 

It  is  a  fine  Sunday  in  summer  time.  A  ray  of  light  from 
the  east  glimmers  over  the  town  of  Rochdale,  and  with  the 
progress  of  the  sun's  morning  beams  the  inhabitants  bestir 
themselves.  The  flying  shuttle  rests,  for  the  labouring  loom  is 
still;  "the  anvil's  din  has  ceased;""  the  dizzy  rounds  of  the 
whirling  stone  is  stopped  ;  the  roll  of  heavily-laden  carts  is  no 
longer  heard,  for  the  stiff,  unwieldy  steed  lies  in  the  green 
pastures.  The  air  is  free  from  the  factory  smoke;  the  waves  of 
worldly  business  are  calmed ;  and  the  soft  green  meadows  and 
their  upland  glade  are  peaceful.  The  mountains  surrounding 
Rochdale  throw  their  shadows  on  the  emerald  fields  at  their  base ; 
a  graver  murmur  gurgles  from  the  rills ;  "  the  gales  that  lately 
sighed  along  the  groves  have  hushed  their  downy  wings  in  dead 
repose ;  "  bright  butterflies  float  gaily  along  the  refreshing  fields  ; 
skylarks,  linnets,  and  thrushes  warble  in  tones  less  shrill ;  the 
merry  peal  of  church  bells  faintly  sweeps  over  the  distant  land- 
scape, imparting  a  feeling  of  gladness  and  dreamy  peacefulness  ; 
the  clouds  forget  to  move ;  "  the  rooks  float  by  in  silent,  airy 
drove."  There  is  no  clatter  in  the  streets  from  the  iron-bound 
clogs,  for  neatly-shaped  shoes  encircle  the  feet  of  the  passer-by ; 
the  week-day  shawl-begirt  face  is  now  crowned  with  a  delicately- 
woven  straw  and  choice  sprays  and  wreaths  of  flowers,  and  nicely- 
fitting  garments  are  donned.  There  is  a  general  air  of  beautiful 
repose,  and  the  people  speak  in  subdued  tones.  It  is  a  day  of 
quiet  domestic  enjoyment,  not  saddened,  but  hallowed ;  for  this 
day  is  the  couch  of  time,  and  the  Sabbath  calm  is  round  every- 
where. , 

"  See,  through  the  streets  that  slumber  in  repoao, 
The  living  current  of  devotion  flows — 
Its  varying  forms,  in  one  harmonious  band, 
Age  leading  childhood  by  its  dimpled  hand." 


A  SABBATH  SCENE   AT   EOCHDALE.  679 

The  elderly  gentleman  quietly  walking-  down  the  street  has 
made  St.  Stephen's  re-echo  again  and  again  with  his  impressive 
eloquence.  The  place  of  worship  to  which  his  footsteps  tend  is 
the  quiet  unpretending  little  meeting-house  of  the  Friends,  situate 
in  George  Street,  with  its  little  trim  grass-plot  burial-ground  in 
front,  encircled  by  a  high  wall.  It  is  a  plain  stone  structure, 
without  Corinthian  beauty  or  Ionian  grace,  nor  has  it  pillared  lines 
with  sculptured  foliage  crowned,  nor  is  there  contrition  rolled  forth 
from  a  majestic  organ.  There  are  no  painted  windows  here  to 
exclude  the  light ;  no  old-fashioned  pews,  richly  curtained  and 
cushioned,  where  drowsy  natures  might  indulge  in  balmy  sleep  ; 
no  rich-liveried  servant  clattering  up  the  aisle  to  perform  the 
essential  offices  of  carrying  one  little  prayer-book  and  shutting 
the  door  of  his  employer's  pew,  who  professes  to  go  to  church  to 
abjure  all  the  pomps  and  vanities  of  this  world.  The  interior 
and  exterior  of  this  edifice  could  not  be  plainer ;  yet  there  is  an 
air  of  comfort  in  the  cleanness  and  plainness  of  everything.  A 
gallery  extends  across  the  back  part  of  it,  underneath  which 
there  are  several  rooms  in  which  committee  meetings  are  held. 
Along  the  side  of  the  room  most  remote  from  the  entrance-door 
is  a  raised  platform,  which  is  set  apart  for  the  various  officers  and 
ministers  of  the  church,  while  for  the  use  of  the  laity  there  are 
benches  in  the  remainder  of  the  room.  Small  indeed  is  the 
number  of  worshippers,  yet  there  may  be  found  amongst  them 
representatives  of  every  class  and  condition  of  life.  Old  and  young, 
rich  and  poor,  the  heads  of  great  manufacturing  firms,  and  the 
humble  workmen  of  various  employments.  Liberty,  humanity, 
and  spiritual  religion,  are  deeply  indebted  to  the  members  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  who  were  persecuted  in  Old  England  by 
Royalist  and  by  Puritan — persecuted  in  New  England  by  the 
descendants  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  with  brutality  which  showed 
that  those  good  men  did  not  hesitate  to  copy  in  their  turn,  when 
in  power,  the  harshness  against  which  they  had  protested  when 
it  was  exercised  against  themselves.  The  records  of  the  early 
Quakers  furnish  stories  of  cruelty  and  constancy,  of  torture  and 
endurance,  as  thrilling  as  any  that  can  be  found  in  the  history 
of  the  Covenanters.  This  religious  body  has  never  defiled  itself 
with  slavery,  and  they  have  always  been  associated  in  the  popular 
mind  with  philanthropy  and  benevolence. 

"  One's  age  should  be  tranquil,  as  one's  childhood  should  be 
playful ;  hard  work  at  either  extremity  of  human  existence 
seems  to  be  out  of  place ; "  and  Mr.  Bright  is  conscious  of  the 
truthfulness  of  this  aphorism,  and  having  for  over  forty  years 
worked  hard  for  the  benefit  of  his  countrymen,  he  is  now  entitled 


680  LIFE   AND   TIMES    OP   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

to  more  leisure,  and,  as  he  has  remarked,  he  is  now  wishful  to 
leave  platform  work  for  younger  men.  Yet  after  this  life  of 
toil  he  has  still  higher  aspirations  for  a  better  system  in  State 
affairs ;  his  ardent  mind  promises  itself  many  gratifications  in 
the  fulfilment  of  plans  which  his  superior  sagacity  has  sketched 
out  in  earlier  years,  from  the  intellectual  wealth  with  which  he 
had  stored  his  mind,  and  which  he  has  improved  by  observation. 
He  has  stamped  his  image  and  superscription  on  all  that  was 
sound  and  solid  in  the  policy  of  his  day.  He  has  always  been  in 
favour  of  providing  plenty  for  the  sustenance  of  the  masses,  and 
making  them  happy,  rather  than  extending  our  dominions  and 
increasing  squalid  poverty.  There  is  no  great  work. of  states- 
manship existing  under  whose  foundations  we  should  not  find 
the  coinage  of  Bright,  Gladstone,  and  Richard  Cobden.  They 
have  created  for  themselves  in  Acts  of  Parliament  for  the 
public  good  monuments  more  durable  than  marble  or  brass  ;  and 
they  deserve  the  hosannas  of  Englishmen,  and  the  thanks  of 
millions  yet  to  be,  for  they  have  been  the  saviours  of  their 
country,  have  earned  immortality,  and  indeed — 

"  The  earth,  has  not 
Nobler  names  than  theirs." 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

MR.  HEIGHT'S  COURSE  UPON  IRISH  LEGISLATION". 

The  Irish  Question — "Breach  of  Privilege" — A  Hopeful  View  of  the  Future  of 
Ireland — The  Extension  of  the  Suffrage — Minority  Eepresentation — The  Post- 
office  and  the  Sabbath. 

WHAT  remains  to  be  told  of  the  life  of  Mr.  Bright  relates  almost 
wholly  to  his  course  upon  the  Irish  legislation  proposed  by  Mr. 
Gladstone 'in  1885.  This  was  the  occasion  of  differences  between 
the  two  "  great  commoners,"  bringing  pain  and  regret  to  both, 
and  perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  shortening  the  declining 
years  of  one.  Twice,  before  these  differences  arose,  Mr.  Bright 
was  summoned  to  the  House  of  Commons  to  meet  a  charge  of 
breach  of  privilege  in  having  spoken  too  severely  of  the  action 
of  certain  members.  Both  charges  were  based  on  somewhat 
similar  language.  The  first  occasion  was  on  June  18,  1883.  Sir 
Stafford  Northcote,  with  considerable  heat,  recited  words  used 
by  Mr.  Bright  at  Birmingham,  to  the  effect  that  the  Conserva- 
tives had  been  "  found  in  alliance  with  the  Irish  Rebel  party, 
the  main  portion  of  whose  funds  came  from  the  avowed  enemies 
of  England,  and  whose  oath  of  allegiance  is  broken  by  associa- 
tion with  its  enemies."  Mr.  Bright  acknowledged  the  correctness 
of  the  report  of  his  speech.  He  declared  that,  in  the  sense  in 
which  he  used  them,  they  were  true,  and  for  the  purpose  for 
which  he  used  them,  they  were  justifiable.  There  was,  of  course, 
a  meaning  of  the  word  "  alliance  "  that  could  not  properly  be 
applied  to  the  facts.  He  had  not  used  it  in  that  meaning,  and  it 
was  not  necessarily  to  be  drawn  from  the  context.  If  his  friends 
on  the  other  side  wished  an  illustration  of  the  meaning  he  had 
intended  to  convey,  they  had  only  to  refresh  their  memories  by 
reference  to  their  own  remarks  on  what  they  had  been  pleased 
to  call  the  "  treaty  of  Kilmainham."  If  he  had  committed  a 
breach  of  privileges,  it  was  for  the  House  to  decide.  Mr.  T.  P. 
O'Conor  followed  with  a  rasping  speech,  of  which  Mr.  Bri^lit 
took  no  notice.  Mr.  Gladstone,  with  his  customary  skill,  turned 
the  debate  upon  what  was  really  the  essential  point  of  the  charge, 
namely,  upon  whether  the  words  were,  by  precedent  and  the 
custom  of  the  House,  a  breach  of  privilege,  and  maintained  that 
they  were  not.  A  motion  was  made  and  rejected,  to  dismiss  the 
original  motion,  and  then  Sir  S.  Northcote's  motion  was  put  and 
lost  by  a  vote  of  117  for  and  151  against  it. 

The  next  occasion  of  the  kind  was  two  years  later,  in  July, 

581 


582  LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

1885.  It  is  worth  while,  perhaps,  to  cite  it  out  of  its  order  in 
point  of  time,  to  show  the  consistency  of  Mr.  Bright's  attitude. 
At  what  was  known  as  the  "  Lord  Spencer  banquet,"  Mr.  Bright 
had  made  a  very  earnest  speech,  in  which  he  again  alluded  to 
the  Irish  members  as  "the  Rebel  party,"  and  again  charged 
them  with  approving  violence  and  with  taking  money  from  the 
avowed  enemies  of  England  to  support  their  political  plans. 
This  time  it  was  one  of  the  Irish  members  who  moved  that  he 
be  declared  guilty  of  a  breach  of  privilege,  and  in  doing  so  he 
made  a  savage  attack  on  Mr.  Bright.  Mr.  Bright  had  come 
down  from  Rochdale,  whither  he  had  retired  in  serious  ill-health, 
to  meet  the  charge.  He  had  been  strongly  advised  that  it  was 
not  requisite,  but  he  had  the  old-fashioned  idea  of  the  obligations 
of  members  of  the  House,  and  held  to  the  tradition  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  most  eminent  among  them  to  justify  his  course 
when  challenged  in  due  form  by  even  the  most  insignificant. 
But  if  his  motive  in  appearing  in  the  House,  at  considerable  per- 
sonal risk,  was  one  of  respect  to  the  House,  his  speech  was  as 
frank  and  unqualified  as  it  had  ever  been  upon  the  platform.  In 
the  course  of  his  remarks,  he  said  :  "  Suppose  that  I  had  said 
the  contrary  of  what  I  did  say.  Suppose  that  I  had  told  my 
audience  that  the  Irish  in  the  House  of  Commons  really  con- 
demned, in  strong  and  emphatic  language,  continually  all  who 
committed  those  great  crimes, —  suppose  that  I  had  said  that 
they  exhibited  great  grief  at  the  violent  and  murderous  crimes 
constantly  committed  in  Ireland, —  what  would  the  House,  or 
what  would  the  Irish  themselves,  have  said  or  thought  ?  They 
would  have  said  that  I  was  a  fool,  or  worse,  for  making  state- 
ments that  were  absolutely  untrue."  If  he  had  committed  any 
breach  of  privilege  of  the  House,  he  was  ready  to  express  his 
regret,  but  as  to  the  truth  of  what  he  said,  "  nothing  in  the  world 
will  induce  me  to  withdraw  an  atom  of  it."  The  motion  was 
finally  abandoned. 

But  while  Mr.  Bright  was  thus  profoundly  moved  by  the  state 
of  things  in  Ireland,  and  particularly  by  what  he  regarded  as  the 
efforts  of  a  disloyal  organization,  led  by  ambitious  politicians,  to 
deceive  the  Irish  people,  he  was  still  confident  of  the  final  result. 
"I  do  not,"  he  wrote  in  October,  1883,  to  Mr.  Harry  O'Brien, 
author  of  "Fifty  Years  of  Concessions  to  Ireland," — "I  do  not 
take  so  gloomy  a  view  as  many  speakers  and  writers  do.  I  be- 
lieve in  just  measures,  and  in  their  effect, .and  in  time  and 
patience,  and  I  am  ready  to  hope  that  within  a  reasonable  period 
we  shall  see  a  change  for  the  better  in  Irish  affairs." 

In  the  mean  while,  before  the  Irish  question  became  the  abso- 
lutely absorbing  one,  the  question  of  the  suffrage  and  its  exten- 
sion engaged  the  attention  of  the  country,  and  in  the  elections 
that  turned  practically  upon  this  Mr.  Bright,  though  he  did 


MR.  HEIGHT'S  COURSE  UPON  IRISH  LEGISLATION.          583 

not  speak  so  frequently  as  had  been  his  custom,  expressed  and 
advocated  his  views  with  great  clearness  and  emphasis.  He  was, 
of  course,  in  entire  sympathy  with  the  general  policy  of  the 
Liberal  party,  and  had  been  all  his  life  a  believer  in,  and  even  a 
partisan  of,  the  broadest  practicable  basis  of  suffrage.  But  he 
was  at  heart  an  Englishman,  with  the  sturdy  conservatism  of 
his  race.  He  believed  broadly  in  the  justice  and  expediency,  in 
the  theoretical  lightness  and  in  the  peculiar  safety  of  a  free' and 
full  expression  of  the  popular  will  ;  but  he  was  averse  to  experi- 
ments, he  had  no  fondness  for  change  for  the  sake  of  change,  he 
was  attached  to  old  customs  because  they  were  old  customs,  and 
was  reluctant  to  abandon  or  modify  them  unless  it  was  clear  to 
him  that  there  was  a  sufficient  reason  therefor.  In  these  qualities 
he  was  quite  different  from  -his  life-long  friend  and  co-worker 
Mr.  Cobden,  whose  intellect  was  more  acute  and  more  daring, 
and  who  was  more  ready  to  follow  its  dictates,  so  that  it  was  a 
saying  of  Mr.  Cobden's  that  Mr.  Bright  always  had  to  make  the 
closing  speech  in  meetings  where  both  were  present,  and  to  pro- 
vide the  final  impression,  his  sympathy  with  the  average  English 
audience  being  much  stronger  and  more  hearty.  When,  there- 
fore, during  the  canvass  upon  the  electoral  reform  bill,  Mr. 
Bright  was  approached  upon  any  of  the  conceptions  that  were 
naturally  rife  at  the  time  for  developing  minutely  the  represen- 
tation of  special  classes,  or  providing  for  anything  but  the  general 
rule  of  the  majority,  he  gave  very  characteristic  responses.  In 
October,  1883,  he  was  asked  to  sanction  a  plan  proposed  by  Mr. 
Charles  Seely,  by  which,  after  a  House  of  GOO  members  had  been 
chosen  by  the  ordinary  methods,  the  members  thus  chosen  were 
to  elect  60  more.  The  plea  by  which  Mr.  Seely  supported  this 
plan  was  that  it  would  give  a  chance  to  secure  in  the  House  of 
Commons  a  certain  number  of  men  of  high  intelligence  and  real 
ability  for  public  affairs,  who,  because  of  their  lack  of  phj'sical 
or  other  qualification  for  public  speaking,  would  not  be  likely  to 
seek  a  popular  election,  or  would  be  unsuccessful  if  they  did. 
Mr.  Bright  replied  :  "  Men  feeble  in  health,  and  men  not  able  or 
willing  to  go  through  the  ordeal  of  an  appeal  to  a  constituency, 
may  take  other  means  of  serving  the  public  ;  the  Parliamentary 
path  is  not  their  path,  and  to  open  a  new  gate  for  those  inc:i|>:i- 
able  of  making  use  of  the  ancient  and  constitutional  road  is  a 
proposition  not  seriously  to  be  regarded.  Parliament  has  already 
an  abundant  supply  of  clever  men,  men  who  can  both  think  and 
talk.  We  need  no  new  plan  of  admitting  feeble  folk,  feeble  in 
body  and  in  voice,  and  in  the  power  and  qualities  which  recom- 
mend men  to  the  notice  and  confidence  of  electors.  I  advise  you 
to  keep  to  the  old  ways  ;  the  new  fads,  minority  clauses,  :in<l  new 
modes  of  making  a  Parliament  all  tend  to  mischief  ;  they  show 
mistrust  of  the  people,  and  they  are  mainly  intended  to  weaken 


584  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  JOHN  BRIGHT. 

the  popular  voice."  Being  questioned  as  to  whether  in  this 
sharp  characterization  he  meant  to  include  the  plan  of  Mr.  Hare 
for  representation  of  minorities  by  means  of  the  cumulative 
vote,  he  responded  : 

"  I  think  Mr.  Hare's  plan  more  of  a  '  fad '  than  any  other  yet 
submitted  to  the  public,  and  it  has  this  disadvantage — that 
scarcely  any  one  can  understand  it.  It  aims  at  making  Parliament 
an  exact  photograph  of  every  phase  of  public  opinion,  and  under 
it  there  is  no  fancy  or  folly  which  might  not,  and  probably 
would  not,  have  its  representatives  in  the  House.  Parliament 
would  be  broken  up  into  busy  cliques  led  by  the  political  lunatics 
who  would  have  entrance  within  its  walls." 

It  may  be  said,  as  indeed  it  was  said  by  able  advocates  of 
minority  representation,  that  this  .was  a  very  inadequate  and 
even  an  unjust  view  of  their  plan.  But  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  it  was  characteristic  of  Mr.  Bright,  and  that  it  was  quite  in 
harmony  with  his  method  of  thought  and  work.  He  had  pro- 
found confidence  in  the  general  body  of  the  people,  and  he  had 
the  utmost  respect  for  Parliament  as  a  governing  body.  But 
he  firmly  believed  that  Parliament  •  must  be  kept  in  harmony 
with  the  people,  and  that  its  action,  in  order  to  be  efficient,  must 
have  the  support  of  the  majority  of  the  people.  It  was  an 
instrument  for  certain  important  work,  aiid  was  not  and  ought  not 
to  be  an  originating  body  acting  on  its  own  ideas.  Moreover 
Mr.  Bright  knew  that  practically  the  key  to  parliamentary  con- 
trol was  the  possession  of  a  majority.  Its  final  function  was  to 
formulate  a  simple  Yes  or  No,  and  that  could'be-  done  only  by  a 
majority.  There  was  no  means  of  giving  effect  to  minorities  in 
the  final  vote  upon  a  measure,  and  he  did  not  care  to  waste  the 
time  of  the  House  in  listening  to  arguments  from  "  busy  cliques  " 
on  points  or  plans  that  could  lead  to  no  result.  The  greatest 
triumphs  of  his  own  public  labors — and  they  had  been  of  incalcu- 
lable importance — had  been  won  in  the  "  old  ways,"  on  "  the 
ancient  and  constitutional  road,"  and  lie  had  little  patience  with 
those  who  were  not  content  with  these.  At  this  time,  also,  Mr. 
Bright,  with  all  the  leaders  of  the  Liberal  party,  was  very  much 
tried  by  the  obstructive  tactics  of  the  Irish  minority,  and  looked 
with  disapproval  and  some  irritation  on  the  multiplication  of 
possible  sources  of  like  trouble. 

Before  passing  to  the  consideration  of  the  Irish  question,  or 
to  the  later  Home-rule  phase  of  that  question,  which  was  practi- 
cally to  fill  the  remainder  of  Mr.  Bright's  public  life,  it  is,  per- 
haps, worth  citing  a  brief  letter  he  wrote  in  October,  1884,  in 
response  to  an  application  to  give  his  support  to  an  application 
for  closing  the  post-offices  and  omitting  the  delivery  of  mail 
matter  on  the  Sabbath.  Mr.  Bright  was  a  profoundly  religious 
man.  Not  only  the  course  of  his  life,  but  very  many  of  his 


MB.  HEIGHT'S  COURSE  UPON  IRISH  LEGISLATION.         585 

utterances  evince  the  spirit  of  deepest  reverence,  and  there  is 
probably  no  English  statesman  since  the  days  of  the  Common- 
wealth to  whom  the  Bible  was  so  prolific  and  so  intimate  a  source 
of  influence.  He  was  as  familiar  with  it  as  with  his  alphabet,  and 
his  style  may  be  said  to  be  more  shaped  by  it  than  by  any  other 
reading.  Not  only  the  simplicity  and  solidity  of  that  style,  but 
its  poetry,  its  sober  picturesqueness,  and  its  occasional  solemnity 
and  subdued  splendor  are  obviously  connected  with  his  scrip- 
tural reading.  But  he  was  in  no  sense  a  narrow  sectarian,  and 
the  belief  of  his  denomination  that  inspiration  had  not  spoken 
its  last  word  with  the  Hebrews  is  accountable,  also,  for  the  firm- 
ness and  independence  with  which  he  brought  to  bear  on  the 
affairs  of  life  his  own  conscience,  the  "  inner  light"  of  his  own 
mind.  "  To  close  all  our  post-offices  on  Sunday,"  he  wrote, 
"  would,  in  my  view,  be  not  only  an  intolerable  inconvenience, 
but  a  great  evil."  And  after  alluding  to  the  great  number  of  young 
persons  in  London,  absent  from  their  homes,  for  whom  Sunday 
was  the  only  day  of  rest  from  labor,  who  were  accustomed  to 
receive  their  home  letters  on  that  day,  and  to  reply  to  them,  he 
concluded  :  "  The  one  round  of  the  postman  in  the  day  is  not  a 
heavy  burden,  not  heavier  than  is  borne  by  great  numbers  in 
almost  every  class  in  life.  It  is  a  great  public  service,  an  honor- 
able labor,  and  it  must  be  compensated  for  as  their  services  are. 
There  is  not  a  word  in  the  New  Testament  leading  to  your 
views,  so  far  as  they  are  influenced  by  religious  considerations." 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

HOME    RULE. 

Home  Rule— Mr.  Bright's  Position  in  1872— Mr.  Gladstone's  Measures.— Mr. 
Bright  to  his  Electors— An  Alternative  Plan— The  Breach  with  Mr.  Glad- 
stone—Mr. Bright's  Oratory— His  Feeling  for  the  United  States. 

"  I  ASKED  my  calm  judgment  and  my  conscience  what  was  the 
path  of  right  to  take.  They  pointed  it  out  to  me  with  an 
unerring  finger,  and  I  am  humbly  endeavoring  to  follow  it." 
These  were  the  words  used  by  Mr.  Bright  in  1882,  when  he  felt 
it  his  duty  to  resign  his  place  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  cabinet  because 
he  could  not  agree  with  the  policy  in  Egypt  that  led  to  the 
bombardment  of  Alexandria.  That  they  were  sincere  no  one 
who  knew  him  could  doubt,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  followed  the 
announcement  with  a  brief  but  eloquent  and  feeling  tribute 
to  his  colleague.  Neither  of  them  could  at  that  moment  have 
imagined  that  within  a  few  years  their  "paths  of  right"  were 
to  diverge  completely,  never  again  to  unite,  and  that,  too,  upon 
a  question  as  to  which  they  had  so  long  and  earnestly  labored 
together,  and  had  encountered  in  common  so  much  obloquy  and 
some  danger.  On  the  Home-rule  phase  of  the  Irish  question, 
Mr  Bright's  position  had  been  taken  early,  and  had  been  con- 
sistently maintained.  In  January,  1872,  when  he  was  at  the  very 
height  of  his  popularity,  when  he  was  regarded  as  the  radical 
champion  of  the  rights  of  Ireland,  and  long  before  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  fully  approached  him  in  his  view  of  what  those 
rights  were,  Mr.  Bright  had  written  the  following  letter  : 

ROCHDALE,  January  20,  1872. 

MY  DEAR  O'DoxoGHUE  :  It  is  said  that  some  persons  engaged  in  the  can- 
vass for  the  County  Kerry  have  spoken  of  me  as  an  advocate  of  what  is 
termed  Home-rule  in  Ireland.  I  hope  no  one  has  ventured  to  say  anything 
so  absurd  and  untrue.  If  it  has  been  said  by  any  one  of  any  authority  in 
the  country,  I  shall  be  glad  if  you  will  contradict  it.  To  have  two  repre- 
sentative legislative  assemblies  of  Parliament  in  the  United  Kingdom  would 
be  in  my  opinion  an  intolerable  mischief,  and  I  think  no  sensible  man  can 
wish  for  two  within  the  limits  of  the  present  United  Kingdom,  who  does 
not  wish  the  United  Kingdom  to  become  two  or  more  nations,  entirely 
separated  from  each  other.  Excuse  me  for  troubling  you  with  this.  It  is 
no  duty  of  mine  to  interfere  with  your  contest,  but  1  do  not  wish  to  be  mis- 
represented.— I  am,  very  truly  yours, 

JOHN  BRIGHT. 

The  time  had  now  come  for  Mr.  Bright  to  apply  this  princi- 
ple so  definitely  and  emphatically  stated,  at  a  crisis  that  could 

586 


bOME   fcULE.  58^ 

not  be  evaded,  and  in  a  manner  that  cost  him  more  in  every  way 
than  any  other  act  of  his  public  life. 

On  the  8th  of  April,  1886,  Mr.  Gladstone  brought  in  his 
famous  Irish  measure.  In  brief,  it  may  be  said  that  it  provided 
for  a  Parliament  for  Ireland,  to  meet  in  Dublin,  to  consist  of 
104  representative  and  elected  Peers,  and  204  members  elected  to 
the  House  of  Commons.  This  Parliament  was  to  deal  with  all 
purely  Irish  affairs.  It  was  to  have  control  of  the  police,  and 
of  the  levying  and  disbursement  of  all  internal  taxes,  but  the 
control  of  the  customs  and  of  the  army  and  navy  were  to  be 
reserved  to  the  British  Parliament. 

On  the  16th  of  April,  Mr.  Gladstone  also  brought  in  his  Land 
Purchase  bill  for  Ireland.  It  provided,  generally,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  land  by  tenants  at  a  price  equal  to  twenty  years  net 
rental,  calculated  on  the  year  ending  November  1,  1885.  The 
purchase  money  was  to  be  advanced  by  the  imperial  government 
at  an  interest  the  excess  of  which  over  the  rate  on  consols  would 
ultimately  wipe  out  the  principal,  and  this  advance  was  secured 
by  lien  upon  the  land. 

The  debate  that  followed  was  the  most  exciting  and  notable 
that  had  taken  place  in  the  House  since  the  original  reform  laws 
were  enacted.  Mr.  Gladstone  renewed  his  years,  and  with  an 
energy,  skill  and  mastery  of  his  powers  of  debate  that  surprised 
his  most  ardent  admirers,  explained  and  sustained  his  policy. 
But  for  the  first  time  in  his  half -century  of  public  life  the  course 
of  the  Liberal  party  was  abruptly  broken.  With  variations  of 
success  and  reverse  before  the  country,  that  party  had  for  more 
than  the  average  lifetime  of  a  generation  advanced  steadily 
along  the  same  lines,  at  all  times  retaining  the  attachment  of  its 
most  able  and  powerful  members,  and  constantly  gaining  recruits 
from  the  younger  men  as  they  entered  public  life.  But  on  this 
step,  which  the  great  leader  believed  was  in  the  direction  of  the 
party  course,  the  party  was  badly  and  apparently  hopelessly  divi- 
ded. On  the  4th  of  June,  1886*,  the  Home-rule  bill  was  rejected 
by  the  decisive  vote  of  341  noes  to  311  ayes.  Ninety-three  of 
the  Liberals  voted  against  the  bill,  Mr.  Bright  among  them. 
On  the  24th  of  June,  Parliament  was  dissolved,  and  writs  were 
immediately  issued  for  the  new  elections. 

On  the  same  day,  Mr.  Bright  issued  his  letter  to  the  electors 
of  Central  Birmingham.  In  the  course  of  it  he  said  :  "  Since 
November,  a  single  question  has  occupied  the  attention  of  the 
House  of  Commons  and  of  the  country.  It  relates  to  the  future 
government  of  Ireland,  and  consists  of  two  bills,  \\hidi  were 
thrust  upon  Parliament  and  the  country  by  the  government. 
One  of  those  bills  was  rejected;  the  other  was  withdrawn. 
We  are  not  told  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  or  his  colleagues,  how  much 
or  how  little  of  these  unfortunate  proposals  will  reappear  in  the 


588  LIFE   AKD   TIMES   OP  JOHN  BRIGHT. 

next  Parliament.     We  are  asked  to  pledge  ourselves  to  a 
ciple   which  may  be   innocent   or  most   dangerous,  as  may  be 
explained  in  future  bills. 

"I  cannot  give  such  a  pledge.  The  experience  of  the  past  three 
months  has  not  increased  my  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  the 
administration  or  in  its  policy  respecting  the  future  government 
of  Ireland.  I  will  not  pledge  myself  to  a  principle  which  I  do 
not  understand  and  cannot  approve.  In  1872  I  wrote  a  letter  to 
an  Irish  gentleman,  from  which  I  extract  this  short  sentence  : 
'To  have  two  legislative  assemblies  in  the  United  Kingdom 
would  work  intolerable  mischief.  No  sensible  man  can  wish  for 
two  such  assemblies  who  does  not  wish  that  the  kingdom  shall 
become  two  or  more  nations  entirely  separate  from  each  other.' 
My  vote  in  the  recent  division  has  given  great  grief,  but  my 
judgment  and  conscience  made  the  other  course  impossible.  For 
forty  years,  I  have  been  a  friend  of  Ireland.  Long  before  any 
Parnellite  now  in  Parliament  or  any  member  of  the  present 
government  opened  his  lips  to  expose  and  condemn  the  wrongs  of 
Ireland,  I  spoke  for  her  people  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  on 
public  platforms.  It  is  because  I  am  still  a  friend  of  Ireland, 
that  I  refuse  to  give  her  up  to  those  to  whom  the  recently  rejected 
bill  would  have  subjected  her." 

On  the  1st  of  July,  Mr.  Bright  appeared  before  his  constitu- 
ents at  Birmingham,  and  made  an  extended  defense  of  his  course, 
and  a  determined  attack  upon  the  government.  He  recited  the 
measures  that  had  been  enacted  to  satisfy  the  just  claims  and  to 
invite  the  friendly  confidence  of  the  Irish  people.  The  land 
laws  had  been  radically  reformed  in  accordance  with  a  principle 
that  was  a  substantial  departure,  in  the  interest  of  the  tenants, 
from  that  that  governed  contracts  in  England,  or,  indeed,  in  any 
other  modern  country.  The  arrears  act  had  provided  still  fur- 
ther concessions  in  the  same  direction.  The  burden  of  the  sup- 
port of  the  Established  Church,  in  deference  to  the  sentiments  of 
the  Irish  people  had  been  abolished.  These  things  had  been 
done  through  the  action  of  the  common  legislature,  in  which  the 
representation  of  the  Irish  people  was  ample  in  proportion  to 
their  number,  and  by  which  far  more  time  and  labor  had  been 
given  to  legislation  for  Ireland  than  for  any  part  of  the  United 
Kingdom.  In  Parliament  the  representatives  of  Ireland  were 
chosen  by  household  suffrage  on  conditions  certainly  as  favorable 
to  the  Irish  people  as  those  enjoyed  by  any  other  citizens  of  the 
Empire. 

In  the  course  of  this  address  Mr.  Bright  outlined  an  alterna- 
tive plan  for  the  settlement  of  Irish  questions  (vide  report  of 
the  London  Times).  "  A  permanent  committee  of  Irish  members 
may  be  formed,  and  that  Irish  bills  after  the  first  reading  be  re- 
ferred to  this  committee.  The  committee  shall  have  a  special 


HOME   RULE.  589 

place  of  meeting  at  Westminster,  appoint  its  own  chairman,  and 
have  power  to  decide  whether  a  bill  is  acceptable.  No  English  or 
Scotch  member  shall  be  appointed  on  the  committee.  The  House 
shall  have  the  power  to  consider  a  bill  only  on  the  report  of  the 
committee.  He  admitted  that  the  plan  was  simple,  and  de- 
pended upon  the  honest  working  of  the  Irish  party  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  Assuming  that  there  was  a  moderate  loyal  spirit 
in  the  Irish  party,  the  plan  would  succeed,  but  if  the  Irish  party 
were  unloyal,  neither  this  nor  the  government  plan  would  suc- 
ceed. His  suggestion  might  be  called  one  of  the  unexhausted 
resources  of  civilization,  which  should  be  tried  before  they 
capitulated  to  one  of  the  worst  conspiracies  that  ever  affected 
any  country." 

Undoubtedly  this  "  alternative  proposition  "  submitted  by  Mr. 
Bright  was  suggested  by  the  natural  criticism  of  the  course  of 
the  Liberal  Unionists,  that  they  rejected  Mr.  Gladstone's  plan 
while  submitting  none  of  their  own.  In  this  sense  it  may  be 
regarded  as  a  political  device  rather  than  a  deliberate  and  respon- 
sible act  of  statesmanship.  It  is  probable  that  it  had  a  certain 
effect  upon  public  opinion,  and  that  it  thus  served  its  real  pur- 
pose. No  attempt  was  made,  when  the  Conservatives  and  Lib- 
eral Unionists  secured  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons,  to 
carry  it  into  effect,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  it  would  be  found 
open  to  grave  practical  difficulties  if  it  were  put  in  practice. 
Certainly  it  went  as  far  as  it  was  possible  to  go  in  the  direction 
of  home-rule  without  establishing  an  Irish  Parliament.  It  gave 
to  the  representatives  of  the  Irish  people  in  the  House  a  com- 
•plete  and  absolute  veto  upon  the  action  of  the  House.  It  may 
be  said,  indeed,  to  have  legalized  the  power  of  obstruction  that 
had  been  so  long  abused  by  the  Irish  members,  and  the  abuse 
of  which,  as  has  been  already  shown,  had  excited  Mr.  Bright's 
indignation  in  an  extreme  manner.  In  thus  legalizing  that 
power,  Mr.  Bright  may  have  hoped  that  it  would  be  possible  to 
impose  responsibility  for  its  exercise,  and  to  withdraw  the  other 
than  Irish  business  of  the  House  from  exposure  to  it.  Whether 
that  would  have  been  the  result  would  have  depended,  as  he  him- 
self acknowledged,  upon  the  good  faith,  the  moderation,  and  the 
loyalty  of  the  Irish  party.  And  it  is  clear  that  these  were  the 
conditions  precedent  to  the  success  of  any  plan  whatever.  It 
may  be  said  in  favor  of  Mr.  Bright's  plan,  as  compared  with 
that  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  that  if  the  former  failed,  and  had  to  be 
abandoned,  it  would  still  leave  the  Parliament  of  the  United 
Kingdom  in  undivided  and  undisputed  possession  of  its  original 
complete  authority.  It  did  not  involve  in  any  degree  the  integ- 
rity of  the  Empire,  or  threaten  it.  It  was  a  proposition  for  a 
method  of  using  the  power  of  Parliament  in  the  interest  and 
even  under  the  direction  of  the  Irish  representatives.  It  was 


590  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF   JOHX    BRIGHT. 

not  a  proposition  to  part  with  any  portion  of  that  power.  If  it 
became  necessary,  a  committee  of  the  House,  such  as  Mr. 
Bright  suggested,  could  be  abolished,  and  its  peculiar  functions 
resumed  and  redistributed  by  the  House  of  Commons,  much 
more  readily  than  an  Irish  Parliament,  exercising  the  power  of 
internal  taxation  and  of  internal  police,  could  be  abolished. 

It  was  at  this  point  unquestionably  that  the  firmest  convictions 
and  the  deepest  sentiments  of  Mr.  Bright  made  themselves  felt. 
He  regarded  the  House  of  Commons  of  the  United  Kingdom  as 
the  one  hope  of  the  whole  people.  He  had  said,  in  discussing 
the  suffrage,  in  1883:  "I  believe,  if  you  can  not  get  a  good 
government  with  a  representation  based  upon  household  fran- 
chise, mainly  or  generally,  that  a  good  government  is  not  to  be 
had  by  the  people  of  this  country."  The  Spectator,  which 
can  not  be  counted  among  his  ardent  admirers,  said  of  him  : 
"  Mr.  Bright  has  always  desired  to  enlarge  the  political  greatness 
of  the  House  of  Commons  by  increasing  the  popular  force  which  it 
expresses  and  the  weight  of  character  which  it  represents." 
That  the  House  of  Commons,  for  the  perfecting  and  develop- 
ment of  which  he  had  labored  so  many  years,  and  against  such 
great  obstacles,  should,  at  the  moment  when  the  conditions  for 
its  greatest  usefulness  had  been  secured,  as  he  believed,  be  split 
up,  that  a  large  portion  of  what]  he  regarded  as  its  integral 
powers  should  be  taken  away  from  it  and  transferred  to  a  Dub- 
lin Parliament,  whose  motives,  purposes,  and  tendencies  would  be 
separatist  and  not  national,  he  could  not  but  think  would  be  a 
fatal  blunder. 

Moreover,  at  heart  Mr.  Bright  was.  both  conservative  and ' 
patriotic,  though  the  bitterest  gibes  to  which  he  had  been  ex- 
posed in  public  life  were  directed  to  his  alleged  radicalism  and 
the  lukewarmness  of  his  love  for  his  country.  By  nature,  his 
conservatism  was  patriotic  and  his  patiiotism  was  conservative. 
He  believed,  with  an  ardor  not  unlike  that  of  religious  faith, 
that  the  English  system  of  responsible  representative  govern- 
ment, in  which  the  deliberate  will  of  the  whole  people  should 
find  ultimate  expression  in  progressive  legislation  and  in  orderly 
and  just  administration,  was  the  wisest,  the  most  hopeful,  and  the 
most  fruitful  system  that  existed.  Even  in  his  earliest  years, 
when  the  suffrage  was  narrow  and  corrupt,  when  Parliament  was 
deeply  subservient  to  class  privilege,  and  the  laws  seemed  to 
maintain  in  cruel  domination  evils  of  the  grossest  and  most 
oppressive  character,  and  when  he  Avas  engaged  in  open  and 
heated  warfare  against  these  evils,  his  mind  never  gave  a  sign  of 
a  revolutionary  or  subversive  tendency.  His  faith  in  the  justice 
and  rectitude  of  the  cause  in  which  he  fought  was  not  more  firm 
than  his  confidence  that  it  would  triumph  through  the  influence 
of  public  opinion,  in  the  "  old  ways,"  upon  the  House  of  Com- 


HOME    BULE.  591 

mons,  the  established  and  sufficient  organ  of  all  national  action. 
As  we  have  seen,  as  early  as  1872  he  had  denounced  the  state- 
ment that  he  favored  home-rule  in  Ireland  as  "  absurd  and  un- 
true," and  he  had  declared  his  complete  and  unchangeable  con- 
viction that  to  divide  Parliament  was  to  divide  the  nation. 
Against  any  such  proposition  his  whole  nature  rebelled.  What- 
ever difficulties,  inconveniences,  contradictions,  he  saw  in  the 
terms  or  in  the  practical  operation  of  specific  plans  for  this 
division,  the  controlling  fact  in  them  was  the  division  itself. 
That  appeared  to  him  to  be  laying  sacrilegious  and  destructive 
hands  upon  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  liberty  of  the  whole 
British  people. 

The  elections  of  1886  resulted  adversely  to  Mr.  Gladstone.  He 
had  in  the  new  House  but  191  direct  followers.  Mr.  Parnell  se- 
cured 85,  making  on  the  Irish  question  276,  while  the  Conserva- 
tives elected  316,  and  the  Union-Liberalists,  with  whom  Mr. 
Bright  acted,  numbered  78.  On  the  main  question  involved  in 
the  canvass  the  House  was,  therefore,  divided  between  394  anti- 
Gladstonians  and  276  Gladstonians.  Mr.  Bright  took  no  active 
part  in  the  work  of  the  House,  though  he  supported,  when  he 
was  able  to  be  present,  the  policy  of  Lord  Salisbury.  To  criti- 
cisms as  to  his  adherence  to  the  Government  in  the  laws  for  the 
suppression  of  the  National  League,  based  on  his  former  asser- 
tion that  "  force  was  no  remedy,"  he  wrote  (Oct.  3)  :  "  Force 
is  no  remedy  for  just  discontent,  but  it  is  a  remedy,  and  often 
the  only  remedy,  for  disorder  and  violence  against  which  our 
laws  provide.  I  supported  Mr.  Gladstone's  bills  of  1881  and  1882 
for  the  suppression  of  the  Land  League  and  disorder  in  Ireland, 
and  I  now  support  the  Government  in  its  efforts  to  suppress  the 
National  League,  which  is  the  Land  League  under  another  name. 
My  sympathy  for  Ireland  was  not  born  of  a  faction  in  a  struggle 
for  place  and  pay.  It  was  as  strong  as  it  now  is  thirty  years 
ago,  before  Messrs.  Gladstone,  Harcourt,  and  Morley  and  their 
noisy  followers  had  a  word  to  say  in  favor  of  the  Irish  tenantry. 
I  would,  with  my  sympathy  for  Ireland,  save  the  population  from 
the  future  conduct  of  men  who  are  answerable  for  much  of  the 
present  suffering  and  all  the  disorder  with  which  the  country  is 
now  afflicted  and  disgraced." 

It  was  impossible,  with  Mr.  Bright's  temperament,  that  the 
differences  that  had  arisen  between  him  and  Mr.  Gladstone 
should  not  give  cause  for  resentment.  The  tone  of  the  words 
just  cited  prevailed  in  many  of  his  utterances.  It  was  natural, 
and  perhaps  it  was  justified,  but  it  was  impossible  that  Mr.  Glad- 
stone should  not  be  wounded  and  offended  by  it.  A  number  of 
letters  passed  between  them.  Mr.  Bright  was  forced  to  admit, 
and  he  did  so  with  candor  and  dignity,  that  some  of  his  expres- 
sions had  been  extreme  and  some  of  his  statements  not  fully 


592  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN   BRIGHT. 

sustained  by  the  facts.  "  I  grieve,"  he  wrote,  on  the  16th  of 
June,  1877,  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  "that  I  can  not  act  with  you  as  in 
years  past,  hut  my  judgment  and  conscience  forbid  it.  If  I  have 
said  a  word  that  seems  harsh  or  unfriendly,  I  will  ask  you  to  for- 
give it."  This  was  undoubtedly  his  general  feeling  toward  his 
former  associate  and  leader,  but  the  breach  between  them  was 
really  too  wide  and  deep  to  be  bridged  over.  Their  respective 
attitudes  were  determined  by  the  character  of  the  mind  of  each. 
Both  may  be  regarded  as  equally  sincere  and  equally  patriotic. 
Both,  indeed,  may  be  said  to  have  had  the  same  object  in  view 
as  certainly  as  when  they  were  working  together.  But  the  mind 
of  Mr.  Bright  was  more  simple  and  more  direct,  less  pliant  and 
less  subtle  than  that  of  Mr.  Gladstone.  The  latter  may  be  con- 
ceded to  be  the  greater  statesman.  His  power  over  his  country- 
men has  a  wider  scope,  more  varied  influence,  and  a  greater  range 
of  sympathy.  He  has  in  larger  measure  the  adaptability  of  the 
politician,  and  is  more  capable  of  seeming  to  follow  that  he  may 
ultimately  lead.  His  hold  upon  his  convictions  is  less  tenacious 
and  his  relation  to  the  cause  or  causes  that  he  advocates  less  con- 
sistent. Mi'.  Bright  acted  and  spoke  from  a  depth  of  sentiment 
and  of  intellectual  persuasion  not  remotely  tinged  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Scriptures.  To  him  the  voice  of  his  "judgment  and  con- 
science "  was  as  the  voice  of  the  Lord.  What  it  spake  he  would 
proclaim  ;  what  it  directed  he  would  do  ;  what  it  forbade  he 
would  in  no  wise  consent  to,  nor  would  he  appear  to  compromise 
with  it  or  to  tolerate  it.  To  his  countrymen  he  would  submit 
appeal  and  argument,  eloquent,  impassioned,  ingenious,  pains- 
taking, minute,  but  if  his  countrymen  would  not  go  with  him,  he 
would  go  on  alone.  His  was  the  leadership  of  the  prophet, 
who  was  ready,  if  need  be,  to  be  a  martyr.  It  was  not  in  any 
but  a  temporary  manner,  as  dictated  by  the  conditions  of  his  time, 
political  leadership.  It  may  be  conceded  that  his  mind  lacked 
breadth  ;  it  is  doubtful  if  it  could  have  had,  with  greater 
breadth,  the  same  force. 

At  this  point,  a  suggestion  may  be  pardoned,  as  to  one  of  the 
sources  of  his  peculiar  power  as  an  orator.  It  was  essentially 
his  own,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  recall  any  orator  of  his  time  who 
equaled  it.  That  source  was  the  Scriptures  in  the  King  James 
version.  It  is  difficult  to  read  any  of  his  speeches,  on  occa- 
sions when  he  was  deeply  moved,  without  recognizing  in  the 
form  and  thought,  in  the  language,  in  the  rhythmical  move- 
ment, the  influence  of  the  Bible,  and  of  the  Bible  in  the  English 
of  the  period  when  English  was  in  the  splendid  prime  of  its 
mighty  youth,  enriched  by  the  magnificence  and  charm  of  the 
Shaksperean  era  and  informed  by  the  energy  of  the  first  great 
outburst  of  religious  freedom.  But  it  was  the  spirit  of  the 
Scriptures,  not  their  language  only,  nor  yet  their  doctrinal  teach- 


HOME    RULE.  593 

ing,  as  ordinarily  understood,  that  exerted  this  subtle  and  power- 
ful influence  upon  the  mind  of  Mr.  Bright.  It  is  permissible, 
perhaps,  to  seek,  in  some  degree,  the  explanation  of  this  influence 
in  the  attitude  toward  the  Scriptures  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
of  which  Mr.  Bright  was  a  member  and  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made.  That  attitude  was  devout  and  reverent,  but 
not  narrow.  To  them  the  Scriptures  contained  a  Divine  revela- 
tion, but  not  the  only  revelation,  and  it  was  the  central  idea  of 
their  faith  that  the  Lord  remained  ever  accessible  and  present  to 
the  human  race,  that  the  conscience,  if  kept  "  pure  and  unde- 
filed,"  was  at  least  an  approximate  and  the  nearest  expression  of 
His  law,  and  that  it  was  a  sacred  duty  at  once  to  search  the  con- 
science humbly  and  carefully,  and  to  follow  its  details  at  every 
cost.  Without  trenching  upon  the  field  of  theological  specula- 
tion, it  may  be  suggested  that  this  was  an  intellectual  attitude 
calculated  both  to  keep  the  mind  open  to  the  most  intimate  and 
elevating  influence  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  leave  unimpaired, 
or,  indeed,  to  arouse,  its  original  and  individual  activity.  At 
least,  the  present  writer,  who  has  followed  the  course  of  Mr. 
Bright  with  deep  interest  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  was  early 
impressed  with  this  phase  of  his  intellectual  development,  and, 
on  suggesting  it  to  some  of  Mr.  Bright's  countrymen,  who  were 
familiar  with  him  personally,  was  not  unpleased  to  find  it  con- 
firmed. 

Mr.  Bright  maintained  to  the  last  his  keen  sympathetic  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  the  American  Republic.  The  preceding  pages 
contain  an  account  of  his  devoted  and  eloquent  and  effective 
advocacy  of  the  cause  of  the  Union  during  the  desperate  and 
finally  triumphant  struggle  for  its  preservation.  The  emancipa- 
tion of  the  slaves,  in  the  course  of  the  war,  freed  the  United 
States  from  the  one  obstacle  that  had  existed  to  his  hearty 
admiration  for  the  principles  of  American  institutions.  For  the 
institutions  themselves  he  had  respect,  but  he  never  manifested 
any  tendency  toward  Republicanism  for  his  own  country.  The 
notion  of  federation  as  a  substitute  for  a  national  Parliament, 
and  as  a  means  of  providing  for  the  relations  of  England  to  her 
widely  scattered  colonies,  had  no  attractions  for  him.  He  did 
not  hesitate  to  pronounce  it  "  impracticable  and  absurd."  But 
he  believed  that  the  English-speaking  peoples,  in  all  quarters  of 
the  globe,  had  a  common  heritage  in  the  principles  of  liberty, 
justice,  and  order,  in  representative  government,  and  in  the  possi- 
bilities of  progress  that  these  presented.  He  felt  the  deepest 
pride  in  this  heritage,  the  utmost  confidence  in  its  value  for  the 
human  race,  and  the  profoundest  sense  of  the  obligation  imposed 
by  its  possession.  He  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  impress  upon 
his  own  and  upon  the  American  people  the  essential  unity  of 
destiny  involved  in  the  community  of  principles.  One  of  his 


694  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF   JOHN    BRIGHT. 

latest  communications  addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  was  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  a  delegation  of  members 
of  Parliament  to  the  United  States,  to  urge  upon  the  American 
Government  the  formation  of  a  permanent  alliance  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  to  promote  arbitration  as 
the  means  of  settling  international  disputes. 

There  was  but  one  feature  of  the  political  policy  of  the  United 
States  that  invited  severe  and  frequent  condemnation  from  Mr. 
Bright, —  its  "protective"  tariff, — and  on  this  he  expressed  him- 
self frequently,  even  in  the  later  years  of  his  life.  But  it  was 
always  in  a  friendly  manner.  He  regarded  it  as  an  error  due  to 
national  youth.  He  understood  very  clearly  how  very  greatly 
the  conditions  differed  in  the  United  States  and  in  England  ; 
that  the  question  of  the  cost  of  food  Avas  only  indirectly  and 
partially  involved  ;  that  America  enjoyed  all  the  advantages  of 
absolute  free  trade  in  its  internal  exchanges,  embracing  a  vast 
range  of  products,  resources  of  the  most  unlimited  variety,  and 
a  population  constantly  spreading  and,  at  even  a  more  rapid  rate, 
developing  those  resources.  He  recognized  also,  as  did  Mr. 
Gladstone  and  other  responsible  leaders  of  English  opinion,  that 
when  England's  "  kin  beyond  the  sea "  should  choose  to  break 
the  trammels  voluntarily  imposed  upon  their  foreign  commerce, 
England  could  no  longer  retain  permanently  the  enormous 
advantage  she  had  gained  in  the  world's  commerce  by  her  ad- 
vanced system.  But  while  he  saw  that  her  relative  share  would 
be  reduced,  he  believed  that  her  absolute  share  would  continue  to 
increase,  and  that  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  race  would  be 
greatly  promoted  by  this  increase  in  the  freedom  of  the  exercise 
of  its  energies. 

Mr.  Bright  had  been  in  feeble  health  for  several  years,  when  in 
the  spring  of  1888  he  was  obliged  to  retire  permanently  to  his 
home  at  "  One  Ash,"  Rochdale.  His  sturdy  constitution,  pre- 
served by  his  pure  life  and  regular  habits,  enabled  him  to  resist 
with  remarkable  vigor  the  progress  of  disease.  During  the 
month  of  February,  1889,  he  rallied  so  much  as  to  give  hope  that 
he  might  again  take  an  interest,  if  not  a  part,  in  public  affairs. 
But  it  was  not  to  be,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  27th  of  March 
Mr.  Bright  passed  away  calmly  and  without  any  sign  of  suffer- 
ing. His  death  made  a  profound  impression  in  all  circles  of 
society.  There  was  a  proposition,  very  natural  under  the  circum- 
stances, that  he  shall  be  laid  in  Westminster  Abbey,  but  though 
a  memorial  may  be  erected  to  him  in  that  historic  place,  his 
earthly  remains  are  interred  in  the  peaceful  burying-ground 
of  the  Society  of  Friends  at  Rochdale.  This  was  in  accordance 
with  his  own  views,  which,  despite  the  illustrious  part  he  had 
played,  and  the  high  regard  in  which  he  knew  himself  to  be  held, 
always  inclined  toward  the  utmost  simplicity.  Mr.  Bright's 


LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF   JOHN   BRIGHT.  595 

death  was  announced  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  Mr.  Smith, 
the  ministerial  leader,  with  great  emotion.  Out  of  consideration 
for  Mr.  Gladstone,  Mr.  Smith  postponed  his  remarks  on  the  event 
until  Mr.  Gladstone  could  be  present,  a  sufficiently  striking  indi- 
cation of  how  deeply  Mr.  Bright  was  respected  and  beloved  by 
men  of  all  parties. 


THE    END. 


INDEX. 


ALDAM,  W.,  M.P.,  135. 

Alnwick,  John  Bright  at,  15. 

An  ti-Corn-Law  League  (1838),  its  origin, 
73 ;  its  rooms  in  Newall's  Buildings, 
76;  its  meetings,  78,  82,  105,  112, 
113,  118,  126,  127,  129,  130,  131,  132, 
134,  138,  139,  141,  142,  144,  145,  146, 
147,  148,  149,  151,  152,  163,  164,  166, 
168,  169,  171,  172,  173,  175,  177,  178, 
179,  184,  185,  189,  191,  193,  194,  195, 
196,  198;  bazaar  in  London,  200, 
201,  212,  213,  214,  217,  218,  220  ;  final 
meeting  of  the  League  Council  (1 846) , 
236. 

Ashton,  134. 

Ashworth,  George,  and  Fenton,  a  depu- 
tation from  Rochdale  to  Anti- Corn- 
Law  Conference  in  London,  85. 

Ashworth,  Henry,  139,  169,  293. 

Ashworth,  Thomas,  16,  17. 

Ayr,  177. 

B 

Bamf ord,  Samuel,  of  Middleton,  42. 

Bancroft,  Mr. ,  of  America,  35. 

Barnstaple,  141. 

Bath,  214. 

Bath,  Robert,  Vicar  of  Rochdale,  99. 

Bazley,  Thomas,  139. 

Beith,  Rev.  Mr.,  120. 

Belfast,  291. 

Berwick-on-Tweed,  1(58. 

Birmingham — meetings,  &c.,  at,  344, 
354,  356,  359,  368,  397,  399,  406,  412, 
413,  425,  426,  432,  446,  449,  450,  455, 
457,  459,  464,  471,  474,  475,  476,  480, 
483,  497,  500,  503,  519,  522. 

Blackburn,  178. 

Blanketeers'  March  to  London,  41. 

Bolton,  82. 

Bowring,  Dr.,  M.P.,  130,  159,  179,  270. 

Bradford,  194. 

Bright,  Benjamin,  13,  17. 

Gratton,  13,  17. 

Jacob,  senior,  birthplace  of,  &c., 

6,  7,  10,  12,  13,  17,  19,  20,  23,  26,  27, 
28,  29,  30. 

Jacob,  junior,  13. 

John — ancestors,  5,  6 ;  father  and 


mother,  13  ;  birth,  32 ;  infant  educa- 
tion, 33  ;  liking  for  dogs,  34 ;  making 
toffy,  34 ;  boyhood's  sorrows,  35 ;  at 
Ackworth  school,  35 ;  at  York  school, 
36;  at  Newton  school,  36;  leavesschool, 
37 ;  begins  work  at  his  father's  factory, 
38 ;  falling  off  a  horse,  38 ;  wrest- 
ling, 38  ;  self-culture,  39  ;  exactness, 
39 ;  listening  to  the  account  of  the 
Peterloo  Massacre,  47  ;  promotes  the 
cause  of  temperance,  51 ;  first  speech, 
52 ;  at  Mill  Bottoms,  53  ;  his  lesson 
in  public  speaking  from  the  Rev. 
John  Aldis,  53 ;  his  motto,  55  ;  speech 
on  Palestine,  55 ;  as  a  cricketer,  56  ; 
arguing  with  a  Radical,  57  ;  listening 
to  an  old  soldier,  57  ;  improving  the 
dwellings  of  his  workpeople,  68; 
interested  in  the  Reform  agitation 
(1832),  58,  59;  first  visit  to  London, 
60 ;  sympathy  for  Ireland,  61 ; 
Michael's  prophecy,  62 ;  forms  a 
Literary  Society  in  Rochdale  (1833), 
62 ;  discussions  at  the  Society,  63,  64; 
visits  the  Holy  Land,  64 ;  discusses 
the  cause  of  the  decline  of  nations, 
64 ;  delivers  a  lecture  on  the  countries 
he  had  visited,  64  ;  a  scene  on  board 
ship,  65  ;  his  reception  at  Constanti- 
nople, 66  ;  his  visit  to  Jerusalem,  66 ; 
his  opinion  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots, 
67  ;  getting  up  an  exhibition  of  scien- 
tific apparatus,  67 ;  attends  a  course 
of  lectures,  68 ;  first  interview  with 
Cobden  on  the  subject  of  education, 
69 ;  at  an  Anti- Corn-Law  meeting 
at  Rochdale  (1839),  78;  the  price  of 
corn  on  the  Continent,  81 ;  his  first 
speech  out  of  his  native  town, 
82 ;  first  sees  Miss  Priestman,  his 
future  wife  (1840),  82 ;  his  daughter, 
Helen  Priestman  Bright,  born,  83; 
defends  the  Queen,  83 ;  opposes  the 
church-rates  at  Rochdale,  86 ;  fa- 
mous church-rate  speech,  88 ;  com- 
ments on  Dr.  Molesworth's  address, 
95 ;  literary  productions,  98 ;  criticises 
the  State  Church,  99 ;  his  opinion  of 
Robert  Bath,  the  Vicar  of  Rochdale, 
99 ;  and  George  III.  100;  comments 
597 


598 


INDEX. 


on  the  conduct  of  the  Bishops,  100 ; 
remarks  on  grammar,  101 :  his  charity, 
101 ;  at  a  conference  at  the  League's 
rooms,  Manchester  (1841),  105;  his 
home  managed  by  Miss  Priscilla 
Bright,  108  ;  his  description  of  Cob- 
den  s  first  speech  in  the  House,  110  ; 
Horace  Twiss's  prophecy,  110;  at  a 
meeting  in  Manchester  (1841),  112; 
American  tariff  on  flannel,  113  ;  first 
speech  in  London,  118;  deputation  to 
Lord  Ripon,  120 ;  visited  by  the 
Chartists,  122 ;  conference  in  Palace 
Yard,  127 ;  meeting  at  Manchester, 
128;  at  Huddersfield  and  Kendal, 
129  ;  Sunderland,  130 ;  Nottingham 
and  Holmfirth,  130 ;  returns  to  Man- 
chester, 130 :  Dudley,  Stpurbridge, 
and  Birmingham,  131 ;  Stirling  and 
Lancaster,  132;  Ashton  and  Man- 
chester, 134;  letter  to  Lord  Brougham, 
138  ;  at  the  Anchor  Tavern,  Strand, 
138  ;  interview  with  Sir  Thomas  Ac- 
land,  139;  defends  Cobden,  139; 
visit  to  Bristol,  London,  Tiverton, 
and  Barnstaple,  141 ;  Gloucester  and 
Cheltenham,  141 ;  at  Nottingham 
Bupportingthe  candidature  of  a  friend, 
142 ;  unsuccessful  election  contest  at 
Durham,  142;  atDevonport,Liskeard, 
and  Manchester,  144  ;  Plymouth,  145  ; 
suggested  as  a  candidate  for  Sheffield, 
145 ;  on  Phonography,  145 ;  Drury 
Lane  Theatre  meeting,  146,  147 ; 
Macclesfleld  and  Dorset,  148 ;  Lin- 
coln, Huntingdon,  and  Norwich,  149 ; 
Lord  Dungannon  unseated,  150 ;  visits 
Kelso  and  Aluwick,  151 ;  Newcastle, 
North  Shields,  and  Suuderland,  152  ; 
successful  electioneering  contest  at 
Durham,  154;  congratulated  by 
Sir  John  Bowriug,  158 ;  maiden 
speech  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
160;  the  Illustrated  London  News' 
opinion,  161 ;  his  old  schoolmaster's 
(Littlewood)  remarks,  161 ;  visits  Sa- 
lisbury, 163 ;  Canterbury,  164 ;  Read- 
ing, Liverpool,  and  Bury,  165;  Ox- 
ford and  Lancaster,  166 ;  Doncaster, 
Durham,  Haddington,  and  Berwick  - 
on-Tweed,  168 ;  temporarily  indis- 
posed, 169  ;  supports  Mr.  Bouverie 
as  a  candidate  for  Salisbury,  169  ;  at 
Rochdale  with  W.  J.  Fox,  169 ;  re- 
fers to  an  election  at  Keudal,  171 ; 
Huddersfield,  Manchester,  and  Hali- 
fax, 172;  Leeds,  Holmfirth,  and 
Warrington,  173 ;  indisposed  from 
over- exertion,  174  ;  journey  to  Car- 
lisle, Glasgow,  and  Edinburgh,  175; 
refers  to  Macaulay,  the  historian, 
175 ;  continues  his  journey  to  Ayr, 
Kilmamock,  and  Dumfries,  177;  Sun- 
derland, Sheffield,  York,  Hull,  Black- 
burn, and  Wakefield,  178;  com- 


ments on  Lord  Morpeth's  speech,  179; 
addresses  a  meeting  at  Covent  Gar- 
den Theatre  and  refers  to  the  clergy, 
179 ;  takes  part  in  the  debate  on 
the  Sugar  Duty,  181 ;  the  education 
of  his  work-people,  183 ;  opposes  the 
Ten  Hours'  Bill,  184;  visits  New 
Mills,  the  scene  of  his  father's  boy- 
hood, 184;  again  at  Covent  Gar- 
den, 184 ;  banquet  at  Liverpool,  185 ; 
travels  to  Uxbridge,  and  presides  over 
a  meeting  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre, 
185 ;  supports  Villiers's  annual  reso- 
lution, 189  ;  visits  Portsmouth  and 
Gravesend,  189 ;  speech  on  the  state 
of  the  agricultural  labourer,  190; 
visits  Northampton,  Walsall,  and 
Manchester,  191 ;  with  Messrs.  Cob- 
den,  Wilson,  and  S.  Crawford,  at 
Rochdale,  193 ;  London  and  Bradford, 
194;  Keighley,  Pontefract,  Preston, 
Chorley,  and  Manchester,  195  ;  again 
in  Manchester,  196 ;  calls  attention 
to  the  Game  Laws,  198 ;  present  at 
the  monthly  meeting  of  the  League 
in  Manchester,  198 ;  takes  part  in  a 
farmers'  meeting  at  St.  Albans,  199 ; 
again  supporting  Villiers's  resolu- 
tion in  the  House,  201 ;  another 
speech  at  Covent  Garden,  202 ;  an 
interesting  letter  to  the  electors  of 
Sunderland  on  behalf  of  Colonel 
Thompson,  203 ;  renders  assistance 
to  Mr.  Cobden  in  his  pecuniary 
difficulties,  206 ;  actively  inquires 
into  the  Game  Laws,  207 ;  is  asto- 
nished at  the  value  of  crows,  208 ; 
at  a  Manchester  meeting,  212  ;  visits 
Burnley  and  Sheffield,  213 ;  Leeds, 
Preston,  Gloucester,  and  Bath,  214 ; 
again  at  Covent  Garden,  217 ;  in 
Manchester,  218 ;  Newcastle- upon  - 
Tyne  and  Liverpool,  220 ;  Man- 
chester, 221 ;  memorable  debate  on 
the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws,  223 ; 
presses  for  their  immediate  abolition, 
226 ;  at  Rochdale,  commemorating 
the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws,  230  ; 
presented  with  a  book-case  and  books, 
239 ;  his  library  and  favourite  walk, 
239 ;  his  critics  241 ;  with  his  con- 
stituents (1846),  244;  his  colleagues 
in  opposing  the  Ten  Hours'  Bill, 
245 ;  his  workpeople  in  favour  of 
the  Bill,  247 ;  invitation  to  con- 
test Manchester,  248 ;  refers  to  his 
past  career  and  to  foreign  affairs, 
250;  elected  in  company  with  the 
Right  Hon.  Milner  Gibson,  251 ; 
marriage  with  Miss  Margaret  Lea- 
tham,  254 ;  his  offspring,  255 ;  his 
domestic  habits,  255 ;  his  study  or 
library,  256  ;  his  home  life,  257  ;  his 
fondness  for  dogs  and  horses,  258; 
his  visitors,  259 ;  Llandudno,  his  fa- 


INDEX. 


599 


rourite  resort,  260 ;  death  of  a  son, 
262;  service  at  St.  Tudno,  Llan- 
dudno,  263  ;  his  deep  interest  in  Ire- 
land, 265;  foreshadowing  the  dis- 
establishment of  the  Irish  Church, 
267 ;  comments  on  the  distress  in 
Ireland,  269 ;  presented  with  an  ad- 
dress by  the  Irish  in  Manchester, 
269;  favours  the  abolition  of  flog- 
ging, 270 ;  points  out  the  defects  of 
Lord  J.  Eussell's  Education  Bill,  270; 
opposes  Mr.  Disraeli's  attempt  to 
compensate  the  agricultural  interest, 
272;  advocates  increased  cultivation 
of  cotton  in  India,  273;  opposes 
capital  punishment,  275 ;  suggests  a 
reduction  in  the  military  expendi- 
ture, 275;  speaks  on  Parliamentary 
reform,  276 ;  points  out  at  Birming- 
ham the  benefits  of  peace,  277 ;  his 
reverence  for  the  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
278 ;  his  speeches  against  Lord  John 
Eussell's  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill, 
283;  supports  Locke  King's  Coun- 
ties Franchise  Bill,  284 ;  takes  part  in 
the  "Freehold  Land  Societies'" 
scheme,  284 ;  declines  to  represent 
Rochdale  in  Parliament,  285:  again 
speaks  against  Mr.  Disraeli's  motion 
for  reducing  the  taxation  of  owners  of 
land,  286 ;  addresses  his  constituents 
in  company  with  Mr.  Gibson,  287 : 
expresses  sympathy  with  Kossuth, 
288 ;  takes  part  in  the  discussion  of 
the  Militia  Bill,  289 ;  again  returned 
member  for  Manchester  in  1852, 
290 ;  present  at  the  inauguration  of 
the  Manchester  Free  Library,  290; 
honoured  with  a  banquet  at  Bel- 
fast, 291 ;  in  favour  of  admitting 
Jews  to  Parliament,  291 ;  allays 
the  French  invasion  fever,  292 ;  dis- 
turbed by  the  prospect  of  a  war  with 
Russia,  293 ;  at  a  Peace  Conference  at 
Edinburgh,  and  discusses  with  Sir  C. 
Napier,  295 ;  ridiculed  by  newspapers, 
299;  speaks  against  the  Crimean 
war,  299;  opposes  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell's Reform  Bill,  300;  comments 
on  untimely  jokes  at  the  Reform 
Club  dinner,  301 ;  sympathised  with 
by  Lord  Macaulay,  301 ;  reminds 
the  House  of  Commons  of  the 
wane  of  trade  through  the  war,  30I5 ; 
reply  to  Mr.  Absalom  "Watkins  re- 
specting the  authority  of  Vattel  on 
war,  304 ;  present  at  a  stormy  town's 
meeting  of  his  constituents,  307 : 
sympathy  expressed  at  a  meeting  of 
his  friends,  308 ;  a  powerful  speech 
in  the  House  on  the  Crimean  war, 
309 ;  opposes  Lord  John  Russell's 
Oxford  Reform  Bill,  312:  supports  a 
Bill  for  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Duty, 
312 ;  supports  a  Bill  in  favour  of  the 


Ballot,  313;  again  with  his  consti- 
tuents, 313;  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
313 ;  speaks  in  the  House  about  Lord 
J.  Russell's  journey  to  Vienna  in 
reference  to  the  war,  315;  again 
with  his  constituents  on  the  war 
question,  316,  317 ;  dwells  on  the  cost 
of  the  war,  317;  speaks  of  Lord 
Palmerston,  319 ;  alludes  to  his  past 
career,  319 ;  present  at  a  meeting  of 
his  townsmen  to  honour  their  mem- 
ber, S.  Crawford,  319;  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Marsden  In- 
stitute, 320 ;  visited  by  an  old  work- 
man from  America,  321 ;  speaks  to  his 
constituents  about  past  governments, 
322;  his  health  begins  to  fail,  322; 
writes  to  George  "Wilson,  324 ;  offers  to 
resign  his  seat,  324 ;  his  constituents 
sympathise  with  him,  and  press  him 
to  continue  as  their  member,  325 ; 
interview  with  the  Empress  of  Russia 
at  Nice,  328;  journeys  to  Switzer- 
land and  Rome,  329 ;  consents  to  offer 
himself  as  a  candidate  again  for 
Manchester,  330 ;  defeated,  333 ;  sym- 
pathy of  the  press,  334;  writes  his 
farewell  address  at  Florence,  339; 
why  he  differed  from  his  opponents, 
341 ;  writes  to  Cobden  from  Venice 
about  the  sudden  break-up  of  "the 
Manchester  School,"  341 ;  replies  from 
Geneva  to  an  expression  of  good- 
will from  Ardwick,  343;  arrives  in 
London  and  returns  home,  344 ;  in- 
vited to  represent  Birmingham,  347 ; 
is  elected,  347 ;  writes  to  his  new 
constituents,  349;  he  and  Milner 
Gibson  defeat  Lord  Palmerston,  350 ; 
congratulated  by  Cobden,  351 ;  sup- 
ports a  Conservative  Ministry,  352 ; 
in  favour  of  abolishing  the  ruling 
power  of  the  East  India  Company, 
352;  speaks  against  the  French  in- 
vasion fever,  354;  first  meets  his 
constituents  in  October,  1858,  354; 
reviews,  at  a  banquet  in  his  honour, 
the  lives  of  past  eminent  states- 
men, 356;  requested  to  prepare  a 
Reform  Bill,  359;  honoured  by  his 
old  constituents  with  a  soirde,  359; 
delivers  Reform  speeches  at  Edin- 
burgh, Glasgow,  and  Bradford,  361 ; 
congratulated  by  his  townsmen  on  the 
restoration  of  his  health,  362;  ex- 
plains his  Reform  Bill  at  Manches- 
ter, 364 ;  again  returned  for  Birming- 
ham, 368;  at  the  celebration  of  tin- 
victory,  368  ;  his  speech  in  the  House, 
which  inspired  Chevalier  with  the  idea 
of  a  commercial  treaty  with  England, 
372;  delivers  speeches  at  Rochdale 
in  company  with.  Cobden,  373 ;  takes 
part  iu  the  celebration  of  his  brother- 


600 


INDEX. 


in-law's  (Mr.  E.  A.  Leatham)  vic- 
tory, 375;  speaks  at  Liverpool  on 
the  improvement  of  the  representa- 
tion of  the  people,  376 ;  present  at  a 
Reform  Conference  at  London,  376 ; 
advocating  the  repeal  of  the  Paper 
Duty,  377  ;  reviews  the  late  wars  in  a 
speech  at  Manchester,  377 ;  at  a  Re- 
form meeting  at  Manchester,  379 ;  on 
expenditure  for  national  defences,  380 ; 
condemns  strikes,  381 ;  has  an  inter- 
view with  the  Emperor  at  Paris,  381 ; 
at  a  meeting  at  Wakefield  Mecha- 
nics' Institute,  382;  again  refers  to 
Turkey,  383 ;  delivers  a  speech  to  the 
members  of  the  Leeds  Working 
Men'sParliamentary  Association,  383 ; 
speaks  to  his  constituents  about  the 
House  of  Lords,  384  ;  supports  a  Bill 
for  the  abolition  of  Church  Rates, 
385  ;  defends  Gladstone's  budget,  in 
which  the  abolition  of  the  duty  on 
paper  is  proposed,  388 ;  accompanies 
Cobden  to  Rochdale  to  address  a 
public  meeting,  389 ;  speaks  at  Roch- 
dale about  the  civil  war  in  America, 
394;  accompanies  a  deputation  of 
Boards  of  Guardians  to  the  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  395 ;  a  second 
speech  in  his  native  town  on  the 
American  civil  war,  395 ;  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Birmingham  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  397;  eulogises  the 
patience  of  the  distressed  operatives, 
398 ;  at  a  meeting  of  his  constituents 
speaks  on  the  American  war,  399; 
sympathy  of  New  York  merchants 
with  the  cotton  operatives,  400; 
counselling  the  trade  unionists  of 
London  respecting  the  war,  401 ; 
another  speech  on  the  same  subject 
at  a  meeting  in  London  convened  by 
the  Union  and  Emancipation  Society, 
402 ;  opposes  Mr.  Roebuck's  motion  in 
favour  of  recognising  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  403 ;  again  a>  co  npanies 
Cobden  to  a  meeting  of  his  towns- 
men, 405 ;  addresses  his  constituents 
on  the  Land  Laws,  406  ;  entertained 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Birmingham 
at  a  soiree,  408 ;  speaks  in  the  House 
against  capital  punishment,  409  ;  at  a 
meeting  of  the  promoters  of  the  At- 
lantic Telegraph  Company  in  Lon- 
don, 409 ;  takes  part  in  the  discus- 
sion of  the  Permissive  Bill,  410; 
at  the  opening  of  the  Birmingham 
new  Exchange,  412;  speaks  to  his 
constituents  on  Parliamentary  Re- 
form, 413 ;  opposes  the  squandering 
of  money  in  erecting  defences  for 
Canada,  414 ;  visits  Cobden  at  his 
house,  415 ;  present  at  the  death  of 
his  old  friend,  416;  speaks  in  the 
House  of  the  sad  bereavement,  417 ; 


present  at  the  funeral  of  Cobden,  420 ; 
on  the  life  of  the  deceased  statesman, 
422 ;  in  favour  of  Mr.  T.  B.  Potter's 
fillingthe  vacantseatatRochdale,  424 ; 
again  elected  for  Birmingham,  and 
speaks  on  Reform,  425 ;  also  on  Ire- 
land, 426 ;  at  a  Rochdale  meeting  ad- 
vocates Reform,  427 ;  on  the  dis- 
content in  Ireland,  428 ;  the  cattle 
plague,  429 ;  supports  Mr.  Gladstone's 
Reform  BUI,  and  humorously  refers 
to  Horsman  and  Lowe,  430 ;  laying 
the  foundation-stone  of  the  Rochdale 
Town  Hall,  432 ;  at  Reform  demon- 
strations at  Birmingham  and  Man- 
chester, 433 ;  at  the  demonstrations 
at  Leeds  and  Glasgow,  435 ;  a  ban- 
quet given  to  him  at  Dublin,  436; 
receives  a  deputation  from  the  Cork 
Farmers'  Club,  437  ;  at  a  Reform 
Conference  in  Manchester,  439;  de- 
fending the  Queen  at  a  Reform 
demonstration  in  London,  440  ;  his 
workpeople  and  townsmen  defend 
him  against  the  slander  of  Messrs. 
Pope  Hennessey,  Ferrand,  and  the 
Rev.  W.  Chamberlain,  442 ;  con- 
demns Mr.  Disraeli's  thirteen  Reform 
resolutions  at  Birmingham,  446;  takes 
part  in  another  Reform  demonstra- 
tion in  London,  446 ;  one  of  the  im- 
provers of  the  Government  Reform 
Bill,  which  was  ultimately  passed, 
446;  objects  to  the  minority  clause, 
447 ;  celebrating  the  return  of  his 
brother  (Mr.  Jacob  Bright)  as  mem- 
ber for  Manchester,  448 ;  addresses 
the  Birmingham  artisans  who  had 
attended  the  Paris  Exhibition,  449 ; 
points  out  at  Birmingham  the  evils 
of  the  Irish  Church,  450 ;  supports 
Mr.  Gladstone's  resolutions  for  dis- 
establishing and  disendowing  the 
Irish  Church,  451 ;  interests  himself 
in  the  release  of  Mr.  W.  O'Sullivan, 
453 ;  addresses  at  Liverpool  the  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  Welsh  Reform 
Association,  453 ;  the  guest  of  Mr. 
Peabody  at  Castle  Connel,  and  de- 
livers a  speech  at  the  Limerick  Athe- 
naeum, 454 ;  addresses  his  constituents 
(1868) ,  455 ;  presented  with  the  free- 
dom of  the  City  of  Edinburgh,  456 ; 
replies  to  a  deputation  of  Birming- 
ham gunmakers  with  respect  to  the 
Government  gun  manufactories  at 
Enfield,  457  ;  made  a  Cabinet  Minis- 
ter, 460;  cordially  received  by  Her 
Majesty  at  Windsor,  461 ;  his  first 
official  reply  as  the  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trade,  462;  supports 
Mr.  Gladstone's  Bill  for  the  dis- 
establishment and  partial  disendow- 
ment  of  the  Irish  Church,  462 ;  gives 
a  warning  to  the  members  of  the 


INDEX. 


601 


tipper  Chamber,  463  ;  entertained  by 
the  Corporation  of  Trinity  House, 
464  ;  his  annual  address  to  his  consti- 
tuents, 464 :  refuses  to  intercede  on 
behalf  of  Fenian  prisoners,  466 ;  in- 
disposed, 466 ;  invitation  from  the 
Quotn  to  spend  a  few  days  at  Bal- 
inoial,  466;  recovers  his  health  slowly, 
467  ;  denies  being  in  favour  of  Home 
Rule,  468 ;  receives  a  hearty  greeting 
on  entering  the  House  after  his  ill- 
ness, 468 ;  refuses  to  be  President  of 
the  "English  Republic,"  469;  pre- 
sentation from  the  inhabitants  of  the 
•Potteries,  469;  consents  to  succeed 
Mr.  Childers  as  Chancellor  of  the 
Duchy  of  Lancaster,  471 ;  addresses 
an  immense  gathering  in  Bingley 
Hall,  Birmingham,  471 ;  re-elected 
for  Birmingham  in  1874,  474;  ad- 
dresses lu's  constituents,  474 ;  the  title 
of  reverend,  475 ;  explains  why  the 
Liberal  party  were  defeated  at  the 
General  Election  in  1874,  476 ;  again 
addresses  them,  in  January,  1876, 
476 ;  speaks  to  the  members  of  the 
Manchester  Reform  Club  on  recent 
events,  477 ;  objects  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Royal  Commission  to  in- 
quire into  the  conduct  of  the  Judges 
relative  to  the  ' '  Tichborne  claimant, " 
477;  supports  Mr.  O.  Morgan's 
Burials  Bill,  478;  delivers  a  speech 
in  favour  of  Mr.  Meldon's  "Reform 
for  Ireland,"  479;  votes  against  "The 
Women's  Disabilities  Removal  Bill," 
480 ;  condemns  the  foreign  policy  of 
the  Conservative  Government  at  Bir- 
mingham, 480 ;  addresses  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Rochdale  Working 
Men's  Club,  in  January,  1877,  481 ; 
unveils  the  statue  of  Richard  Cobden, 
482 ;  visits  Birmingham  in  company 
with  Mr.  Gladstone,  483 ;  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  Manchester  new  Town 
Hall,  483 ;  stonemasons  pretending 
to  work  at  his  mills,  484  ;  distributes 
the  Queen's  prizes  to  the  successful 
students  of  the  Rochdale  Science  and 
Art  Classes,  485;  presides  over  a 
meeting  at  Rochdale,  at  which  the 
Right  Hon.  Joseph  Chamberlain, 
M.P.,  delivers  a  speech  on  Political 
Organisation,  485 ;  on  the  ques- 
tion of  finances  in  India,  486 ; 
annual  address  to  his  constituents, 
in  January,  1878,  487 ;  on  the  con- 
struction of  public  works  in  India, 
487 ;  deprecates  in  the  House  the 
unworthy  suspicion  of  Russia,  488 ; 
presiding  over  the  annual  confe- 
rence at  Rochdale  of  the  Sunday- 
school  teachers  of  the  Association 
for  Lancashire,  Cheshire,  and  Derby- 
shire, 488 ;  chairman  of  a  conference 

M    M 


at  Manchester  called  to  protest  against 
hostilities  with  Russia,  489 ;  sympathy 
from  the  Queen  and  public  bodies,  490 ; 
his  attitude  towards  the  Permissive 
Bill,  493 ;  his  reception  in  the  House, 
in  February,  1879,  493;  his  annual 
address  to  his  constituents,  493 : 
explains  in  a  letter  the  cause  of  the 
depression  of  trade,  495 ;  takes  part  in 
a  Liberal  demonstration  at  Manches- 
ter, in  October  (1879),  496;  expresses 
the  hope  that  the  Pnnce  of  Wales,  in 
visiting  India,  would  leave  behind 
him  memories  that  would  be  of  ex- 
ceeding value,  497;  chairman  of  a  con- 
versazione at  Birmingham,  at  which 
teachers  of  schools  were  present,  497 ; 
a  meeting  at  Rochdale  assembled  to 
hear  an  address  from  Mr.  T.  B. 
Potter,  M.P.,  on  his  tour  in  America, 
498 ;  opening  the  Birmingham  Liberal 
Club,  499;  comments  on  the  Zulu 
and  Afghan  wars  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Birmingham  Junior  Liberal 
Association,  600 ;  his  annual  ad- 
dress to  his  constituents,  in  January, 
1880,  501 ;  presiding  over  a  gathering 
at  Islington,  addressed  by  the  Rev. 
R.  W.  Dale,  on  the  "Rise  of  Evan- 
gelical Nonconformity,"  501 ;  reviews 
at  Birmingham  the  policy  of  the 
Conservative  Government,  503;  re- 
ceives a  deputation  from  the  Licensed 
Victuallers,  and  again  addresses  the 
electors,  504;  accepts  the  office  of 
Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancas- 
ter, 507 ;  takes  part  in  the  debate  re- 
specting Bradlaugh,  507  ;  speaks  on 
capital  punishment  at  the  annual 
debate  of  the  University  College  De- 
bating Society,  608 ;  distributes  the 
prizes  to  the  successful  scholars  of 
Trinity  College  School,  Stratford- 
on-Avon,  509;  discusses  the  Hares 
and  Rabbits  Bill,  509;  speaks  again 
on  the  Burials  Bill,  510;  takes  part 
in  the  debate  on  the  Irish  esti- 
mates, 510;  elected  Lord  Rector  of 
Glasgow  University,  511;  refers  to 
the  House  of  Lords  in  a  speech  at 
Birmingham,  611;  presented  with  a 
memorial  from  the  French  Liberals 
on  the  subject  of  the  Transvaal  war, 
611;  also  with  an  international  ad- 
dress from  Holland,  Germany,  Hun- 
gary, and  Italy,  512;  speaks  in  the 
House  on  the  Irish  Coercion  Bill, 
612 ;  his  speech  at  the  banquet  given 
to  her  Majesty's  Ministers  by  the 
Court  of  Assistants  of  the  Fish- 
mongers' Company,  514 ;  discusses 
Callan's  Bill  for  improving  the  con- 
dition of  agricultural  labourers'  habi- 
tations in  Ireland,  514;  supporting 
the  Irish  Land  Bill,  614 ;  one  of  the 


INDEX. 


guests  at  the  Ministerial  banquet  at 
the  Mansion  House,  515 ;  his  towns- 
men commemorate  his  seventieth 
birthday,  616 ;  lays  the  foundation 
stone  of  the  first  Board  School  at 
Llandudno,  518 ;  supports  the  Rules 
of  Procedure,  521 ;  opens  the  new 
library  of  Birmingham,  522 ;  takes 
part  in  the  discussion  on  the  Pre- 
vention of  Crimes  in  Ireland,  528; 
resigns  his  seat  in  the  Cabinet, 
629 ;  replies  to  a  letter  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Bippon  on  the  subject  of 
"peace  at  any  price,"  530;  receives 
at  his  London  residence  a  party  of 
Americans,  631 ;  invited  to  America, 
531 ;  opens  a  new  infirmary  at 
Rochdale,  532 ;  the  ceremony  of  in- 
stallation as  Lord  Rector  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow,  533 ;  presented  with 
an  address  by  the  Glasgow  Liberal 
Association,  535 ;  presented  with  the 
freedom  of  the  City  of  Glasgow,  537 ; 
visits  the  monument  and  late  resi- 
dence of  Janet  Hamilton,  537 ;  speaks 
at  the  marriage  of  one  of  his  nephews 
on  the  subject  of  marriages,  538 ; 
presides  at  the  annual  conference  of 
the  Liberation  Society,  638;  his 
twenty-fifth  year  of  representation  of 
Birmingham  celebrated,  544 ;  de- 
fends himself  in  the  House  against  a 
charge  of  breach  of  privilege,  555 ; 
description  of  his  oratory  at  public 
meetings  and  in  discussions  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  556 ;  on  the  art 
of  public  speaking,  577 !  a  Sabbath 
scene  at  Rochdale  and  the  Friends' 
Meeting  House,  579. 

— —  Mrs.  John,  death  at  Leamington, 
107. 

Samuel,  13,  17. 

the  Misses,  16. 

Thomas,  13. 

Brighton*  188. 

Bristol,  140. 

Brougham,  Lord,  138,  228. 

Brown,  Thomas,  of  Ackworth,  35. 

Buckingham,  J.  S. — his  prophecy  ful- 
filled, 56,  137,  145. 

Burnley,  213,  320. 

Burritt,  Elihu,  234,  295. 

Bury,  Lancashire,  165,  166. 

Byron,  the  poet,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of 
Rochdale,  4,  170. 


Canterbury,  164. 

Capital  punishment,  275. 

Carlisle,  175. 

Carlyle  on  the  Corn  Laws,  128. 

Chartists  at  Rochdale.  78,  121. 


Cheltenham,  141. 

Chorley,  195. 

Church-rate  contests  (1840),  86,  96. 

Cobdeu,  Richard — birthplace,  74 ;  grand- 
father, 74  ;  boyhood,  74  ;  appren- 
ticeship, 75 ;  visits  Lancashire,  75 ; 
joins  the  League,  74 ;  first  attempt  at 
public  speaking,  76 ;  contributes  letters 
to  the  Manchester  Times,  76 ;  elected 
member  for  Stockport,  106;  his  re- 
ception in  the  House,  109 ;  his  Anti 
Corn-Law  speeches,  &c.,  118,  129, 
130,  132,  133,  137,  139,  140,  143,  144, 
149,  158,  162,  166,  168,  172,  175,  181, 
188, 191,  193,  194,  197,  199,  202,  206, 
216,  221,  225 ;  receives  '•» noble  presen- 
tation, 237 ;  challenged  to  a  duel,  278, 
280,  295,  313 ;  death  of  his  son,  327 ; 
uneasy  about  the  health  of  Bright, 
328  ;  defeats  Lord  Palmerston's  Go- 
vernment, and  an  appeal  is  made 
to  the  country,  329 ;  addresses  the 
electors  of  Manchester  on  behalf 
of  Mr.  Bright,  331  ;  is  defeated, 
333 ;  sympathy  expressed  by  the 
press,  334  ;  disgusted  with  the  treat- 
ment given  to  his  friend,  344;  on 
Parliamentary  Reform,  364 ;  re- 
turned for  Rochdale,  366,  370,  371 ; 
interests  himself  in  a  commercial 
treaty  with  France,  373,  374,  378, 
381,  389,  398;  addresses  his  consti- 
tuents for  the  last  time,  411,  413 ;  hia 
death,  416,  418. 

Cockenuouth,  169. 

Colchester,  188. 

Cork,  437. 

Corn  Laws  imposed  (1815),  71. 

Crawford,  Sharman,  M.P.  for  Rochdale, 
194,  319. 

Crimean  war,  300,  303,  304,  307, 308,  309, 
314,  315,  316,  317,  319,  322 ;  the  end 
of  the  war  (1856),  325. 

Curtis,  Sir  William,  (1815),  protests 
against  the  Corn  Laws,  72. 


Davenport,  144. 

Disraeli,  B.,  227,  228;  his  Reform  Bill, 
364,  372 ;  speaks  on  the  death  of 
Cobden,  417 ;  his  thirteen  Reform 
resolutions,  445 ;  the  Irish  Church, 
452 ;  his  death,  613. 

Doncaster,  168. 

Dorset,  148. 

Dublin,  436,  438. 

Dudley,  131. 

Dumfries,  177. 

Dundee,  133. 

Dungannon,  Lord,  returned  for  Durham, 
143 ;  unseated,  150. 

Durham,  142,  150,  152,  153,  168,  195. 


INDEX. 


E 

Edinburgh,  133,  175,  295,  456. 
Egyptian  war,  528. 

F 

Fenton,  John,  130. 
Fielden,  James,  of  Todmorden,  90. 
Fielden,  Kobert,  J.P.,  44. 
Fieldhousc  Mills,  Kochdale,  28. 
Fitzwilliam,  Earl — proposed  revision  of 

the  Corn  Laws  (1833),  72. 
Fletcher,  Ralph,  J.P.,  44. 
Fox,  "W.  J.,  member  for~Oldham,  167, 

168,  169,  172,  176,  184,  198,  215,  218, 

221. 
Free  Trade  Hall,  Manchester,  erected, 

134. 
Friends'  Meeting  House,  Rochdale,  11, 

679. 

Q 

Game  Laws,  207. 

Gibson,  Milner,  190,  215,  251,  287,  290, 
299,  322,  325,  330 ;  defeated  at  Man- 
chester, 333  ;  elected  for  Ashton,  349. 

Gladstone,  W.  E. ,  pays  a  tribute  of  re- 
spect to  Bright,  323,  378 ;  introduces 
his  Reform  Bill,  429 ;  declares  that 
the  Irish  Church  Establishment  must 
cease  to  exist  451,  462;  introduces 
his  Irish  Land  Bill,  which  had  a  pur- 
chase clause  in  it  called  "  Bright' s 
clause,"  468, 499 ;  his  Irish  Land  Bill, 
513 ;  Mr.  Bright's  resignation  (1883), 
530;  578. 

Glasgow,  175,  435,  533,  534,  537. 

Gloucester,  141,  214. 

Goat-acre,  Lyneham,  the  place  of  resi- 
dence of  Bright's  ancestors,  6. 

Goat-acre,  Wiltshire,  remarkable  Anti- 
Corn-Law  meeting  there,  218. 

Gratton,  John,  an  ancestor  of  John 
Bright's,  4,  5. 

Greenbank,  Jacob  Bright'a  residence, 
11,  13. 

Greenock,  177. 

Grey,  R.  H.,  112,  129,  169. 

Grey,  Earl,  and  Reform  (1832),  49. 

H 

Haddington,  168. 

Halifax,  172. 

Hay,  Rev.  W.  R.,  Vicar  of  Rochdale,  44, 

46,  48. 

High  Wycombe,  148. 
Holme,  Wm.,  11. 
Holmfirth.  130,  173. 
Howick,  Lord,  136,  137. 
Huddersfield,  129,  179,  194,  375. 
Hull,  178. 

Hunt,  Henry,  the  Reformer,  44. 
Huntingdon,  149. 


India,  273 ;  a  commissioner  sent  out  to 
enquire  respecting  the  growth  of 
cotton,  274 ;  the  Mutiny,  &c.,  344, 
352,  486,  487,  497. 

Ireland,  266,  267,  269, 291,  426,  428,  436, 
437,  450,  451,  453,  454,  462,  464. 

Islington,  501. 


Keighley,  195. 

Kelso,  151. 

Kendal,  169. 

Kilmarnock,  177. 

Kinglake's  opinion  of  Bright,  242. 


Lancaster,  132,  166. 

Leamington,  107. 

Leeds,  172,  214,  221,  383,  435. 

Limerick,  454. 

Lincoln,  149. 

Liskeard,  144. 

Liverpool,  165,  171,  220,  4bd, 

Llandudno,  260,  518. 

Logan,  Wm.,  on  the  benevolence  of  the 

Bright  family,  101. 
London,  meetings  in,  60,  126,  138,  139, 

146,  147,  148,  167,  170,  176,  179,  180, 

184,  185,  194,  202. 
Lucas,  S. ,  married  Miss  Margaret  Bright, 

16,  17. 

M 

Macaulay,  T.  B.,  the  historian,  175,  301. 

Macclesfield,  148. 

Maclaren,  Duncan,  16,  175,  347,  512. 

Maclure,  Canon,  Vicar  of  Rochdale,  97. 

Manchester,  105,  112,  126,  127,  128,  130, 
133,  134,  136,  137,  139,  144,  169,  172, 
191,  195,  215,  221;  Bright  consents 
to  contest  Manchester,  248,  250,  251, 
269,  276,  278,  287,  288,  290,  292,  299, 
300;  Crimean  war.  303,  304,  307, 
308,  313,  316,  317,  322,  324,  325,  330 ; 
defeated  at  Manchester,  333,  3159, 
359,  364,  379,  433,  439,  447,  477,  480, 
489,  493,  496. 

Mason,  Absalom,  Jacob  Bright's  carter, 
38. 

Molesworth,  Canon,  97. 

Molesworth,  Dr.,  late  Vicar  of  Roch- 
dale, 83,  85,  86. 

Moore,  R.  R.  R.,  132,  135,  144. 

Morley,  Samuel,  on  International  Arbi- 
tration, 342. 

N 
Nadin,  Mr.,  deputy  chief  Constable  of 

Manchester,  42. 
Napier,  Sir  C.,  296,  301. 
Newcastle,  152,  220. 
New  Mills,  184. 


604 


INDEX. 


Northampton,  191. 
North  Shields,  152. 
Norwich,  149. 
Nottingham,  130,  142. 

O 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  118,  135,  181. 

O'Connor,  Feargus,  121. 

Oliver,  the  spy,  42. 

"  One   Ash,"    the   residence    of    John 

Bright,  1,  4. 
Onnerod,  Oliver,  50,  53. 
Oxford,  166. 


Palmerston,  Lord,  on  the  Peterloo 
Massacre,  47  ;  converted  to  the  policy 
of  Free  Trade,  105, 212,  226,  244,  289, 
370 ;  speaks  on  the  death  of  Cobden, 
417;  death,  426. 

Paulton,  A.  W.,  lecturer  of  the  League, 
81,  82. 

Peace  Society,  276,  277. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  121,  136,  137,  162,  211, 
223,  224,  227,  229 ;  in  the  House  the 
last  time  as  a  minister,  244. 

Peterloo  Massacre,  45,  47. 

Philips,  Mark,  M.P.,  135,  172. 

Plymouth,  145. 

Pontefract,  195. 

Potter,  Sir  Thomas,  139. 

Potter,  T.  B.,  M.P.,  424. 

Prentice,  A.,  82,  151. 

Preston,  195,  214. 

Purvis,  Mr.,  John  Bright's  opponent  at 
Durham,  155. 

R 

Reading,  165. 

Reformers  March  to  Manchester,  (1819), 
42,  43. 

Reformers'  Meeting  on  Cronkeyshaw, 
(1817),  41,  42. 

Reform  Bill  (1832),  49,  356,  376. 

Ripon,  Lord,  120. 

Robinson,  Frederick,  proposes  the  Corn 
Laws  (1815),  71. 

Roby,  John  (author  of  the  Traditions  of 
Lancashire),  83,  85. 

Rochdale,  1,  2,  3;  members  for  Roch- 
dale, 3 ;  meetings  addressed  by  Bright, 
78,  86,  113,  122,  130,  145,  169,  193, 
230,  284,  285,  319,  362,  366,  373; 
on  the  American  civil  war,  394,  395, 
400,  424,  427,  432,  442,  448,  469,  481, 
485,  488,  516. 

H  tssell,  Lord  John,  and  Rochdale,  4; 


his  opposition  to  the  Corn  Laws,  112; 
his  letter  to  his  constituents  respect- 
ing the  Corn  Laws,  211,  282;  his  re- 
form bill,  379. 

S 

Salisbury,  163,  169. 

Sheffield,  145,  178,  213. 

Simpson,  Wm.,  master  of  the  ITrienda' 
School  at  York,  36. 

South-east  Hants  Society  for  the  Protec- 
tion of  Industry,  188. 

State  of  the  Country  from  1836  to  1840, 
78;  (1841),  104, 113, 119;  (1842),  126, 
203,  211. 

Stirling,  132. 

Stourbridge,  131. 

Stratford-upon-Avon,  509. 

Sunderland,  130,  152,  178,  203. 


Ten  Hours  Bill,  245. 

Thompson,George,  185. 

Thompson,  P.,  Colonel,  132, 133, 148, 171, 

176,  177.  , 

Tiverton,  140. 
Tweedale,  Samuel,  26,  58. 


Vaughan,  Mr.,  married  Miss  Esthei 
Bright,  16,  17. 

Villiers,  Hon.  C.  P.,  proposes  to  con- 
sider the  Corn  Laws  (1838),  77,  104  , 
his  first  interview  with  John  Bright, 
105  ;  approves  of  Cobden  contesting 
the  seat  at  Stockport,  107,  111,  112, 
118;  his  opinion  of  Bright,  153,  and 
242,  166,  188,  194,  201 ;  a  banquet  to 
him,  213,  217  ;  statue  to  him,  493. 

W 

Wakefleld,  178,  328. 

Walsall,  191. 

Warrington,  172. 

Waterloo,  and    the    prosperity  of  the 

landlords,  40. 
"Watkins,   Absalom,  opinion  of  Bright, 

249. 
Whittaker,  Robert,  superintendent    of 

Ackworth  schools,  35. 
Wills,  Francis,  master  Newton  School, 

36. 
Winchester,  150. 


York,  178. 


